Slide show: 5 beautiful butterflies
Plant nectar-rich flowers and you’ll have plenty of butterfly visitors to your garden. Here are five common ones you’re likely to see.
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June 2011
Wild four o’clock
With its thick tuber and fibrous roots, this 4 1/2-ft.-tall weed towers along roadsides and other spots.
Slide show: Create a no-mow slope
Mowing a steep slope can be both difficult and dangerous. A great solution is to grow a low-maintenance ground cover, but getting the plants started is tricky.
Eastern phoebe
This small, 5 1/2- to 6 1/2-in.-long dark gray-brown flycatcher is familiar in most of eastern North America.
‘Mac ‘n’ Cheese’ and ‘Tomato Soup’ coneflowers
You’ve probably noticed that coneflowers aren’t necessarily purple anymore. These two colors will fill out the rainbow of flower colors quite nicely.
Organic yellowjacket control
Yellowjackets, a type of wasp, are technically beneficial — they kill other insects. But because the sting of this aggressive ground bee is painful, preventing injury outweighs the benefit.
Basket of flowers
Hot-colored geraniums and pinks in this basket grab your attention instantly. The deep-pink and lavender-pink are closely related to the purple colors of the calibrachoas and annual baby’s breath.
Whorled milkweed
This 2-ft.-tall perennial weed spreads by roots and seeds. A white sap oozes when the leaves or stems are broken or cut and long, narrow, pointed seed pods are produced in summer.
