Garden of butterflies

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  I do everything I can to attract butterflies to my gardens. One plant that  is a must is butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii).  It is a lovely shrub that spends most of the growing season covered in clusters of flowers.  To say that it attracts butterflies is an understatement!   I have included some butterfly bush blossoms below along with a few other pretties from my garden.

To me, butterflies represent the metamorphosis from ordinary to extraordinary.  The transformation from simple insect to ethereal winged beauty is a miracle of nature.

   Butterflies enjoy rocks to rest upon and a source of water.  They are also attracted to large areas of color, so plant multiples of smaller plants.  Butterfly weed is a host plant for monarch butterflies.  It also attracts swallowtails, fritillaries, painted ladies, hummingbirds, and hummingbird clearwing moths (have you every seen what looks like a large bee but flies like a hummingbird?  It’s a hummingbird clearwing moth!).

These are just a few of the flowers that butterflies flock to:

Coneflower - Echinacea

Tickseed - Coreopsis

Butterfly bush - Buddleia davidii

Butterfly weed - Asclepias tuberose

Lantana - Lantana camara

Black eyed Susan - Rudbeckia

Azalea - Rhododendron sp.

Viburmum - Viburnum

Marigold -  Tagetes

Zinnia - Zinnia elegans

Pincushion flower - Scabios)--

Garden phlox - Phlox paniculata

Cosmos - Cosmos bipinnatus

Bee balm - Monarda

Lavender - Lavendula

Delphinium - Delphinium grandiflorum

Stonecrop - Sedum

Speedwell - Veronica spicata

These asiatic lilies remind me of monarchs.

I use corn syrup in my icing, which gives my cookies a shiny almost glaze like finish.  They remind me of stained glass windows.

I love it when my two favorite activities (baking and gardening) collide. 

                                                                       Cookies + 

                                                                         Nature =

                                                                             Bliss!

Me and my butterflies are flitting around blogland with
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