It's pretty unusual for me to get a shot like this...

It's a perfect picture!

How many different colors? We haven't grown any & have only seen photos of the yellow.

Lucy -- colors of the baptisia? I only have the blue, but I believe there's a white-flowered variety. Maybe others, I'll have to check into that!

That is a beautiful picture, Sandy. So summery!

There are a lot of Baptisias listed (and for sale) at Mamajack's co-op from Northcreek Nursery. These are plugs, so will be very young plants, but for $2+ it's hard to beat the opportunity to try something new. Check them out at this thread http://cubits.org/notfortheser...

It's a long thread, but ask questions if needed. They don't bite.

Thanks for the link, Annie -- I've never been involved in a co-op, and I wasn't really thinking I needed any more Baptisia, but that "Twilight Prairieblues" (I think was the name, now I've already forgotten!) has me thinking!

Yup, that one's popular as is Screaming Yellow. I've been in two co-ops: one for plant labels that was easy as pie, and one for dahlias that turned out fine enough for me, but an inexperienced and overwhelmed hostess left others disgruntled, to say the least. It was pretty sad, but Mama runs a pretty finely tuned co-op, so I believe participants would be in good hands.

Buddleia davidii

Beautiful Sandy. Enjoying your pix.

Thanks, Susan

Buddleia davidii has been making a determined attempt to take over England! I've never seen it here; but I see you are in zone 4b. Is it hardy enough?

Pat, this one and another overwinter reliably in a quite sheltered area near our house, but I have also had them survive in more open areas if I put some evergreen branches over them (I cut them down to about 8 inches tall in the late fall) for mulch and make sure they have a good covering of snow. I'm not sure if the "fancier" cultivars would survive, but I'm quite tempted to try them!

Thanks for adding the scientific name, I should have thought to do that originally; I have to think there are a number of plants called "butterfly bush" !

Thanks weedwhacker. Encouraged by your post I've had a look in our local nursery, but they don't seem to stock them. I'd like one or two if I could find them. In our garden in England we had two davidiis, plus a fosteriana. There are plenty of butterflies here in summer - mostly tortoiseshells, peacocks and red admirals.

Pat, have you ever tried starting them from seed? That's how I got mine; supposedly a mixture of varieties, but I only ended up with the "common" purple type. I think I'm going to get another packet and try winter sowing them this year. The butterflies definitely do love them, as well as our hummingbirds, and bumblebees.

I'm thinking winter must be coming on for you quite soon, as it is here -- only a little north and west of us there was quite a wet snowstorm a couple of days ago and of course many accidents on the road; it seems odd that so many people forget how to drive in the winter from year to year! At least the seed catalogs are starting to show up, the one from Pinetree Seeds came in my mail today, so now I can settle in to some serious planning for next year's garden!

Sedum "Autumn Joy"

Sandy it was wonderful that you were there to capture the visitors.

My yard was full of Monarch butterflies that day -- I think it was the last group of caterpillars that I was watching on the milkweed that had all hatched out pretty much together. Then - one by one - they sort of went flying off over our tall trees in a generally southerly direction, so I guess they're getting ready to migrate. A lot of sightings have been reported not far from here of really mass quantities of Monarchs gathering up. And that Red Admiral was hanging around all day while I was working outside in and around the garden.. guess he just couldn't get enough of those sedum!

Sandy your pix is a great way to show new gardeners some of the rewards and how to reap natures beauty by planting host and nectar plants. A good reminder to all gardeners of the benefits of gardening that we need to take time to enjoy. It would be so cool to be in a place where you can see the masses of Monarchs.

It's a dream of mine to see the monarch awake. Starting in January but peaking in March, central Mexico’s oyamel fir forest bursts with dazzling orange as 100 million monarchs awaken to begin a 2,000-mile journey to their summer grounds east of the Rockies in the U.S. and Canada.

To see the spectacle for yourself, head to the town of Angangueo in Michoacán, the hilly state known for its handcrafted guitars and talented village artisans. Local guides will show you around El Rosario, the only monarch sanctuary open to the public.

Another thrill would be to see the swarm of Monarchs migrate to Mexico.

The Monarchs truly are remarkable, aren't they? I've been following this web site, which tracks their progress south in the fall and north in the spring and lets users report their Monarch observations, as well as other events such as the whooping crane project of raising the chicks, training them to fly using ultralight aircraft, and then migrating them (I haven't been following that too closely so I don't know all the details!)

Wouldn't it be fabulous to go to Mexico and see them ! Sounds like a great vacation, I'll have to put that on my list...

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/...

Definately a bucket list item!