June 30, 2024 Cottage Butterfly Garden Tour in Houston Texas zone 9

A tour of my backyard at the end of June!

[@joycehancock3944]

I just love your garden 🌿🌻🌿And welcome Buttercup 🐈🐾🐞🐝🦋🐛

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you so much! Isn’t he the cutest? We are losing our minds over all the cuddles we’re getting.

[@Neesie53]

You inspired me! I added Tutti Frutti Agastache, Walker’s Low Catmint, Gregg’s Mistflower, Forsythia Sage, and Pigeonberry to my garden. Also fennel and dill for host plants. I live in Central Texas and they are doing well even though we had a tornado on May 22!

[@JosTXGarden]

I’m sooo glad you are safe from the tornado! And how fun you’re adding all those plants! Fabulous! 🎉🎉

[@HoustonKeith72]

I love the white coneflower! I must have it!

[@JosTXGarden]

I love it!!

[@corinabecerra953]

So pretty 🌸🪴

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you! 😊😊😊🦋

[@ButterfliesNBirds]

Welcome back from your vacation and thank you for the garden tour! I was on my third "crop" of Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my fennel before the mockingbirds found them this week! They proceeded to clean out all my EBS caterpillars. 😮 You have some really nice sized caterpillars in your garden. I am looking for the large heirloom pentas (either pink or red) ... have you ever seen them in the nursery? I can only find the smaller hybrid pentas.

[@JosTXGarden]

Oh no! I get so bummed out when something eats my caterpillars! I left for my trip leaving behind about a dozen Pipevine cats. I got them going in an enclosure, but “released them into the wild” before I left. Some Pipevine was clearly eaten, but I expected a lot more to be gone because there were so many cats. I’ll never know who made it! They always get eaten out there. Humph. I haven’t seen any of the heirloom pentas lately. I know I bought them at Joshua’s once and I think I have found them at Buchanan’s, but I can’t be sure. It’s been a while, since I’ve been able to keep them alive for several years in a row! If I see some, I’ll let you know! Goodness, your garden is stunning this summer!

[@wendy5006]

I didn’t get a really close look at your mystery salvia but I'm wondering if it's " Wendy's Wish " salvia which originated out of Australia. It was bred by a Wendy Smith in Australia and is/was part of the Children's Wish Foundation. If the leaves are a dark green and don't have the typical salvia leaf fragrance, then I'm betting that's what you got. It's my favorite salvia.

[@JosTXGarden]

I’m looking at close ups of mine versus Wendy’s wish online, and I’m not quite sure they match. I need to take a cutting to the nursery where I bought it and ask if they can ID it! 🤣

[@joansmith3492]

could you cut up the Amie and lay it at the feet of your parsley or other swallowtail plant like mulch and any eggs that hatch or small cats can climb up onto the swallowtail host plant? i am still waiting for them to show up on my carrot plants. i guess sometimes it takes a minute.

[@JosTXGarden]

I have actually done that before- in a way. When I deadhead or otherwise cut off any part of a host plant, I drop the cuttings at the base of the plant in case I missed somebody! 🐛

[@caroltrego1379]

Do you have the plants watered by a human, is there irrigation or is nothing watered at all when you go on vacation. I live in Pennsylvania and water my potted plants almost every day. I would have dead potted plants if they were not watered on a regular basis or for 2 weeks if I went away. The plants in the ground here would probably make it, but that is debatable with the high temperatures we have been experiencing in south central Pennsylvania that past few weeks.

[@JosTXGarden]

It has rained enough in the last few weeks to go without the beds being irrigated, but I will turn on the sprinklers 2x/week when I go out of town again because it’s so hot, and the rain has kindof dried up a bit. While we were gone last week, we had no one watering the pots, but they did ok in full shade for about 10 days. When I leave town again in July, I’ll have a real human water the pots twice a week. They’ll still be in full shade- so not lush and blooming, but alive! During the last two summers we had severe droughts, and it was harder to keep the garden going when I was gone. Dropped some money paying our garden dudes to schlep over very often to keep things watered!

[@caroltrego1379]

@@JosTXGarden I am surprised. Thanks for explaining. Great garden.

[@4g4gt5]

Too hot this summer …

[@JosTXGarden]

Omg, right? 🥵