Native Wildflower Ratibida Columnifera Repels Deer?

Ratibida columnifera
(Mexican hat, upright prairie coneflower, thimbleflower) with
Santolina pinnata (green Lavender cotton) in the background. June 2012

Debuting in my deer resistant meadow garden this year is the US native wildflower, ratibida columnifera, commonly called Mexican hat. According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center database, the foliage of this native has a strong smell that repels deer. But wait—there's a catch! The same database says that deer will eat this flower. Hmm...

Currently growing beside my open meadow where the deer congregate each night for slumber parties, there's nary a nibble so far. I've not detected an offensive smell—but I'm not a deer!

The height at this point is just over two feet, but with the see-through quality of the airy foliage, it works well at the edge of the garden.

I'm sharing photos before the entire plant is at peak bloom because I'm so excited over the flowers—and in case the deer do decide to nibble the blooms! Slowly, the cones are fuzzing up and I anticipate that this native will bloom for months. Ratibida is a nectar source for bees and butterflies.

Being cautious with my experiment, I sowed the seeds in the driest part of my garden. According to the information on this plant, it can spread aggressively and crowd out other plants. This drought-tolerant plant can also handle moist locations.

I adore the rich chocolate-maroon drooping rays on the ratibida petals. My test plant is growing with rudbeckia hirta, gaillardia and santolina pinnata. I think the rudbeckia yellow complements the yellow scalloped edging on the ratibida the best, so I may go with those two in future meadow plantings—as long as the deer don't eat the blooms!

Ratibida columnifera in combination with other seed-sown flowers,
rudbeckia hirta (right) and gaillardia (left)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Wild Quinine, A Native Plant

I'm wild about Wild Quinine (parthenium integrifolium) after seeing mass plantings at The Battery Gardens in New York in June 2011. In fact, I was so mesmerized by the tiny white pearl blooms that I failed to take one photo, but found a few on the gardens website!

I returned to do a bit of research and decided that this is a native wildflower to try in my meadow garden for 2012. Quinine is a perennial that blooms in summer. Seed heads can remain over the winter.

zones:  3a-8b

height: 36-38"

light:    low to full sun

soil:      medium

Finding the plants is not impossible, but I decided to try seeds for next year. According to the instructions on my seed packet, it is best to plant quinine in the fall or cold stratify for two to three months. 

Fall sowing has always given me good results as our weather can often turn too hot, too soon in the spring. I'm not one to pamper pots, so I prefer to direct sow into the ground. 

With the moisture from autumn rains and daytime temperatures forecast for 60-70° F for the next two weeks, I'm ready to sow!  I have cleared a section of the garden for a mass planting of the quinine. 

I will add a mix of organic soil, compost and conditioner to the area; rake it smooth; sow the seeds just below the soil line; walk across the area; water with a gentle spray to keep the soil moist.

The test in my garden will be to see whether or not quinine is deer and rabbit resistant and can tolerate the droughts here in zone 7b. I'm optimistic!

Quinine is an attractor for pollinators and food for chickadees, so I'm excited about the birds, bees and blooms for next year.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Whisper Words of Wisdom—Let It Bee

Keep the bees alive. Don't use insecticide.

Let's give 'em something to buzz about. A variety of flowers attracts pollinators.
Agastache, butterfly bush, cleome,liatris, rose campion,
coneflowers, Russian sage and bee balm in bloom. June 2011.

In our busy bee lives, we sometimes miss important announcements. A special thanks to Gail at Clay and Limestone for publicizing National Pollinator Week (June 20-26 20110).

Pollinating is not just for bees. Ants, birds, butterflies, moths, wasps—and even wind and water are pollinators. Keeping chemicals out of the garden not only helps the insects but helps prevent pollution of our natural water sources and the air we breathe.

Everyone loves hummingbirds and growing monarda (bee balm) and salvia is a great way to attract the little sippers to your garden. Other hummingbird favorites include rose campion, cleome, agastache and zinnias.

The clearwing hummingbird moth (click link for my best picture) is one of the most fascinating pollinators to me. In the evenings, these moths are easily spotted in my garden.

A hummingbird and monarda (bee balm) 'Jacob Cline'.
The oakleaf hollies in the background are covered by honeybees during early spring bloom.

A clearwing hummingbird moth returns for an encore performance.
Butterfly bushes are great food sources for all flying pollinators.
Hemaris thysbe on a buddleia. June 2011.

Of course, everyone loves to watch beautiful butterflies and I grow Three Wonderful Weeds to attract, feed and host butterflies in my garden. What Butterflies Want is Joe Pye Weed, so I added more of that favorite to my garden this year.

Gardeners—spread the word! Tell non-gardening friends, family and neighbors about the importance of pollinators.

Butterflies want Joe Pye Weed! Summer 2010.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The Best Hummingbird Feeder

With lightning speed and buzzing whoosh, the hummingbirds battle and dive bomb around the bright red hummingbird feeder. Territorial and jockeying for the best position at the feeder, one smart hummingbird sits back on a willow tree branch while three others whiz up into the air to do battle. The little one gets to sip first.

Round and round the garden they go; where they stop—do you want to know?

Monarda 'Jacob Cline' in full bloom with
wide leaves of crocosmia 'Lucifer' not yet blooming.

As I write, I watch three hummingbirds buzz by the window on their way to lay claim to two large patches of the red bee balm, monarda 'Jacob Cline' (sometimes listed as 'Jacob Kline').

Jacob is a tall, strong bee balm, easily growing taller than 3 feet if receiving ample moisture before the blooms. This is the third year for this variety. The 2010 summer heat and drought were especially tough for this bee balm, but it bounced back, tripling in width this spring!

The hardy perennial is suitable for zones 3-8, making it a wonderful choice for many of you who want to garden for the hummingbirds.

Planted with the bee balm is another hummingbird favorite, crocosmia 'Lucifer'. Although the red of Lucifer is a bit orange for the red of Jacob, I put the two together for the hummingbirds—sometimes garden style is for the birds, not me!

I sowed seeds of white shasta daisy 'Alaska' up the slope behind the red/orange group. Now in the second year, the daisies are blooming for the first time. I want the white daisies to provide a contrast for the red blooms of the bee balm and crocosmia.

To really thrill the hummingbirds, I divided my salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' and also added it with the shasta daisies. Hopefully, there will be a thick swatch of white daisies and blue salvia behind the red Jacob Cline monarda for summer 2012.

By the way, I allow the tall, purple verbena bonariensis to sow and grow just about everywhere in this area of my garden as that plant is the favorite feeder of Goldfinch. There are more than just hummingbirds in the garden, after all!

There are other colors/varieties of bee balm in my garden, too. 'Raspberry Wine' and 'Blue Stocking' are also hummingbird feeders—Jacob Cline blooms first; then Raspberry Wine; immediately followed by the Blue Stocking. All three colors overlap and extend the bloom season for monarda.

Monarda is an economical plant to grow since it spreads rapidly with rich, moist soil. That said, I find that 'Raspberry Wine' tolerates drier soil than the other varieties and I grow it in more locations for that reason. Deer have never done more damage than sample a bloom or two. Rabbits tend to avoid monarda altogether. I've not had trouble with mildew, but I watch the lower leaves. If I see any droopy leaves in the morning, I know they need to be watered (at the base of the plant).

Once our temperatures are over 90°F, I worry that the sugar water in our manufactured hummingbird feeders gets too hot, so I take those down and let the flower garden provide fresh nectar for our buzzing friends. It seems to be working well!

Monarda 'Jacob Cline' (Hummingbird feeder) is backed by
purple verbena bonariensis (Goldfinch feeder).

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

For the Love of Lavender

I love to buy lavender soap and bouquets of dried lavender at French markets. 

(Antibes, France; May 2010)

I love to use lavender as a centerpiece to fill the air with fragrance. 

(Antibes, France; May 2010)

I love to see lavender growing in fields. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm, North Carolina; June 2010)

I love to learn about lavender planting from Annie Greer Baggett. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm; June 2010)

I love to eat lavender ice cream made by Maple View Farm. 

(Sunshine Lavender Farm)

I love to bake lavender scones at home. 

(home kitchen, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; December 2008)

Most of all, I love to grow lavender for the wonderful honey bees.

Our neighborhood lost two wild bee hives over the winter. One hive is being rebuilt. 

My garden is far too quiet this year without all of the honey bees. 

(home garden, Chapel Hill; April 2009)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

A Deer Miss

When I came home at 10:00 pm last night, there was a herd of deer sleeping in the meadow above the flower garden. They didn't bother to get up when I drove the car down the long driveway—with headlights beaming on their sleepy little heads.

The deer must be well fed and lazy this year as they have literally given up on taking the time to even LOOK in my garden! In doing so, the deer (so far) have missed out on a luscious yellow lilly.

Of course, I didn't plant this deer candy in my deer resistant garden. There's nothing deer resistant about the lily. It was a gift from an anonymous bird who kindly planted the seeds a year ago. My feathered friend didn't provide a gift tag, and I haven't tried to identify the lily.

I'm not going to try to incorporate this lily into my garden plans. The bird did a fine job of planting the lily in the "hot colors" butterfly garden —with gaillardia, monarda 'Jacob Cline', crocosmia 'Lucifer' and an osmanthus fragrans. It's a pretty good design for a bird!

I don't want to get too attached to these beautiful flowers. As sure as I do, the deer will return—and, they won't miss the chance to nibble the lilies to nothing!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

House Hunting is for the Birds

Spring is house hunting time. The new house must be perfect. It can't be too small or too large. A lavishly decorated house is nice, but a simple little cottage will do just fine. Of course, the house must have a garden!

The birds are house hunting again! The chickadees are scouting around the bluebird houses to select a nesting home. The bluebird population is very high here in our neighborhood, too.

There are bluebird houses mounted along the board fencing throughout our neighborhood of open meadows. We have two more birdhouses behind our house, too. When there aren't enough birdhouses to go around, the bluebirds nest in the wooden newspaper tubes below everyone's mailbox!

Each year, the chickadees are the first to nest in our bluebird houses. After they raise their young, a bluebird pair takes over the same house. Our birdhouses are four feet off the ground and positioned along the edge of our woods, facing the open meadow.

We've noticed a male chickadee standing guard on top of one of the bluebird houses. The female has been going in and out of the house for several days, carrying nesting material. However, the male chickadee isn't very territorial compared to bluebirds!

If there is a car parked in our driveway when the bluebirds are nesting, there is a problem. The male fusses at his reflection in the side mirrors for hours and hours at a time. My son left his car parked here while he was in college. I had to tie grocery bags over the car mirrors to give the poor bluebird a break from his guard duty!

Meanwhile, we'll keep the bird feeders full of seeds for the nesting couples. Nesting season is another reminder that spring is in the air!

♥
I published this story on my blog one year ago. The birds must be on the same schedule this year as they are back at house hunting. The bird activity is a reminder to make sure we have birdhouses available—cleaned before the new occupants move in. Only the title for today's story has been changed to avoid confusion with the March 2009 story.
♥

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Deer Resistant Landscapes and Deer Control

There is a growing concern over deer as homeowners are having their landscapes destroyed. In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the issue of deer damage is appearing on town council agendas. Citizens are asking for the town's help to control the deer.

I don't live in the city limits of Chapel Hill, so I have no opinion on what the town should/should not do regarding the deer pressure for the residents. I don't have a vote there. Nonetheless, I do empathize as it is a sensitive and controversial topic on both sides of the deer fence.

My gardens (and house) began as acres of meadow and woodland. When we bought this property we knew deer would be a problem. They slept in the meadow every night before we built, and still sleep there every night since. I had to become an expert in deer resistant gardening and landscaping.

During our first year (2005), we counted twenty deer crossing our front meadow at the same time. Every year since, 3-5 fawns have been born here.

Last night as my husband and I were pulling into the neighborhood and had to wait for a few deer to cross the road, we remarked at how we recognize those deer! No, we haven't named them. We don't love them. We don't hate them. We had to learn to co-exist.


Now, imagine that you've lived in your neighborhood for many years without any deer damage to your landscape. You never had to worry about deer resistant shrubs and you could grow deer delicacies like hostas and roses.

As deer populations grew and as neighborhoods, businesses and roads took up more and more land, the deer moved into your previously deer-free yard in search of food. Your landscape is being picked clean by deer. The costs are huge and the emotional upset runs deep.

There isn't one solution for protecting existing landscapes. It may take a combination of methods that include fencing, herd culling, repellents and/or replacing shrubs and plants with deer resistant varieties. None of which are inexpensive.

The point that I've learned from this is - things change with the forces of nature. Wind, rain, drought, ice... and animals.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Baffle the Squirrels and Feed the Birds

The IQ of a squirrel is greatly underestimated. They solve problems with logic and they know how to use tools. There's a "think tank" of great squirrel minds out in our woods right now, putting together a plan for how they can get an easy meal from our birdfeeder.

Gardeners and other bird lovers hang their feeders hoping to attract, and feed, a variety of beautiful feathered friends over the winter. My husband and I take down our hummingbird feeders in the fall and bring out the birdseed. Our birdfeeders are positioned so that we can view the activity from our garden room while we enjoy our morning coffee by the warmth of the fireplace. Our Peterson's Field Guide® is handy so that we can quickly look up any unfamiliar birds.

From our view of the garden, we have personally witnessed many successful schemes of seed-stealing by the squirrels. We started out with a simple, inexpensive birdfeeder mounted on a simple, inexpensive hanger pole. The birdfeeder was filled with expensive, gourmet, premium wild bird seed. It didn't take but a few hours to realize that is equivalent to a neon "Open All Day" sign for squirrels.

We went back to the store in search of a solution. We saw a rather amusing video of a battery-operated feeder throwing squirrels around like a mechanical bull. We took one home. We replaced our cheap feeder with the animated attraction. We took our seats ready for the morning entertainment, confident that the squirrels would be unable to steal the seed.

The first squirrel was a bit stunned by his merry-go-round ride. He sat on the ground staring up at the new feeder. We "high-fived" thinking that the only seed for that squirrel was going to be what was dropped on the ground from bird beaks. He attempted his thievery a few more times, then went up on the roof to survey the situation. He sat up there for awhile pondering how to get around this new contraption. He came down with a new plan and told all his squirrel buddies.

The next thing we knew, a squirrel was on top of the feeder, where there is no flipping mechanism. He struggled and struggled to try to open the top. Unsuccessful in getting the lid off, we thought for sure he would give up. Instead the squirrels regrouped and sent their scout back on the roof to gather more intelligence about this new machine.

The next trick was to hang onto the pole with hind feet, stretch across and hold onto to the feeder trough instead of the flipping mechanism. The squirrels took turns eating from the feeder, ever so persistant and patient. The crew spent an entire day working systematically to reach the food. In the process, they managed to empty the feeder of seeds, replenishing their troups for another day's raid.

It was time for us to go back to the store. This time, we asked for assistance. The experienced salesperson pointed out a cone-shaped pole baffle. This purchase also required the purchase of a larger, taller pole to fit the baffle.

Having spent a considerable amount of money on this defense system, we were cautiously optimistic about our new fortress. With our mechanical feeder, a better pole and a new baffle, we were ready for the next onslaught.

The squirrels huddled together at the bottom of this new pole and baffle. From their vantage point, they could see the feeder, but it disappeared into darkness with every attempt to climb the pole. They tried to hang on the edge of the baffle, but there was no grip. They tried tipping the baffle to no avail. The sentinel on the roof had no battle plan for dislodging the baffle. Without trees close enough to launch an airborne attack, the defeated squirrel troop sulked back into the woods.

Through all of last winter, the baffle continued to baffle the squirrels while the birds got plenty to eat. We did show a little sympathy now and then by spreading a little seed around for the pitiful squirrels. We're ready for the attacks this year. Unless the squirrels bring a ladder, we think the birdfeeder is safe.


This is a repeat of last year's popular story by Freda Cameron

It's a Girl... Monarch Butterfly!

It was an exciting thing when one of the Monarch caterpillars moved from the asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) over to a large container planted with purple fountain grass, lantana, Persian shield and ageratum. I first noticed the "J" shape (that indicates the cat is ready to form the chrysalis) on August 30.

The next morning the cat was still a "J" but by afternoon of August 31, the chrysalis was formed.



This morning, I went out for my morning walk/run and noticed that the chrysalis was changing. I could see the design of the Monarch. By the time I finished my walk, this little girl had emerged!



It took exactly two weeks from the formation of the chrysalis to today's eclose. Our Monarch took a few hours to dry her wings and flap them to get some strength. She then moved onto the lantana blooms for nectar. This afternoon, she was flitting about the garden to feed on buddleia, marigolds, zinnias, agastache and salvias.

What a thrill to watch the metamorphosis! I'll be on the lookout for the other six caterpillars that fed on the milkweed. I should see more of the Monarch butterflies later this week. I think my garden has definitely earned the Monarch Waystation certification!

For more information on providing a habitat for Monarchs, visit Monarch Watch.

Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; August/September 2009

We Pause for Labor Day

Enjoy your Labor Day holiday! Hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and family.







Photos by Freda Cameron; Location NC Zoo™, Asheboro, NC; August 2009

Monarch Cats to Butterflies

Metamorphosis is a fascinating process. From an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly, the life cycle happens quickly.

If you live in the migration path of the Monarch butterflies, you have an opportunity to provide a habitat so that you can observe this amazing miracle of nature.

Each day, I check the different patches of milkweed in my garden to see if more eggs have hatched. So far this August, there are seven Monarch caterpillars (aka "cats") in my garden. All are on the pink swamp milkweed, asclepias incarnata. I also have white swamp milkweed as well as the orange milkweed, asclepias tuberosa, to serve as host plants.

After the caterpillars eat the foliage on the milkweed plants, they move to another plant nearby as the chrysalis formation begins. The top photo shows a cat that has moved from the milkweed to a purple fountain grass. The grass is growing in a container about ten feet away from the group of milkweed.

Because the milkweed is poisonous, this serves to protect the cats (and butterflies) from being eaten by birds. If a bird takes a bite of a Monarch, it will make them sick and they learn to recognize the Monarch butterfly. The bright orange and black coloring of the Monarch butterfly serves as a warning to the predators. This coloring is a symbol for poison!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; August 2009

Females Work on this "Honey-Do List"

Did you know that the females do ALL of the work in the honey bee world? Between 1-3 days of age, they clean the hive and regulate the temperature. Some of the honey bees flap their wings at the entrance to the hive to create air conditioning!

The list of tasks increases with each day. By the time they are 21 days of age, the female honey bees have learned to fly and forage for food by collecting pollen and nectar from flowers.

There are even more fascinating facts, flower gardens and fun for everyone at the new Honey Bee Garden exhibit at the North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro. The zoo is located in the NC Piedmont, a central and convenient location to access from all areas of the state.


The exhibit is a pleasant place to linger at the NC Zoo™. There are winding garden paths with comfortable benches as well as a huge, bronze honey bee sculpture for children to climb while parents enjoy the photo opportunities.

Inside the "Honey Bee Barn" a live hive can be viewed through glass. Bees enter and exit the hive through a glass tube from the outside. The hive buzzes with activity and the honeycombs are visible, too.

Of course, the gardens encourage visitors to plant flowers for the bees while the videos, posters, and signs explain the importance of pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, to the world's food supply. The educational displays are easy for children to understand while being interesting enough for adults to learn a lot about honey bees, too.

The importance of wildflowers, trees and even weeds in bloom is expressed along the pathway signs through the gardens.

Gardeners, you will appreciate this advice for your honey-do list - let weeds bloom first, then pull before they set seed - so that the honey bees have time to collect pollen from the weed blooms!


Photos and story by Freda Cameron; Location: NC Zoo™, Asheboro, NC; August 2009

Garden Fresh Meals

I could just sip from this hummingbird feeder, but I'd rather have garden fresh meals. My gardener works very hard to grow flowers just for me, so let's see what's blooming in my garden.


I have to start my day early in the morning. I'm very methodical as I check out all the blooms before the competition shows up. More hummingbirds have been trying to move into my garden lately, so I have to sit up in the top of the trees where I can stand guard over my food source.


My gardener grows salvia in so many different colors. She has red, white, purple, dark blue, light blue and these magenta blooms. Because the deer don't eat the flowers that she grows for me, there's plenty of nectar available here.


Although I love all of the salvias, the one called 'Black & Blue' is my favorite! My gardener knows this and is growing fifteen of these cobalt blue salvias just for me. Don't those flowers look delicious?


There are also several pretty colors of bee balm (monarda) growing in this garden. Those are tasty, but they don't bloom all summer long. It's a good thing that my gardener grows other flowers for me. Her husband keeps the hummingbird feeders filled when there aren't many flowers in bloom. My gardener recently deadheaded the monarda. Maybe they'll bloom again. I noticed new buds forming on the plants today.


Of course, my gardener grows a lot of hummingbird mint for me, too. I've noticed people call it agastache. It smells so good. I can't decide which flavor I like the best, but the 'Purple Pygmy', 'Salmon & Pink' and the 'Heather Queen' have perfect flowers for sipping nectar. The agastache blooms all summer long and lasts until I migrate south in the autumn.

If more people would grow hummingbird food, maybe I could have this garden all to myself!


Photos and words by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; July 2009

Blooms from Seed Swap Plants

Not only did I get free seeds, but my seed-swapping friends planted the seeds for me! They are so considerate, don't you think? My friends were very careful and chose the best companion plants and color combinations when sowing their seeds.

My seed-swapping friends are birds! All winter long, we fed the birds plenty of seeds. They gave me some interesting flower seeds in return for the food. I don't think some of the seeds came from the bird food that we supplied. I think some of these seeds came from other gardens.

Maybe this yellow lily came all the way from Jamie and Randy's garden! They received a sunflower gift from the birds and THEY grow Oriental lilies in their gardens! Perhaps their Goldfinches brought the lily to my garden?

The birds planted the lily with the deep purple salvia nemorosa 'Marcus' and gold/burgundy blanket flower, creating a nice little grouping in the butterfly garden. There is also a purple coneflower in that mix of free seeds. Since I grow the salvia, blanket flower and coneflower, then I suppose my flowers could have reseeded. However, there's no way that the yellow lily came from my garden.



There are also two perfect yellow, short sunflowers. The plants have very similar flowers with a height around 30 inches. I have no experience with sunflowers, so I have no idea how to find these seeds - other than buying sunflower bird food! I like these so much that I'd love to have a mass planting to brighten up the color in the butterfly garden.

One sunflower showed up in the cottage garden between the color-coordinated pale yellow shasta daisies and yellow coneflowers. The other showed up in the butterfly garden with agastache 'Blue Fortune'.

Not only did I receive some interesting plants in the seed swap, my feathered gardening friends were gracious enough to sow the seeds in good locations!



Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; June 2009

The Best Bird Feeder for Your Garden

This bird feeder is inexpensive and the squirrels won't raid it. The deer and rabbits won't congregate around it. You don't have to ask someone to refill your bird feeder when you're on vacation.

You may be tired of reading my stories about verbena bonariensis, but the American Goldfinches persuaded me to write about it again. The finches graciously posed for photos to give the verbena that added WOW factor. If you'd rather see butterflies on your verbena, then the finches suggest you take a look at my recent photos of a Monarch butterfly.

I've generously accommodated the wishes of the finches by providing mass plantings of verbena around the garden. In case you need some design ideas, it's an easy purple plant to use. It's everywhere - in the butterfly garden it is mixed with achillea 'Coronation Gold' and nepeta 'Walker's Low'. In the front deer resistant garden, it squeezes in between salvias and agastache.

Verbena bonariensis is a perennial in zones 7a through 10b. Colder areas can save the seeds and treat this verbena as an annual. It grows to around 3-4 feet in height and likes full sun and well-drained soil. I lost a few of my original plants during our cold winter when the temperatures dropped around 10°F, but there were enough seedlings available (it reseeds if you allow it) to carry on.

I have an ample supply of verbena by the front porch in the cottage garden, planted closely with agastache 'Purple Haze', echinacea 'Prairie Splendor', monarda 'Raspberry Wine'. There are also other perennials and annuals, such as poppies (now finished), larkspur, cosmos and zinnias sown in the same garden.

Today, there were four males and four females dining on the same clump of verbena by the porch. Goldfinches nest in June and July, so I can only assume these even pairs are matched up.

Since they are strictly vegetarian, Goldfinches rely upon seeds for their food year-round and need the flowers from our gardens.


Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; June 2009