Workday this Saturday 9/29!!

It's time to prepare the neighborhood's new butterfly garden!

When: Sept. 29, Saturday, 8am – 4pm
What we'll do: till the soil, lay edging, fill the beds with compost and mulch, and fill the trail with crushed granite.
What to bring: work gloves, hat, sunscreen, water, bug spray (extra wheelbarrows, shovels, and rakes may also come in handy)
Where: Corner of Cherrywood and Sycamore Roads (about one block north of 38.5)

This garden is made possible by CHULA (http://www.chulaleague.org/) and Keep Austin Beautiful.

Native Butterfly Garden Plan

The plan ya'll!:

Click here to view a larger version.

So, here's my plan! I've filled our garden space up with native plants for attracting butterflies for both nectar and places to lay eggs for caterpillars. There are a few spaces for adding plants in the future and the lay-out is actually pretty flexible. We'll likely make some decisions the day of planting and beyond. Anyway, this will help us lay out the beds appropriately.

Comments welcome!

Butterfly Garden Schedule

The process has begun for installation of the new Native Butterfly Garden at the corner of Sycamore and Cherrywood! This weekend, I pulled more Johnson grass (it grows back darn fast) and lay down a piddly amount of black plastic to try and fry some of the grass and weeds. (This is more of a gesture than anything.)

Fall approacheth and that means it's time to plant plants!

There will be 2 workdays coming up, and I really hope that neighbors will come out and help. Here's the potential schedule for the butterfly garden prep and installation:

9/29 (all day); Saturday

• Rototill/scrape planting area (I'll try to get a Rototiller on loan from KAB)
• Install steel edging for beds and paths (I'll buy this the day before)
  
• Have soil, decomposed granite and mulch delivered (ordered the week before)
  
• Install the above trio
  

10/13 (half day); Saturday

• purchase plants at Wildflower Center fall plant sale (on Friday)
  
• install and water new plants!
• wait for the plants to grow and the butterflies to come forth....

I'm working up a planting plan, which I'll share ASAP. Until then, here are a few of the native perennials and etc. that I'm considering so far:

• lantana
• zexmenia
• blazing star/gayfeather (Liatris)
• butterfly weed (various species)
• purple coneflower
• mistflower
• blackfoot daisy
• indian blanket
• standing cypress
• verbena
• monarda (bee balm, lemon balm)
• rock rose
• purple prairie clover
• woolly ironweed
• mexican plum (tree, but host for Cercropia moths and the monarchs LOVE the flowers in spring)