Iris,

You are an over achiever :) The gardens are just beautiful! Your property looks huge...I say there's still more room to plant lol

Did the butterfly give you suggestions on what to plant?

Rhonda

Nah, he has a hackberry right next to this flower bed. The common snout butterflies are the only ones hanging out like this. Love it. I was just worrying about the upkeep since even the mulch guy delivering another 20 yards was scratching his head. Guess I will just hope for the plants to take off so weeds don't have that much of a chance there. My wild senna seedlings are still just about an inch tall.

Butterflies and other precious pollinators don't care what your garden looks like. As long as the plants they need are there, and there are no pesticides, they will be happy. We need to teach the world that meticulous is just not efficient, and more half-hearted efforts could really move us forward and accelerate our attempts to restore crucial insect populations.

Martha

I think I am good now. Getting this huge pile of mulch again was a bit overwhelming with everything else I have to do. Stepped out after dark now and saw a ton of fireflies, listened to the cicadas, crickets and so on. For some weird reason there are hardly any May beetles around this year. Read a bit in the new book I got and learned the Pokeweed I keep around is a good thing. Maybe I will even see a giant leopard moth one day. Thank you for letting me vent though.

That's so pretty. I would love to see some pictures!

Hang in there, Iris. It can be overwhelming at times when the 'to do' list gets a bit long. Getting the new mulch down will help smother many of the new weeds and make the ones that pop through easier to pull, plus it will help cut back on watering. Your gardens look wonderful. The wildlife and insects must think they've stumbled into wildlife Heaven!

Mary

Wow! Those are awesome gardens! I wish mine looked as great as yours. Mine needs a few weeks of good weeding on my part, but thats my least favorite part of gardening.

Not hard to tell what part of the garden I will be pulling weeds today......

Are those blueberries? I didnt know any variety would grown down there.

They are. I have six of them, two of the "pink lemonade" . The two oldest ones must be at least 15 years. They are all doing well. It never crossed my mind that they shouldn't, since they sell these shrubs everywhere. They do make a great snack when you are crazy enough to pull weeds in 88 degrees.

Wow thats awesome, my native ones never do so great in the hot weather like we have now. They useally die back, but i do have a population of Pink edged sulphers at my cabin and the caterpillars I find, from there and releaee next spring. Theh are cool butterflies. Are the pink lemonade good?

I really like the taste of pink lemonade. I am surprised there are this many berries with the late frost we had. Not a single peach (not that they ever turned out well) and hardly any pears

Haha I'm a little late, but thought I'd chime in. I don't think your insane. I'd call it being very passionate about what you like doing.

There certainly are rewards. I am still considering putting some annuals in the new flower beds. Perennials just take so long to get going it seems. My rewards for the day (other then the blueberries)

Thats cause blueberries are from the land up north and love the cold

Yes, your hard work and dedication are definitely being rewarded.

Martha