Ep 179. A Butterfly Garden of Growth

In this episode, we chat about A Butterfly Garden of Growth at Johnsonburg Camp & Retreat Center in New Jersey, which hosted a Comfort Zone Camp in partnership with A Little Hope Foundation to support kids who lost a loved one to suicide.

We review nectar and host plants important to butterflies and why Butterfly Bush is not ideal. Then, end with a reflection of the Butterfly Effect-- the interconnectedness of our world. 

May we all live our lives knowing that we make a difference no matter what season of life we are in. 

Thanks for tuning in. 

Links to related Episodes and Blog Posts: 

 Ep.116 - Great Horned Owl meets Hawk 

 A Butterfly Garden of Growth – Blog Post

 Goldenrod's Bad Reputation– Blog Post

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. 

You can Follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.

Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page

 Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,

Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

                                        AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Transcript

Ep 179 A Butterfly Garden of Growth

Keywords

butterflies, butterfly garden, plant, garden, love, native, volunteering, butterfly bush, gardens, dilemmas, goldenrod, great horned

owls, flowers, beautiful, camp, chat, grow, fall, nancy, annuals, mary stone 

Speakers

Mary (100%)

Mary Stone

0:00

Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

MS

Mary Stone

0:26

Hello there. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch. What a lovely, almost fall day. It doesn't officially start until the 22nd of September, which is just around the corner. And I've been camping out here, and it's been very chilly at night, one night below 45 but that's what blankets are for, and I just love the sounds in the night. One of them that I heard last night was the sound of two great horned owls hooting to each other, and they wondered if they were calling loudly to each other to encourage their courtship, which I heard happens in the fall, or maybe they are already a pair, and it's a way of keeping track of each other in the night. We spoke about great horned owls in Episode 116 Great Horned Owl Meets Hawk. I invite you to tune into if you haven't done so already. 

MS

Mary Stone

1:17

Yes, indeed, those cool nights and warm days it's going to be 80 degrees today, resulting in that morning dew that gardens love and actually count on during these dry times that we've been enduring. As I sit here with you, I see tired leaves snowing through the sky, and there's a color shift already underway. I adore the fall season, and I hope you do, too. There's something cozy about it.

Mary Stone

1:44

I want to thank those who reached back after last week's chat, remember, learn, grow, and love with a reflection of 911 and the history of Comfort Zone Camp, Celebrating 25 years of helping kids and young adults grow beyond the grief of losing a family member or friend. And we encouraged each other to volunteer for something that means something to you, and it doesn't have to be through an organization. It can be a matter of volunteering to take better care of our land and each other. So I thought I'd share a story that relates to that topic, A Butterfly Garden of Growth, and it starts like this.

Mary Stone

2:20

Hello, fellow listeners and readers, admiration fills my heart for the children's courage and young adults who attended last weekend's Comfort Zone Camp. It was in partnership with A Little Hope Foundation to support those who have lost a loved one to suicide. In the center of the camp is a butterfly garden of growth. My role that year was a camp photographer recording special moments on the challenge course, where campers worked together to solve problems that helped build confidence. I took photos during icebreakers, crafts, and participants' free time having fun and making connections, learning they are not alone. Amongst the beauty of the Johnsonburg, New Jersey, Camp and Retreat Center is a butterfly garden, an eight-foot fenced alcove adorned with clematis, and dramatic flame orange honeysuckle vine reaching for the sky. Two large gates with narrow wooden posts tied to strings allow visitors to jockey a few aside, to slip into the sanctuary, to sit for a bit, and marvel at the magical dance of butterflies in the comfort of Adirondack chairs atop a rustic stone patio. It is quite lovely there, and I understand it's maintained by volunteers. 

Mary Stone

3:35

Unlike hummingbirds that hover, butterflies must cling to blossoms to feed. They prefer daisy-type flowers, clusters or spikes of small flowers. There's purple cone flower, which is Echinacea purpurea, a favored medicinal plant with large purple flowers, drooping petals, and the cutest little orange-brown center, I might add. Plus Black Eyed Susan's Rudbeckia, a glorious, golden North American Native. Both bloom from mid-to-late summer to frost. 

Mary Stone

4:06

Plus Shasta Daisies in the Aster family, the classic white petaled beauty with yellow centers butterflies love. While native to France and Spain, it is found in the wild elsewhere, having escaped from gardens, which in this case is not a bad thing. I've read, they provide nectar for Eastern Tiger swallowtails and Painted Lady Butterflies, amongst other butterflies and moths, and they serve as a host plant. Many know about butterfly bush, a fast-growing deciduous shrub that reaches six to eight feet in height, with arching purple, pink and white flowers, contrary to popular belief based on the dance of butterflies and bees we see on the blooms. Buddhia davidii is an invasive species native to Asia that readily seeds itself. However, there are sterile varieties now that you can buy while native. While butterflies feed on the nectar, it does not provide food for the larvae, which are the caterpillars. So they say, it interrupts the life cycle and therefore lessens the population of our beloved butterflies. 

Mary Stone

5:13

And I have to tell you, I never considered how terribly invasive butterfly bush is until I lost the hemlocks in this garden that I have, and I am fighting the self-seeding butterfly bush. And I'll admit, I enjoy the dance on them when they are in bloom, the dance of the butterflies and the bees, but I have to get rid of them and plant something native. Would be much better for them. 

Mary Stone

5:35

I'm actually working on a garden for a client who only wants to attract monarch butterflies. And I have to say, one of the key things you have to have to attract monarchs are milkweeds, and there's a few different varieties they love. Monarch butterflies love our native Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa.) 

Mary Stone

5:51

As the common name brags, native Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) attracts bees. Its tufts of red, pink, or purple flowers atop tall stems are also butterfly magnets. Its tufts of red, pink or purple flowers atop tall stems are also butterfly magnets. And there are annuals you can add for an all-season feast of flowers including Ageratum, Marigold, Verbena and Zinnia, to name a few. When planting a butterfly garden, it's kind to provide host plants with egg laying stations and food for the larva. Plants in the carrot family, such as parsley, fennel, dill and carrots themselves are excellent choices. Plus their feathery foliage looks lovely mixed with perennials and annuals. 

Mary Stone

6:36

Posted on the Johnsonburg camps butterfly garden is a sign planting in progress, walk gently. In other words, recovery and growth in progress be kind. Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com. 

Mary Stone

6:54

Speaking of native plants, a client of mine who has become a friend, Nancy of Freedon, New Jersey sent a photo of a mystery plant. The foliage looks like Goldenrod solidago. I wrote back Goldenrod is one of my faves to add to a garden for the late summer to fall show that butterflies love despite the rumors, it is not what causes allergies. I'll put a link in the show notes to a story called Goldenrod's Bad Reputation. So you can learn more about that.

Mary Stone

7:24

I don't remember planting that. Nancy writes. A few days later, she found a link to what could be her mystery weed. Hummingbirds and butterflies love our native hairy beardtongue. Nancy wondered how three landed in her garden, perfectly spaced. That's the beauty of native plants I wrote back. They magically plant themselves, and they do, and by foregoing invasive plants, we can encourage more native plants to self-seed, a beautiful thing. 

Mary Stone

7:54

So getting back to volunteering to be kinder to our dear Earth and each other, it makes me think of a metaphor you may have heard before. When a butterfly flaps its wings, the energy flows 1000s of miles away, and that saying stems from Edward Lorenz, a meteorologist, coining it the butterfly effect. He used the metaphor to explain that what may seem insignificant in terms of an action can have a significant impact, much more than just on weather. 

Mary Stone

8:26

Our world is deeply interconnected. May we all live our lives knowing that we make a difference no matter what season of life you are in, acts of kindness multiply, as does unkindness and destructiveness, as we've witnessed in so much of what's going on in our world. William Blake's poem, Auguries of Innocence, starts out with to see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. Isn't that beautiful? 

Mary Stone

9:02

William Blake is considered one of the greatest visionaries of the early Romantic era. In addition to writing poems, he was an engraver and a watercolor artist who left behind such beautiful things and beautiful words and art as we all can do, too. So anyway, I am going to say that I may have to go on to an every other week cycle with the podcast for the next few weeks. We shall see, but I'm working hard and strong to finish my book, and so maybe just maybe, I'll integrate some of the book with our weekly chats, or biweekly chats. Let's see what unfolds All in due time. So thanks so much for visiting with me. I always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. And I invite you to email me at askmarystone@gmail.com if you have some stories you'd like to share or insights to how nature and gardens help heal and grow your life. I would love to hear from you. I always do until next time. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone

10:07

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag. Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.