By Sprout Home Brooklyn, July 13th, 2011, Brooklyn
One on the joys of raising plants is to see them pass on your good karma by helping to sustain other life-forms. Butterflies and bees are two well loved winged creatures. Today we will talk about butterflies.
Butterflies are fun for everyone, especially kids. Attracting them can be of two levels of seriousness. Level one is planting the things that butterflies like to feed on (butterfly nectar plants). If you really want to get into it, then you can begin to plant those things that butterflies will lay their eggs on, and that their baby caterpillars will love to eat. For now, let’s just assume you want to attract butterflies to visit. You can decide later if you want to up the ante.
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| Small florets like those on this butterfly bush attract butterflies |
Listed below are butterfly nectar plants we have at Sprout right now followed by the types of native butterflies (the ones that can be found in New York) that they attract…
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Butterfly Bush: (one of the best plants for this purpose) Eastern Tiger, Spicebush Swallowtail, Pipevine, Variegated Fritillary, Great Spangled Fritillary, Monarch, Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral, Question Mark, Silver-Spotted Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Horace’s Duskywing
Echinacea (aka purple coneflower, the other best choice): Painted Lady, Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, Pearl Crescent, Monarch, Painted Lady, American Lady, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Horace’s Duskywing
Oregano: (who would have thunk it?): Swallowtail, Variegated Fritillary, Silver-Spotted Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing
Lantana: (you will notice the small florets, like the butterfly bush): Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail, Monarch, Red Admiral, Silver-Spotted Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing
Liatris: Swallowtail
Zinnia: Painted Lady, Swallowtail, Silvery Checkerspot, American Lady, Silver-Spotted Skipper
Salvia: American Lady, Silver-Spotted Skipper
Sedum autumn joy: Pearl Crescent
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We would really love to hear about the different types of butterflies you see. If you get pictures of them, show us! Butterfly identification is fun, and I’ve heard that people who get bored of bird watching move on to butterfly watching.
Information painstakingly cross-referenced from the Butterfly Site http://www.thebutterflysite.com/.
By Sprout Home Brooklyn, July 9th, 2011, Brooklyn
NEW Perrenials
agastache 2 kinds
flowering creeping thyme
balloon flowers (pictured below)
ligularia
japanese anemones (probably will bloom this week!!)
grasses that are starting to bloom
–pennisetum, carex, hakonechloa–
black cohosh (cimicifuga) NATIVE shade plant
more catmint, blooms all summer long
Bees balm native vareity resistant to powdery mildew!
coreopsis
russian sage (drought tolerant)
liatris native perennial (tall purple flowers)
fairy tails grass
echinacia, shorter variety
Other NEW plants
Annual mixed baskets
Celosia
sedum pachyclados (drouth tolerant, pictured below)
FLOWERS
ageratum, jasmine, russian olive, anenome, chocolate allium, lycopodium. mammy blue roses, pink garden roses (2 kinds), dusty miller, solomon seal, white saponaria, rudbeckia white scabiosa, flowering eucalyptus, echinops, brunia, amnesia roses, white garden roses, white peony, chamomile, white ranunculus, large viburnum branches, purple artichoke
By Sprout Home Brooklyn, July 6th, 2011, Brooklyn
A lot of activity here today.
We have received those delicious herbs you’ve been asking about. Among them: basil, rosemary, lavender, peppermint, and cilantro (for those of you that like that cilantro flavor).
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| Basil: ready to be cultivated for pesto. |
We found some more swallowtail caterpillars on the dill and fennel plants. If you are lucky enough to find a caterpillar on yours, just let them eat the plant. Butterflies are delightful to behold.
Here is some really exciting news. We have insanely beautiful RED passionflower vines. You can get them in small 4 inch pots, or the larger version. When the flowers open they will knock your socks off.
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| Passionflower. Hot diggity. |
Other outdoor additions today: coleus, angelonia, sweet potato vine, zinnias and lantana. Indoor additions: ficus lyrata trees, small wandering jew plants, and fitonias.
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| Long lasting blooms: Angelonia |
On top of all that we also rearranged the store. Sorry for those of you that came in to see us in this messy process, but we are happy with the results, and hope it will be more helpful for you too. Now all the terrarium supplies are in one place up front: rocks, sand, moss, living together in harmony. Give us compliments on how nice everything looks.
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| Here is a sneak peak at the the new terrarium section. To get a less obscured view, come in person! |
Finally to end this blog post: our employee Greg, plant man extraordinaire, will be leaving to go on tour with his band Batillus for a few weeks. We will miss him, but we take some comfort in something he admitted after a little prodding today. Greg revealed that, “All of our songs are inspired by plants, black plants.”
By Sprout Home Brooklyn, July 3rd, 2011, Brooklyn
Two delightful summertime plants caught my eye while watering yesterday. 1. Kangaroo Paw: Packing the proverbial punch
There is one kangaroo paw in the yard at Sprout right now. A prize goes to the first person who buys it. What is the prize? Why the kangaroo paw itself! Come try to find it. Its like “Where’s Waldo”.
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| The Kangaroo Paw Annual hides amidst the greenery |
2. Astilbe: “Vision in Red”
You need to get close and check out the amazing coloration of the flowers on this astilbe. You may get the song “lady in red… is dancing with me” in your head, but don’t let that confuse you. Its a vision in red!
By Sprout Home Chicago, July 1st, 2011, Chicago
Tester mahgester.
So I guess this is sort of how we will be getting down. Simple and to the point, like this Chive Squared Loft Vase.
