Now for research

Now I have decided to just make the butterfly garden.  We will put off the vegetable stuff until fall planting time.  I know the weather here is similar to Florida in the meaning that I will possibly be able to plant veggies year round.  Of course winter and summer being pretty tough on the plants.

Any way...Even before I made the decision on the garden my daughter had already checked out a butterfly book from her school library.  First book in the new school, Mama is proud.  She mark the pages that had butterflies that live in our region and then made a list of plants for hosting.  Yep my girl.  We are researchers.  We love to write things down and then I lose said paper.  That is why I made the blog.

Research is important!  It is important to know what plants are invasive, if they will prosper,  are they waterwise?  

The first Internet stop I made was Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.  I used this all the time back in Florida.  By the way it is just up the road from here!!!! Spittin' distance as my Dad used to say.  So much information for native plants for all your gardening needs.  Of course the Internet has a wealth of information on gardening but this is just up the road.

Next I looked up some local blogs. I have to say and, it maybe the population difference, but folks here are more of the bloggin' type.  Garden blogs are kinda like reading someones garden journal.  It's first hand experiences that will really help me figure out this new area.  Now I feel like a blog stalker because I am reading all kinds of past blog post to get a feel for gardening here.  

Finally my favorite the library and book store stops.  Always a wealth of knowledge found between the covers of a good book.  Ok, just FYI there is a place called Half Priced Books.  I have no idea if we had one in Florida but there is one in my area.  I am in love.  

From here I have a pretty good idea of what I would like to do.  I am also very please that some of my favorite plants are native here also.  Spiderwort, Coneflower, Mistflower, Phlox, just to list a few special flowers to grow here.  Now just to get them all.

Good luck gardening everyone!

Where to start

So where do you start with a new garden?  In my opinion it is best to assess the area.  Where could you put a garden in your yard.  Is it an easy to access area, safe from heavy traffic like kid, animal, car?  Are you in a rental?  What restrictions do you have on planting with property managers or HOA's?

Here are pictures of the skeletons of a garden.

Two mystery roses

Pretty sure this was a sandbox

This far corner is filled with small branches 

The only thing holding this together is the mystery plant

I am not really sure what exactly each planting area was meant for.  I know the original gardener had some plan.  The soil looks amazing.  Rich black earth for planting.  Now we need to measure the areas and decide what would be best for vegetables or butterflies.  I am so excited!

Good luck gardening everyone.

So quite

The blog has been so quite for SOOO long.  A lot has happened over the last few months (years).  We finally gave up that house.  It was a had decision but the family couldn't pass this opportunity up.  So this little born and raised Floridian is now living in Texas!

Even after a month it is still strange to say "I live in Texas".  I am still marveling at the difference from Florida.  Texas has real honest to goodness dirt as apposed to the sand in Florida.  They also have something called Fall and Winter instead of Monsoon and Sauna.   Texas also has this strange obsession with orange and white Longhorn cattle.

I am currently filling my little garden book with the planting dates and variety of vegetables suitable for this area.  Planting times are similar here as they are in Florida.  Some veggies can get start very early, like lettuce.  Of course I am not sure if that will happen just yet as we are currently sitting at 34 degrees Fahrenheit. (WHAT!!)

Good luck gardening everyone.  I'm going to just stay in for a few more days and drink hot coffee.