Summer in the Butterfly Garden

Back in early May, I decided to give myself a birthday present and do something beneficial for my yard and wildlife by planting a butterfly garden.  I spent a large part of the summer tweeting about the Maryland native plants that I chose to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds, but wanted to share a little more of the story here. I took what was the area I had been using as a tree nursery, and cleared a little more space for over two dozen species of native shrubs and flowers.  The plot went from this...

Time "Outdoors"

Readers who frequent this blog may have noticed that, since March, things have slowed down quite a bit around here.  At work, I've been required to spend less time at my desk (a great place to blog when I can), and more time moving about.  I've been taking courses, which takes up quite a bit of time as well.  But as the weather has gotten warmer, the majority of my free time has been spent outdoors.  This has been the first spring and summer that I've been in my new home after the previous occupants moved out last year, which means I've had a lot of yard work to catch up on.  Getting rid of invasive species, trying to get as many native plants on my property as possible, and keeping my garden take up the majority of my post-work daylight hours.  Quite a bit of energy goes into this, which is both good and bad.  Good because I love working outside, and I'm excited for my home grown foods and the wildlife that native plantscaping will bring to my yard.  Bad because when the sun goes down, I usually do as well.  Blogging, unfortunately, has not been as large of a priority as sleeping, so it has gone by the wayside.