It took long enough in this summer of 2014.
But at long last, on this slightly gray Sunday morning of Aug. 3, I finally felt it was time to grab the iPad Air and take these shots of the backyard butterfly garden in the Eastwood neighborhood of the Syracuse city home of my dear wife Karen and I.
May I present to you:
The first planted when we started this triangle garden was the puple.
The proud purple above (and left, sharing a bit of the light with …)
Transplanted from a sprig sent up from my sister Fran on Long Island.
The wondrous white above (and center, sharing its stage with the already seen purple and …)
Planted the same year as the white.
The pearly pink, previously blossomed as multicolored (at right).
Last one planted.
And the squat white, off on its own to the left, short and wide and with far less blossoms this year, even fewer than the others in this season of less-than-plentiful on the butterfly bush scale.
Now that they’re here at last, may the butterfly bush flowers draw winged beauty long into the next season.
Did the especially harsh winter seem to alter your garden’s success this summer? Which have done worse, or maybe even better? What plans may you have come up with for this coming winter to make summer 2015 more bountiful for flowers or veggies?
Mark Bialczak 
lovely colors, beautiful work ❤
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Thanks so much, Leyla!
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well captured
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Thanks so much, Anna. Thanks for coming by.
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All looking lovely.
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Hi I have tried a couple of times to like your posts (from my phone) no luck! I like your posts 🙂 ! I shall try later on my laptop. I hope this works as I really enjoyed this post. 🙂 xx
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Thanks, Willow. You rock.
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Those a re all beautiful, but I like the dark purple ones the best! 😀
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Me, too, and the butterflies, also, Rachel! Unanimous, practically …
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Of course! 😀
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You have an excellent butterfly garden, Mark (and Karen, too!) You really must have done all the right things, because they grew really tall and gorgeous, too! I love the purple one the best, which one attracts the most butterflies? Thanks for this fun garden to see! I miss gardening but am glad to visit other’s in ‘real life’ and online, too.
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I think the butterflies like the purple the best, too, Robin, just like you, my friend!
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Looking good, Mark, and glad you’re finally getting the visitors you’ve been waiting for. We’re seeing lots of activity down here in Virginia, too, especially hummingbirds right now. No more gophers, right?
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Knock on wood, no gophers. Worse, Barb. Now the skunk stink is showing up every night. So far, we’ve kept Ellie B from taking a hit. Knock on wood again. But oh, how we fear that.
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Wretched skunks. My Max got a blast a free years ago and the stench was unbelievable. Lasted for ages😬😷😷😷
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Yes, our previous beloved rescue mutt, Lissa, got skunked twice, and it is the worst, Barbara, absolutely, a nightmare that turns the household upside down for weeks. 😦
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We had such a hard winter, followed by the spring flooding, and then the weird summer without much heat, so I haven’t seen any butterflies at all around here Mark. Our usual bounty of veggies is really late, but the tomatoes seem to be abundant, and the price on the local ones is dropping, but a lot of the flowers were so late I almost gave up on seeing them. Now some of the trees are starting to change already, because it has been so cool in July they seem to think Autumn is here. I just hope that doesn’t mean a hot August, because I could get used to cool weather like we had last month. It just doesn’t seem real though, and I’m already dreading winter. We’ve had some really horrendous thunderstorms, with electricity outages that are not a lot of fun. Your flowers are beautiful though, now that they have started. Next year maybe they will be even better, now that they have a start.
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Very nice, Mr. B! I have been patiently waiting for this much anticipated butterfly garden to bloom since you first told us about it. Enjoy!
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See, I wasn’t exaggerating. We do have a nice butterfly garden, Mrs. B. Thank you.
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Very nice. My garden is taking a beating with 100+ temperatures and of course our drought.
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Hard to withstand 100 degrees and no water, Dora. Ouch! We’ve been getting afternoon thunder showers every day the last three or four days with high-80s. I wish I could send some to California.
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Etta James is singing to you.
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You’ll have so much fun watching creatures fly in and out of there…how nice.
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We hope, Aud!
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Beautiful!
Arizona has a huge butterfly population (hummingbirds, too), so butterfly gardens are popular here. I keep meaning to do a special container garden that would attract even more of them, but I never seem to get around to it.
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You’ll have to explain to me what a special container garden might be, Ms. Monsterful, because this upstate New Yorker knows not what you mean. Maybe it’s an Arizona thing … or I’m just in the cold. Anyhow, way cool that you have plenty of colorful butterflies AND hummingbirds to admire in your part of our world, my friend.
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::facepalm::
I was going to try replying one more time until I realized that the first two attempts probably ended up in your spam filter because I included two links. (The second one had a better link than the first, I think.)
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I will look in the spam filter, Ms.
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Sorry, Mark!
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Beautiful photos! I live in Brooklyn, so I have a “fire escape garden”, and yes, this cruel winter definitely affected my potted roses. I have two sad thin little green stems and no buds. Boo-Hoo. I didn’t even get angry when the wretched squirrels dug up parts of the pot. My annuals are doing well with the exception of my petunias. They’re so long, straggly and covered in aphids. Oh well. Happy Gardening!
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I admire your drive for a fire escape garden in Brooklyn, Tattoogirl. I have not only a soft spot for gardens, but Brooklyn fire escapes, too, having been born in Greenpoint and living through kindergarten on Morgan Avenue, exit off the Kocziasko Bridge. I hope the potted roses give you more than a thin green stem before fall, and may the annuals continue to bring you joy. Take a walk to McCarren Park for fun? Happy gardening, indeed!
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I know exactly where you grew up! I lived on Conseleyea & Graham for three years and get my tattoos done in Greenpoint on Manhattan & Driggs. My annuals do give me joy. They’re my little babies!
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I know those streets. My grandparents lived in Greenpoint right through. Good luck with green thumb and the multicolored ink.
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And to the list of people, music, food and good cheer we can add gardener and grower of colors! 🙂
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Much to the credit to my dear wife Karen, the green thumb of the family to my all-thumbs of the family, my dear friend Colleen. 🙂
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Kudos for color growing to your Dear Wife Karen! 😀
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Nicely done Mark, better late than never. The flowers do look beautiful – very colorful.
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Yes, I am glad to see them arrive, Paul. And, soon, I will be checking out your second Sunday installment at Williow’s place. Promise!
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It looks great! I need to plant one of these next year!
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They have great pleasure yield, UpMom, because they last long into November, sort of the Last Green Standing in the gone-brown garden. You’ll love them because they get big and bush over the years, too. 🙂
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You know Mark, up until I heard it from you, I had never heard of butterfly gardens. Do these plants specifically attract butterflies over others?
Thanks for sharing your photos and I am so glad your garden finally came to be. ❤
Diana xo
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They do attract butterflys over others, and thus earn the name butterfly bushes. There are other plants the butterflies like, too, like MIlkweed, and we have that in there, too, Diana.
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I hope you do attract butterflies and bees. Bees are dying.
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We do attract bees. Have to keep the bees going, you are so right, Kim.
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Mark, my butterfly bush is just coming into bloom. Late this year. I am hoping to catch a butterfly or two! My flowers this year … most came up late and did not stay long at all. I have several rose bushes that are doing splendid, with their blooms lasting. I have a bunny right now in our backyard who seems to be foraging. That means …. cooler weather is right around the corner. Now, this is the thing, Mark. IF this winter is anything like the last one, I may just pack my bags and head south.. KKeeping mmyy fingers crrossed …… OOH OH!! MMy kkeypad is going nuts.. xx Amyy
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Please, don’t let the bunny be right about winter coming soon, Amy. I will go into a snit. No No No. !!! Hey, if you can move south … Karen and I can’t do it. Some time down the line, we hope to be about to take six weeks or so every year when we’re retired and go someplace warm. That’s a plan. Hey, watch out for that sticky keyboard, my friend. Hugs …
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AS of now, Mark, I’m not going anywhere. My cats too are acting like um colder weather is coming. Oh please NO! I am with you on this all the way! As for my keyboard, it only did it on your site. No where else. Hmmmm…… Go figure. Hope you and your lovely wife Karen had a great Sunday and relaxed. Love, Amy
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We did zero relaxing, Amy. Shopping and catching up with cleaning and chores! Now it’s get ready for Monday work. You have a great night, too, dear neighbor friend.
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(sad face) So sorry about the zero relaxation, neighbor. I watched TWO movies today, the first I have done that since before Spring. Yep, my eyes are bleary, my head is weary, and I be headin’ for bed soon. Things caught up to me today! SOOOOO many photo shoots …. and still more planned. And then there is um, LIFE. LOL Love,Amy
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oh, how pretty and you are so lucky. i told you i only have a mini one this year, and my hydrangea has not bloomed at all, i just read that if you snap off the dead canes, (which i did in the spring), the plant will not bloom that year. lesson learned and just my way of learning, trial and error)
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Our hydrangea isn’t blooming this year, either, Beth. Karen just said she didn’t snap off the dead canes, either. She thinks maybe they bloom every other year because our next door neighbor’s out front didn’t bloom last year and did bloom this year. It’s so hard to figure out! Anyway, yeah, I remember you have one mini this year. Hard year for the butterfly bushes and I’m sure it was the tough winter.
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Our butterfly bushes are finally blooming too! We lost one from the harsh winter along with many lavender and sage. It’s always an adventure in CNY!
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We lost a lavender too from the winter, Rachel. Yes, our CNY snow and cold is like a boxer whacking the garden every year. But we do it anyway and love the good results, right?! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience, neighbor.
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Yay for all the colors in this post! Thanks, Mark.
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I love when nature does her part, and let’s me do mine, Ann. Thank you for admiring it.
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