Why I Oughta...

One of the plants that I picked up at this past year's Morton Arboretum Plant Sale - BUT failed to post about when I planted - was this decidious shrub called a Spice Bush (Lindera benzoin).  I tucked it in back by the fire pit and mostly forgot about it.  Below is a snapshot of the sign from the sale that I took back in April and you can see that it has a Forsythia with yellow Spring flowers.   Below is the plant tag showing that it will grow up to be 6-12 feet tall and 6-12 feet wide.  And will handle partial shade: Below is a photo showing what it looked like when we brought it home with green leaves on woody stems.  It was about 15" tall from the soil-level. This was, clearly, not on the plan.  But, we still bought it, on a whim. The REAL reason that we bought it was that the lady at the sale told us about the Spice Bush Swallowtail, a butterfly, that relies on this plant during the caterpillar stage .  What's not to like about that, right?...

Back in March of this year, I posted a photo of a couple of Milkweed seed packets that we received from the Save our Monarchs Foundation that are appropriate for our 5B zone here out in the Chicago Suburbs.  I also had t his older packet of Milkweed seed that we received at a parade in 2016 that I never planted.  With Spring here and the back of our yard still a mess, I just decided to sow them directly in the ground and cross my fingers that we'll see some action on them as the weather warms up.  I put them in a staggered row with the two Foundation packets on the right and the parade packet on the left. I put the empty packet envelopes down in the soil and took this photo so I can go back there later this Summer, see if anything is happening with them and then know which type is which.  I'm hoping that a few of seedlings will emerge and we'll get a nice first year plant that can help the Monarchs this season.  I took the Bird and the KotBT out there and...

Earlier this Winter, the girls and I sent along a SASE and our little donation to the Save our Monarchs Foundation and a few weeks later, we received two packets of the seeds you see above.  We're going to give Milkweed a shot this Spring.  This isn't the first time I've posted about Milkweed seeds here on the blog.  Back two years ago, we scored some Milkweed seeds at a parade that I posted here .   By now, you know that the Monarch Butterfly population is in severe decline and milkweed seeds are one of the keys to their survival.  Planting Milkweed is something that we - as a family - can do to help the Monarchs.  Once the weather warms up, I'll work with the girls to find a sunny spot and plant the seeds and watch them (hopefully) sprout in the early Summer.