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Ratibida columnifera (Mexican hat, upright prairie coneflower, thimbleflower) with Santolina pinnata (green Lavender cotton) in the background. June 2012

Debuting in my deer resistant meadow garden this year is the US native wildflower, ratibida columnifera, commonly called Mexican hat. According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center database, the foliage of this native has a strong smell that repels deer. But wait—there's a catch! The same database says that deer will eat this flower. Hmm...

Currently growing beside my open meadow where the deer congregate each night for slumber parties, there's nary a nibble so far. I've not detected an offensive smell—but I'm not a deer!

The height at this point is just over two feet, but with the see-through quality of the airy foliage, it works well at the edge of the garden.

I'm sharing photos before the entire plant is at peak bloom because I'm so excited over the flowers—and in case the deer do decide to nibble the blooms! Slowly, the cones are fuzzing up and I anticipate that this native will bloom for months. Ratibida is a nectar source for bees and butterflies.

Being cautious with my experiment, I sowed the seeds in the driest part of my garden. According to the information on this plant, it can spread aggressively and crowd out other plants. This drought-tolerant plant can also handle moist locations.

I adore the rich chocolate-maroon drooping rays on the ratibida petals. My test plant is growing with rudbeckia hirta, gaillardia and santolina pinnata. I think the rudbeckia yellow complements the yellow scalloped edging on the ratibida the best, so I may go with those two in future meadow plantings—as long as the deer don't eat the blooms!

Ratibida columnifera in combination with other seed-sown flowers, rudbeckia hirta (right) and gaillardia (left)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Keep the bees alive. Don't use insecticide.

Let's give 'em something to buzz about. A variety of flowers attracts pollinators. Agastache, butterfly bush, cleome,liatris, rose campion, coneflowers, Russian sage and bee balm in bloom. June 2011.

In our busy bee lives, we sometimes miss important announcements. A special thanks to Gail at Clay and Limestone for publicizing National Pollinator Week (June 20-26 20110).

Pollinating is not just for bees. Ants, birds, butterflies, moths, wasps—and even wind and water are pollinators. Keeping chemicals out of the garden not only helps the insects but helps prevent pollution of our natural water sources and the air we breathe.

Everyone loves hummingbirds and growing monarda (bee balm) and salvia is a great way to attract the little sippers to your garden. Other hummingbird favorites include rose campion, cleome, agastache and zinnias.

The clearwing hummingbird moth (click link for my best picture) is one of the most fascinating pollinators to me. In the evenings, these moths are easily spotted in my garden.

A hummingbird and monarda (bee balm) 'Jacob Cline'. The oakleaf hollies in the background are covered by honeybees during early spring bloom.

A clearwing hummingbird moth returns for an encore performance. Butterfly bushes are great food sources for all flying pollinators. Hemaris thysbe on a buddleia. June 2011.

Of course, everyone loves to watch beautiful butterflies and I grow Three Wonderful Weeds to attract, feed and host butterflies in my garden. What Butterflies Want is Joe Pye Weed, so I added more of that favorite to my garden this year.

Gardeners—spread the word! Tell non-gardening friends, family and neighbors about the importance of pollinators.

Butterflies want Joe Pye Weed! Summer 2010.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Hemaris thysbe (clearwing hummingbird moth) visits the Liatris ligulistylis (Rocky Mountain blazing star). June 17, 2011. (If this photo is too large for your browser, click on it to view in a separate window.)

There's a Hemaris thysbe on the Liatris ligulistylis. I can't say that three times unless I've had three cups of coffee. It also helps to be wide awake so I can tell the difference between a hummingbird and a hummingbird moth.

Hemaris thysbe is better known as a clearwing hummingbird moth. Liatris ligulistylis is better known as Rocky Mountain or meadow blazing star. Both are natives, though the blazing star is typically found west of Missouri.

Host plants for the moth include honeysuckle (lonicera), hawthorn, cherry and plum (prunus) trees. The moth enjoys the nectar of blazing star and other garden favorites such as bee balm and phlox. Just like a butterfly, this moth starts as a caterpillar and undergoes metamorphosis.

Blazing star grows 4-6 feet in cultivated gardens. I provide supplemental water, but it survived the 2010 summer of 90 days over 90°F like a trooper. This blazing star can be grown from seeds and is suitable for zones 4a-9b. I have good, strong blooms this year, so I hope to gather seeds before the Goldfinch.

Blazing star is not rabbit resistant. I have to spray the base of this plant with repellent to keep the lumberjacks from chopping it down. This is the second year for my plant and the bunnies munched it quite a bit when it was first planted. It grows rapidly if you can keep the rabbits away during the growth spurt in spring.

I cannot say for sure if the liatris is deer resistant. If the rabbits eat it, then there is a possibility that the deer will go for it when other food is scarce (or, when they are particularly lazy about finding food in the wild).

What about companion flowers?

Monarch butterflies are particularly fond of this nectar plant, so I have it growing just up the slope behind the swamp milkweed (asclepias incarnata).

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' and 'Blue Stockings' and Echinacea 'Ruby Star' are the companions in bloom right now. I just cut back the rose campion as the blooms on that one were fading and it was time to collect seeds. The garden surrounds this plant, so I also have a chocolate joe-pye (dark leaves, will bloom white), milkweed and bog sage on the lower side. Russian sage is starting to bloom up on the same level beside the coneflowers. In other words, I grow about anything I want with this versatile perennial wildflower.

No matter how difficult to spell, type and pronounce and protect from rabbits, liatris ligulistylis has a permanent home in my garden.

Left front: liatris ligulstylis (meadow blazing star). Right front: echinacea 'Ruby Star' (coneflower). Back: monarda 'Raspberry Wine' (bee balm).

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Lantana 'Miss Huff' with salvia 'Black & Blue' in Helen's garden

A big happy birthday wish to the gardener who inspired the combination in today's feature. Helen Yoest at Gardening with Confidence™  is celebrating her birthday on March 3!

When visiting Helen's garden in September 2009, I was struck by the deep blue of salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' planted with the gold and orange blooms of lantana 'Miss Huff'.

These are two easy plants to grow as annuals in cold zones and perennials in warm zones. Both are water-wise and can handle drought conditions with minimal water. Plant in full sun. Afternoon shade is fine in the hottest zones.

Lantana camara 'Miss Huff' is a perennial in zones 7-10 with blooms of gold and orange. She can grow quite large, reaching a whopping shrub-size of 4-6 feet in height and width. Late to emerge in spring, usually May in zone 7b, don't cut back lantana in the fall. This shrub is a wonderful butterfly magnet. Deer don't usually browse the blooms until late autumn and their preferred food is very scarce.

Butterfiles love the lantana 'Miss Huff' growing in my garden; July 2010.

Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue' is a perennial in zones 7-11. Growing up to 4-6 feet in height and width, with splendid deep blue blossoms, this is a hummingbird favorite. Also late to emerge in spring, you may find the offshoots several feet away from the original mother plant. Don't but this one back in the fall either. As with the lantana, deer tend to leave this alone unless they are desperate for food.

I will divide my Salvia 'Black & Blue' to plant with the Lantana 'Miss Huff'.

I have been growing both the lantana and salvia in my garden for years, but not together. When I moved coreopsis last year, I made a note to fill the space with a combination of lantana and salvia. This May 2011 will be the time to put this inspired combination together in my butterfly garden where I also grow bronze fennel, a host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

Bronze fennel in my butterfly garden serves as a host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

Bronze fennel is perennial in zones 4-9 and can usually be found in the herb section at garden centers. Growing to a height of five feet in my garden, it will self-sow with abandon unless you deadhead the blooms in the fall. The foliage starts out very dark and fluffy before the stems shoot up and produce gold-yellow blooms. Fennel is reliably deer resistant, though the critters may sample it now and then without doing any damage.

Lantana, salvia and bronze fennel are great companions with similar growing conditions and are beneficial for pollinators—an easy butterfly garden inspiration to replicate!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

A Black Swallowtail caterpillar (cat) munches on bronze fennel to prepare for the great metamorphosis.

The opening act for the magic trick. Notice the attachment to the stem and the shape of the cat.

Ta-da! Chrysalis (two) on clumping bamboo.

The best count of Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars has been around 20. Today, there are at least nine chrysalis on the neighboring clumping bamboo or on the bronze fennel itself. Soon, there will be lots of butterflies!

Each photo above is of a different cat. Caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly—all stages of metamorphosis in the garden this week.

Please take a look at Randy Emmitt's website for great educational photos and identification of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Although I have many BST cats, I seem to always photograph the similar Pipevine, "dark form" of Eastern Tiger or the Spicebush Swallowtail Butterflies—but, I never see those cats!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Agastache for August color. There are at least six varieties in this photo and multiples of those.

The hottest summer on record may also end up as one of the most colorful. The drought-tolerant agastache, the primary perennials in my garden are turning out a stellar performance! Recent rains revived the garden, making this the most colorful August yet for the deer resistant garden, established in 2007.

Labeled as agastache 'Black Adder' but it looks a lot like 'Purple Haze' which I also grow. Zones 6-9.

Agastache 'Heatwave' lives up to its name. (background includes purple fountain grass and foliage of perennial blue flax). Zones 5-10.

Agastache 'Salmon & Pink' is my oldest variety that started out in the cottage garden in 2005. It rules the deer resistant garden. Zones 6-10.

Agastache 'Blue Fortune' held on to its color better this year. Could it be that it liked the supplemental watering? Or, has it matured? Zones 5-9.

Agastache 'Summer Love' plants provided by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. Zones 6-9.

Agastache 'Cotton Candy' has been in bloom since April. Plants provided by Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc. Zones 6-9.

In other areas of the garden, I grow 'Golden Jubilee', 'Navajo Sunset', 'Summer Sky', 'Heather Queen', 'Purple Pygmy', 'Summer Glow' and 'Coronado'. I may have even forgotten at least one! Deer, rabbit and disease resistant and drought tolerant. Loved by butterflies, bees and hummingbirds—It doesn't get any better in the heat of summer in full sun.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe' (eupatorium dubium)

Fluttering and floating—the garden is full of life with butterflies. It's a delightful experience to walk through a garden and be brushed on the cheek by soft wings. Although I'm using swallowtails for my photos, there are many more varieties in the garden.

For a butterfly garden, success is guaranteed if you include agastache, cosmos, joe pye weed, milkweed, butterfly bushes, lantana, salvia and zinnias. There are many other nectar and host plants for butterflies, but these are the favorites in my garden.

Agastache 'Blue Fortune' is a favorite, attracting many butterflies as well as Gold Finches and bees.

Agastache 'Cotton Candy' is proving to be as popular as 'Blue Fortune' with me and the butterflies!

Agastache 'Heat Wave', with tubular blooms is also loved by hummingbirds.

Bog sage (salvia uliginosa) is great for moist areas in the garden, but can handle drought. Another hummingbird favorite, too.

Butterfly bush 'Honeycomb' (buddleia) is one of twenty in my garden. 'Adonis Blue', 'Pink Delight' and 'Royal Red' buddleia are also wonderful.

Comos sulphureus, an annual grown from seeds. I also grow cosmos bipinnatus in pink, white and deep rose.

Lantana, an unknown pink-yellow variety that is a perennial in my zone 7b garden. I also grow the orange-gold 'Miss Huff'.

Benary's Giant Zinnia in salmon. Easy to grow from seed. I have many different colors of zinnias and the salmon looks great with lime green blooms.

My bronze butterfly marks a patch of pink swamp milkweed, joe pye weed and ironweed. Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterflies.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Just mention "weed" to a gardener, and you're likely to hear moaning and groaning. It's too bad that a few good perennials have a common name that includes that infamous word.  I've created a garden section dedicated to three good weeds—Joe Pye Weed 'Little Joe', Swamp Milkweed 'Cinderella' and Ironweed.

Although the top sections of my deer resistant garden are for drought-tolerant plants and lean soil, the bottom section is moist when it rains. Plants for the lower section are suited to rich soil and wet winters, but can survive drought with drip irrigation.

This color-coordinated combination works well with blooms from pink to purple. All three grow to a similar size and bloom times overlap, from middle to late summer. But, I didn't plant these just for a good design. These perennials are bee and butterfly magnets!


A new addition to my garden this year, Joe Pye Weed (eupatorium dubium) 'Little Joe' is standing trial in the deer resistant garden. Although this plant appears on many deer resistant lists, I purchased only one to try. If the deer leave it alone, I'll definitely add more. It is rabbit resistant. I run the bunnies out of the garden several times a day. The foliage is lovely and the blooms, just now forming, are stunning!

Unlike the tall, native Joe Pye Weed, the cultivar 'Little Joe' should reach only 3-4 feet in height. Rated for zones 3-8, it can be grown from seeds or divided in spring.


Another newcomer that is also on trial in the deer resistant garden is Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata). This is another rabbit resistant plant. Rated for zones 4-8, and growing 3-4 feet tall, ironweed looks great beside 'Little Joe' and the swamp milkweed 'Cinderella'. This native plant can also be grown from seed. It has been blooming on several stems. I decided to  deadhead a few fading blooms to test it for repeat blooms.


Swamp milkweed (asclepias incarnata) 'Cinderella' is such a lovely pink. The original three milkweeds were added a few years ago and I've been increasing the numbers by growing the plants from seeds. I have five new plants this year from the seeds directly sown last fall, so there is now a big mass of at least twelve plants. A host for Monarch butterflies, I'll never be without this wonderful plant.

The deer and rabbits never touch the milkweed, but watch out for aphids. For growing zones 3-8, don't give up on this plant while waiting for it to emerge in spring. Even in my zone 7b, it will wait as late as May to make an appearance, and then quickly grows to four feet in height. Since the Monarch caterpillars eat the foliage, I have this planted behind the foliage of Japanese irises that bloomed in spring, purple coneflowers, bee balm, ageratum and shasta daisies.


To break away from an all-pink theme, these plants are backed by blue Russian Sage, purple fountain grass, and coneflowers that are growing up the slope. Agastache, blazing star (liatris ligustylis) and salvias are also grown in the drier soil. This entire section of garden was completely dug out and replanted in fall 2009. It will take another year or two for all the plants to mature, increase in number and fill in the gaps.

There are two more areas that I want to use for this same grouping. If the eupatorium and vernonia pass the deer trials, I'll expand the other lower sections of the garden to make room for more "weeds."

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The fronds of bronze fennel look like thick, dark clouds looming behind the spring-flowering perennials. Through the summer, the fennel grows tall, strong and stately—topped with lacy yellow flowers. Bronze fennel is not only ornamental, but serves a purpose in the life cycle of certain butterflies.



Suitable for zones 4-9, bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum') is easily grown from seed.

So easy to grow, that I highly recommend cutting off the flowers before they set seed. I didn't deadhead my three large fennel plants last year and have THOUSANDS of seedlings around the plants!

The tap root is very, very long. I removed a mature fennel last fall and part of the taproot is still in the garden because I would have upset a mass planting of coreopsis to continue digging. I now grow the fennel at the outside edges of my main gardens so that I don't have the seeds or the roots around my best perennials.

Now that I've given you the bad news, there is a very good reason to grow bronze fennel.

The fluffy and fragrant herb is a host plant for the caterpillars that become Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterflies. The caterpillars feed on the fennel until time for the metamorphosis. Currently, my fennel is literally covered with the caterpillars—a very good sign that there will be many butterflies to come. The caterpillars show up all summer long and into fall.



But, wait—there's more!

This year, I noticed little needle-shaped green sticks all over the fennel, too. On closer inspection, I found dozens of praying mantis nymphs. With a little research, I have learned that the eggs are laid in the fall and hatch in the spring. These little creatures will prey on other insects and even hummingbirds. Still, they are beneficial insects to have in the garden.

Bronze fennel will always have a place in my butterfly garden. But, I will be more diligent about deadheading this year!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.

Not your mother's blanket flower! No longer the ordinary orange and gold, blanket flowers (gaillardia) are available in a wide range of colors. From experience, I've learned to purchase gaillardias only when I can see the actual bloom color.

Great for a long bloom season, drought, deer and rabbit resistance, gaillardias are very reliable in my garden. I'm not a collector, really!

The quest for solid color "daisy shape" plants that the deer and rabbits won't eat led me to the gaillardia. Blanket flowers are quite at home in hot, dry locations and require no pampering. If deadheaded, they will rebloom again and again. If not deadheaded, the bi-color varieties will seed everywhere. I wouldn't mind it if the solid colors would seed around, too!

Gaillardia aestivalis var. winkleri 'Grape Sensation'
Zones 7-9
18 inches high x 3 feet wide
Full sun

This grape is sensational with salvia 'Diane', cottage pinks (dianthus) and stachys 'Helen von Stein'. I gathered seeds from the grape last fall and divided the plant with the idea to eventually fill up one bed with this combination. It's still too early to know if the seeds germinated. Until I have enough for a mass planting, lavender 'Grosso' and a few purple to deep pink agastache are in this section of the garden.

Gaillardia 'Yellow Queen'
Zones 3-10
18 inches high x 18 inches wide
Full sun

This yellow gaillardia is planted with salvia 'Mystic Spires Blue' in several locations as well as mixed with purple verbena bonariensis, nepeta 'Walkers Low' and achillea 'Cornation Moonshine' in another location. I collected and purchased seeds to see if all will bloom true to color.

Gaillardia 'Tokajer'
Zones 3-9
16 inches high x 12 inches wide
Full sun

Gaillardia 'Tokajer' disappeared last year, but I found it again when moving perennials in the fall. The location was too shaded, so I had only a few blooms. I have moved it to a sunny spot with other orange as well as purple perennials.

Gaillardia 'Tizzy'
Zones 3-9
18 inches high x 3 feet wide
Full sun

I really like the deep orange color on 'Tizzy' as well as the fluted petals. This gaillardia blooms almost non-stop. Last year, I kept it separated from other orange bi-color gaillardias to make sure it consistently bloomed the same color. I just moved it up to the butterfly garden with salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna', agastache 'Navajo Sunset', agastache 'Purple Haze' and echinacea 'Sundown. There are also purple alliums, Homestead Purple verbena and a few other plants—based on purple and orange—in the same section of the garden. I have high hopes for continued success with this one.

Gaillardia 'Burgundy'
Zones 3-9
24 inches high x 12 inches wide
Full sun

Another fabulous bloomer, 'Burgundy' is great with coreopsis, especially 'Red Shift'. I'm using this gaillardia in a garden bed based on blue, dark red and yellow. Other perennials include achillea 'Moonshine', blue flax and agastache 'Blue Fortune'. I plan to add salvia 'Mystic Spires' blue to the area. This is definitely a keeper, so I've also planted both collected and purchased seeds of this one to try for a mass planting.

So where is the old gold and orange gaillardia? At the feet of monarda 'Jacob Cline', crocosmia 'Lucifer' and salvia 'Navajo Bright Red'. Every time I see a gaillardia bloom bi-color, I dig it up and move it to the same location. I should have a rather big mass planting this year!



Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The Monarch Spring Migration Begins in March

The spring migration of the Monarch butterflies starts around the second week of March. The Monarchs will leave their winter habitat in Mexico and begin their journey to our gardens in search of nectar and host plants. The Monarchs will travel through several sections of the United States during the spring migration.

The Monarch overwintering habitats were hit hard by torrential rains, snow, hail and cold temperatures. The Monarch news at Monarch Watch is still filtering in about the impact of the weather on the population. A reduction in the survival rate is of great concern and we are in the best position to help the returning Monarchs successfully reproduce by growing milkweed in our gardens.

Milkweed is the only host plant for the Monarch Butterfly.

The female lays eggs on the milkweed leaves. Those eggs hatch into caterpillars that later become butterflies. Raise caterpillars in your garden by growing asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) or other varieties of milkweed.

In some zones, it may be as late as June before the milkweed has returned. It is a late plant to emerge after winter. For this reason, it may also be late spring or early summer before garden centers have milkweed available for sale. A few of the mail-order nurseries sell milkweed plants and seeds.

When shopping in spring, please buy a few milkweed plants (with leaves) and plant those for any early spring migrating Monarchs. Monarch activity also occurs during August through October for the fall migration.

Nectar plants feed the Monarch Butterflies and as a gardener, you probably already have a butterfly garden. There are so many nectar plants favored by butterflies—cosmos, marigold, verbena and zinnia are good annuals; asters, bee balm, coneflowers, susans and sedum are good perennials and wildflowers. A few butterfly bushes will keep all the butterflies happy, too.

What can gardeners do to help the Monarch Butterflies?

Grow milkweed.
Grow nectar plants.
Do not use insecticides or pesticides.

Please share the "Milkweed for Monarchs" message with other gardeners and bloggers!

Please link to this story to spread the word. Write your own story about Monarchs, or drop me a note to receive a copy of this story to republish.


Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are owned by those respective companies or persons.