Butterfly Bush

Buddliea. There are many different kinds of Butterfly bushes, especially in the last few years. Cultivars have sprouted up everywhere. We have several kinds in our yard. We try not to have the everyday colors, but some are still. My wife is partial to the yellow butterfly bush, Buddliea x weyeriana or Sungold. We have a dwarf version that has not bloomed yet, so I will get some images later. The next one is a very dark purple, Buddleja davidii Black Knight. It is actually very dark, darker that the image shown. The other is Buddleja Davidii Empire Blue. The pictures are below. We now have butterfly bushes that grow all over and we have to pull up the errant ones. The yellow one does not reproduce.

Ladybug

The Lady bug (Coccinellidae) is probably the best friend a gardener can have. They have no cons, only pros. They eat only bad insects and sip some nectar, and they will police tirelessly until all pests are gone, stopping periodically to mate.
We had an early aphid infestation on our Autumn Clematis (clematis peniculata) this year, but we are trying really hard to cut out pesticides and other chemicals in our yard.

We ordered 1500 Ladybugs from the internet and a couple of days later we had a box of Ladybugs! We released them as per the instructions. A couple of days later, they were all gone. So we ordered 4000 the next time. When I released them, they hung around long enough to mate and completely eliminate the aphids after a few days!

Jasmine

Trachelospermum jasminoides is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed family, Apocynaceae, that is native to eastern and southeastern Asia, into Japan, Korea, southern China, and Vietnam. Common names include Star Jasmine, Confederate Jasmine, and Trader's Compass.
We planted one plant a few years ago to hide a propane tank. Knowing full well that it might not survive our winters. We now have 3 placed around the yard. The one we planted first, next to the house is the largest. I guess it gets protection and a little warmth from the house. The one under the Cherry tree is also doing well, and due to a mild winter this year, the one we planted out by the street to eventually climb up the barren street pole, is doing much better. It seems to always take a hit in the winter, but comes back.

If you want a plant that exudes one of the most incredible smells on earth, look no further. For about 4 weeks now and still going strong, these plants have been feasting our noses to one of the most pleasant smells known to man. Early morning, out on the porch, late in the evening, after a hard day in the garden, they honor you with a fresh and inviting fragrance.

Poppies
Papaveraceae Eschscholzia.

We planted these California Poppies a couple of years ago and they have really taken to our area. They have survived some snows and bitter cold and still popped right back. They have been propagating profusely on their own.

Tulips

Liliaceae Tulipa.

We planted dozens of bulbs in the fall. This year we knew we needed to add some topsoil to the beds, so planting the bulbs was easy. My wife just placed them were she wanted them, sprinkled some bone meal around them, and I dumped 8-9 yards of soil over all the beds. We had some wonderful color this year!

The beginning

While this is not the beginning of our garden, this is the beginning of blogging about it. We want to share our trials and tribulations of gardening, landscaping and photography of plants. We have a lot of specimen trees, shrubs and flowers.