The Perennial Garden

50% success rate on the perennial garden! Finally! Year in and year out, I have never been able to get a good start on a perennial garden. The plants would die every winter and never come back,
Last June I planted an Echenacia, foxglove, 3 daylilies and something else I don't remember the name of. Pretty light blue fringed flowers.
The dayliies are coming up as well as the unknown. The Echenacia and foxglove have not come up yet. Still harboring a glimmer of hope, I am watering them anyway. I would like to add some hostas and a different perennial to the garden this year. Something for hummingbirds.
Our neighbors sold their house and gave us one of the spare garden benches. I created a cinder path and sitting area near the perennial and veggie garden.
Recommended reading - The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques

How to Design a Butterfly Garden

Cultivating and maintaining a butterfly garden can be a beautiful and unique idea for environment conservation. With over 700 different butterfly species in North America, it is easy to attract them to your yard.

Butterflies are an important part of the environment. The caterpillars and adults are both food sources for birds, bats and other wildlife. The adults pollinate flowers, and also the blooms of vegetables.

The size of your butterfly garden is of no real importance. Start small and add new plants yearly. Try clumping several of the same type of plants together as butterflies are nearsighted and are attracted to large clusters of color. Place the garden strategically in a sunny area that is partially protected from winds and relatively closely to any vegetable gardens. Choose plants that are popular to butterflies and provide them with nectar.

To provide a source of water, without encouraging mosquitoes, try placing a sheet of aluminum foil in an open area and add a shallow layer of aquarium gravel, creating a small shallow depression in the center to create a small puddle. As you water the flowers, this drinking pool will retain moisture. Just enough for the butterflies but not enough for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.

I want to attract many different species of butterflies to my gardens, so I select perennials suited to each species that is commonly found in my area.