creativecasey: A Monarch Way Station...A diary of a gardener...

Happy Monday, Everyone! I hope that everyone had a great weekend! We had a great time going to a Royals game, I had an early morning photo session on Saturday, found a great garage sale for a teacher that was retiring, and then went to a few family type events. Pretty busy! I also found some time to work in the garden - yay! Lucky for you, I had a few extra minutes this morning before I left for work, so I could take a few Instagram Pics of our butterfly garden :)...

In today's post, I will be introducing you to our Monarch Way Station that we created. There is a great program at the University of Kansas where you can actually create a Monarch Butterfly Habitat and register it nationally. Monarch butterflies are special in that they travel to Mexico during the winter months and then fly north during the summer months to lay reproduce. Because of the overpopulation and growth, their habitats are decreasing at an alarming rate. Therefore, we are doing our part to create an environment full of their favorite plants so that they can find a home at our house. Here is a look at our Monarch Waystation Area...a.k.a. the Wright's Rainbow Butterfly Garden (we let the little one name it :)......

Because all of our plants are starting to get bigger, I was able to mulch around them to keep the moisture in. I love that red mulch! ....And this is a picture of our Verbena that we picked up. Butterflies love them because they are a succulent plant which means they retain water. They also bloom all summer long, which the butterflies love...

We also planted some flowers from seed - 4 flats to be exact. We planted 4 different varieties of zinnias and sunflowers. The exciting part is that I didn't label them, so it will be a surprise once they bloom - we can't wait to see their vibrant colors...

A butterfly milkweed...

A butterfly bush...

Marigolds... I think I might plant these from seed next year since they are good in both the flower and vegetable garden...

And a beautiful Lavendar... so pretty!

And while I'm attracting butterflies to the garden, I might as well attract hummingbirds :). This is one of the fun Mother's Day presents that Peyton and Jake gave me. Isn't it pretty?!?

As the summer rolls in, I will continue to update on the growth and progress of our butterfly garden. If you are interested in starting your own Monarch Way Station, you can find the details at the Monarch Watch Website...just click here....

In other news... I'm excited to see these gems starting to grown in the garden... These are from the Hillbilly potato leaf tomato plant. So exciting!!!