Thursday, March 27, 2014

Update 3-27-14

  Up until recently I have been planning to make a vertical garden much like the one that home depot demonstrated here. But after looking at the height of many of the plants that I would like to plant, I realized that this particular format will most likely not work, given that most of the plants reach a height of 3 feet.
  Right now, I am look toward a modified version of the method seen in this video. I envision a wall with similar outlets that would allow the plants to have enough room to grow to full height. I don't know how I will do that, but I will figure it out.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Progress

  Today I have been fortunate enough to find some wood that i can use in the construction of the vertical monarch butterfly garden. Yes, the vertical aspect is new. I though that i would have the garden in my back yard but my parents decided that they wanted to garden this year, the first time in 11 years. So, the only place to go is up. The wood is actually scrap wood from a nearby construction site, so thanks to them this is possible.
  I have a list of species that I would like to try to plant, here is a sample:

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata subsp. pulchra)
Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)

Mexican sunflower
Lantana
Pentas
Zinnia
Porterweed
Ironweed

Verbena
Buddleia
Caryopteris
Vitex
Goldenrod
Gayfeather

perwinkles
Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)
Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)
Tithonia Torch, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
Zinnia, Dahlia Mix (Zinnia elegans)
blue mist-flower (Conoclinium coelestinum)
Gregg’s mistflower (C. greggii)
white mist flower (Ageratina havanensis)
coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
white honeysuckle (L. albiflora)
crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)
passion flower (Passiflora sp.)
antelope-horns milkweed (Asclepias asperula)

I should also mention that I plan to make the face of this garden at least 15 square yards. If all goes to plan, I may actually be able to get this garden certified as a Monarch Butterfly Way station.