Having a lovely time watching and counting butterflies!

Hello to everyone, gardening is one of my hobbies when the bad back allows! I have been enjoying doing the Big Butterfly count 2013 this past week as the buddleia and lavenders are out and looking lovely! I've always tried to have wildlife friendly plants, the buddleia we put in 2 years ago is called Black Knight and is a lovely colour, quite tall but not too wide.
We have built a wooden raised bed and the veg seeds have come up a treat, so for the first time we are growing beetroot, carrots and dwarf beans, really exciting!
Enjoying reading everyone's gardening tips and experiences, and thought the butterfly count was a good tip for a hot day as it involves 15 minutes of sitting quietly!

 

Hello and welcome

How many have you counted so far?

 

Thank you clueless1, 9 is the most at any one time, just in 15 minutes, so not bad and was reading today that it is a good year for butterflies due to the weather so that's good news.

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner Little LandGirl.

 

Hallo Little Landgirl,
apart from cabbage Whites and a red Admiral , I haven't been looking out for them as it was blisteringly hot in the S. East today. I have Black Knight too... doesn't it smell of honey? No wonder they all like it,
Jenny Namaste

 

I have Black Knight too. Mine is in its second year and blooming abundantly. There are regular visitors to it but I haven't been counting them.

I also have a regular buddleja (plain old regular davidii) which is just starting to get ready to bloom, but I'm thinking I might bin it off because the Black Knight seems to perform better.

 

Thank you and hello Sheal and Jenny too, well if anyone wants to do the big butterfly count they go to the website and if you need one that is - they provide a sheet that you print off and if you are like me stand holding by the bush very still with a pencil peering at what is on it! Our little dog Chip stands next to me thinking no idea what's going on but I want to stand here too!
Also got a marjoram which is full of bees, and as I keep reading that they are having problems too that is good to see. Will be off to the right spot on the website too later to ask a question or two about replacing old strawberries and something else about the new raised bed but forgot at the mo, bit early!
By the way clueless1 we did have a davidii too years ago but it gets so huge so that did go sadly, I had put it in reach of a path by mistake and our back garden slopes upwards so there is a drop from the path, bit of a bad bit of planting!
(Will go and have a sniff of the black knight to check if it has a honey smell by the way.)

 

Welcome Little Landgirl
My Buddleia has only just bloomed this last week or so, not many bees yet but have seen 4 or 5 cabbage whites on it at one time. Since it's flowered the weather's been a bit wet so it's kept the butterflies under cover! Typical
The only thing with butterflies is my cat loves to try and catch them. So funny to watch, until she has a successful chase...

 

If you want to provide an all weather food source for nectar feeding insects, you can't go wrong with nasturtium. The flowers mostly hide under a canopy of large water repellent leaves. On rainy days, that's pretty much the only place I see and hear the bumblebees buzzing about, and a few butterflies seem to love it too. Its dry for them under the canopy of the big leaves, plus because the rain doesn't get into the flower heads, it doesn't wash all the nectar out.

 

Hello and , Little LandGirl - Congratulations on your spotting. I'm only just getting my garden into shape so, sadly, there's no flowers to speak of .................... However, I spotted 3 Cabbage Whites on my downstairs neighbour's tiny alpine rockery and at the same time there was a Red Admiral hanging around next-door-neighbour's Fuschia that hangs over my fence.

I also found a rather lonely on the rim of my Garden Waste Bin - had to put off closing the lid for fear of hurting it.