Thursday, September 21, 2017
New visitor
Today a lady from Charlottesville, VA stopped by the garden. She is a Master Gardener and she was very impressed. There is usually a nice breeze and it is very relaxing just to sit and enjoy the butterflies.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
How the Garden Grows
Yes, another post on the status of the garden weed and maintenance issue.
It's a daunting task to weed either end of the Matzke Butterfly Garden fence line. Once again, thanks to Ms. Joan, The Three Amigos Landscape crew undertook the challenge. They were not concerned with fire ants, vines and long grasses. We are hoping that we can engage their services more regularly to help maintain the fence line bed in particular.
This is an excerpt from the email we received last night.....
Two men came and hand pulled the fence bed. Finished and then pulled in the Murphy bed and a bit in the Butler bed and very little in the Castellani bed. Did a nice clean up. At the end of the fence bed by the water fountain where that tree was smothered in passion vines they got a ladder and cut out some of the branches of that tree . The passion vine was so wrapped around they tried and tried and could not get it pulled out. I sat on the bench and watched the hundreds of butterflies feasting on that purple bush. Is that purple bush a salvia?. (Yes it is) The lady returned with some more monarch caterpillars and she and her little boy put them on butterfly weed in the Butler bed. (See the previous post from Sep 5) Fantastic to be out in such weather.
If you can't or don't like to get your hands dirty, you can still do your part. It is a simple thing. Please register your card for the Kroger's Rewards program to help us pay for landscapers to help maintain the garden beds. Register for the charity number 82607. It is with Association for Better Community Schools (ABCS) and all of the proceeds are given to the Garden Club Treasurer. If the Norchester Garden Club will no longer maintain the butterfly garden then Pct 4 has said it will be torn down and converted to just grassy area. The precinct does not have resources and the budget to maintain a garden.
These pictures are from Monday, Sept 11. In addition to weeds, there are many fine butterflies .
The Ladies of Norchester Garden Club decided they needed to hire help to weed the beds at Matzke Park Butterfly Garden. The beds quickly become overgrown.
It's a daunting task to weed either end of the Matzke Butterfly Garden fence line. Once again, thanks to Ms. Joan, The Three Amigos Landscape crew undertook the challenge. They were not concerned with fire ants, vines and long grasses. We are hoping that we can engage their services more regularly to help maintain the fence line bed in particular. This is an excerpt from the email we received last night.....
Two men came and hand pulled the fence bed. Finished and then pulled in the Murphy bed and a bit in the Butler bed and very little in the Castellani bed. Did a nice clean up. At the end of the fence bed by the water fountain where that tree was smothered in passion vines they got a ladder and cut out some of the branches of that tree . The passion vine was so wrapped around they tried and tried and could not get it pulled out. I sat on the bench and watched the hundreds of butterflies feasting on that purple bush. Is that purple bush a salvia?. (Yes it is) The lady returned with some more monarch caterpillars and she and her little boy put them on butterfly weed in the Butler bed. (See the previous post from Sep 5) Fantastic to be out in such weather.
If you can't or don't like to get your hands dirty, you can still do your part. It is a simple thing. Please register your card for the Kroger's Rewards program to help us pay for landscapers to help maintain the garden beds. Register for the charity number 82607. It is with Association for Better Community Schools (ABCS) and all of the proceeds are given to the Garden Club Treasurer. If the Norchester Garden Club will no longer maintain the butterfly garden then Pct 4 has said it will be torn down and converted to just grassy area. The precinct does not have resources and the budget to maintain a garden.These pictures are from Monday, Sept 11. In addition to weeds, there are many fine butterflies .
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Constant Weeds
Yup... The garden liked the rains, as did the weeds in the garden,
come heck or high water. We owe a big "Thank You" to the tireless ladies who showed up again to do their best to keep the garden beds presentable. Joan, Janet, and Carol were there this morning; mosquitoes be darned.
This is a nice story reported by Ms. Joan... there are still many who appreciate this fine addition to Matzke Park and our community.
A lady came by with 20 monarch caterpillars in a cage looking for milkweed plants for them to feed on. Apparently she and some neighbors were concerned that prior to the storm the butterfly plants had been stripped of their leaves. So, in order that they would have some food, she slices up cucumbers into small pieces leaving on the green skin and the caterpillars will eat that. She and all the little kids and their moms did find the butterfly weed in the middle bed. I was over in the fence bed and I think there are young plants coming up. She comes down to Matzke from around Northgate on 249. Her husband has built a cage for them to hang the chrysalises on. Her little son was about 4 and she is originally from a suburb of Philadelphia.
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