Big Bright Butterfly

I wasn't meant to come home this weekend but during the week (I was working five hours away) it just got too much for me. I was in a part of the country where there was horrific wind and rain. What was happening to my garden back home: would I get home in a few weeks to find it had been blown and washed away? Or would the weather be the opposite and everything had died due to lack of water?

So I came home and was so pleased I did. There hadn't been much rain and so the first thing I did was water. Now already I can see some of the wildflower seeds have sprouted: the California poppies look like grass, only a few millimetres long. But I recognise them!Does it look any different to you? Isn't it exciting... I can't wait to see it next - I go away again tomorrow but only for three days. Back on Wednesday 23 October. Another update then!

Photos can be seen on my website http://madambutterfly.grdev.co.nz/mb/2013/10/20/the-big-bright-butterfly-4/ or on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151647795231615.1073741829.609006614&type=1&l=bdcee68f5b

I'm going to have to take some of the photos down as I've reached my limit... so if anyone is interested there are more photos on my Facebook account.

https://www.facebook.com/jacqui.knight.3591

Yesterday we (helper Haleigh and I) found the perfect plants for the body of the butterfly at Oratia Native Plants called Leptinella pusilla.

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It is like a little fern, tiny little fern, each little front is a few centimetres long. Generally it looks purple-grey or bronze but then you can see all sorts of other colours in it too. You can see it here on the NZ Plant Conservation Network website (better photos):

http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=917

Haleigh planted it today and it's looking awesome. It was a grey day, there had been quite a few heavy showers overnight, and now it's raining again - perfect!

Yesterday scattered the wildflower seeds in between the plants in The Butterfly Garden. (This is not to be confused with the rest of the gardens around my home, which are just plain butterfly gardens - planted up to attract butterflies and other flying insects: with host plants for various species to lay their eggs, shelter and protection from predators for caterpillars, and masses of colour and perfume to attract them to the space, planted to catch maximum sunlight.)

I watered the seeds in with a soft spray from the hose, and then later using the watering can gave them another dose with water containing a dollop of my home-made manure in the can.

Then last night a torrential deluge of rain... I hope that they have survived that and not been washed away. Some of the species used: Scabiosa 'Ritz Blue', Phacelia campanularia 'California Bluebell' and Centarurea (Cornflower) (blue), Adonis aestivalis 'Pheasant's Eye', Eschscholzia Californica 'Red Chief', Coreopsis tinctoria 'Dwarf Red' (red), Eschscholzia Californica and Coreopsis tinctoria 'Dwarf Bicolour' (orange), all available from Wildflower World. See all of these on their website: http://www.gardenpost.co.nz/wildflower-world/

Oh no! Can a dog look sheepish?

My project is off the ground. With the help of Jou-Jou we removed all the weeds (mainly kikuyu), lined the "ground level" with newspaper, and turned all the soil again. Then we've planted rows and rows of seedlings in waves of colour: blue, purple, red, orange and yellow. 

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I still have to decide on the butterfly's body... I was thinking Mondo grass but it doesn't like full sunlight. Same with Thuja species. Ideas please!

Also: more supporters required... The aim is to have a display garden where ANYONE can come and get inspired to make gardens a better place for butterflies, bees and birds.