Tag Archives: Garden

The Butterfly Whispered a Call to Play

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The white butterfly that healed my heart!

My day wasn’t going well and it was still early.  Heading outside to hang around a butterfly, I guess, is one way I’m coping with confusing times.

I’ve probably written before that I love the smaller, perhaps less noticed butterflies, as much as I do the fantastically big and colorful ones.  They might be small, but up close, they have amazing patterns and intricate details.

While sitting with my morning coffee, feeling altogether displaced, which is an experience that hit me hard after a recent move, I was drawn to the white butterfly dancing around my container plants. 

I had moved the plants to the corner of the lawn, hoping they might catch some rain.  I put the bird bath in the middle of the containers, which to my surprise, created a space I especially liked.

I’m pretty sure my winged visitor was the  Cabbage White Butterfly. 

A pair showed up about ten days ago and have since been fluttering around my sparse container garden.

Mostly, the butterfly was getting some needed morning sunshine, favoring the Lemon Balm for this purpose, and the yellow Lantana for sipping nectar.

I sat down in the grass.  A few times, I thought the pretty white butterfly was going to land on my arm or shoulder, but instead, it playfully swooped and danced around me and my camera. 

A silent call to play took hold and for a little while, I was free to play, just like the pretty white butterfly!

 

Click on images for a closer look. 

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes!

Butterfly ~ An Invitation

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The Tiger Swallowtail arrived before the plants did.  A single large butterfly with tails intact and colorful vibrancy innocent of the inevitable markings to come.

First Swallowtail in 2013 backyard photos, by Rosa Blue for Green Healing Notes, the Blog!

Winged on Verbena

The winds were picking up. The purple Verbena had grown several inches. The blooms moved up and down with each gust of wind.

The big butterfly glided only slightly above our heads.  I imagined it needed nectar and sunlight, the latter of which had faded.

I was glad to have the flowering Verbena.

My son and I had both seen the single butterfly flying around for a few days.  I decided to go get a fast growing nectar-plant.  Arriving home from my short trip to the nursery, a fresh brood of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails greeted me.  Butterflies were everywhere.  I couldn’t believe it!

Two were flying high, playing together, and at least a dozen more were coming down for a visit.  I was delighted to see the butterflies together, flying above and around my little home.

I’m dealing with a fair amount of sadness these days.  Springtime has helped, but my lack of motivation to do the things I normally enjoy lurks in the corners of my days and nights. 

The idea that the butterflies have a genetic memory and know they can find nectar in my little garden lifted my spirit.

I remembered the day, not too long ago, when a flock of Robins came to fetch the lone resident that captured my heart while spending the Winter eating berries from a Holly tree by my window.

It was a grand and exciting scene when those of ‘the same feather’ greeted the Winter Robin.  I don’t know where they were headed when they left, but they sure appeared to have a plan.

I’ve regressed.  Back to the butterfly.

We sat on the patio near the container garden and watched, quietly and still.  The yellow-striped butterfly held tightly, for the blooms really were blowing hard.  I imagine being a butterfly in strong winds isn’t all that easy, now that I think about it. 

I haven’t seen the new brood together again, but I feel sure the butterfly in the wind will tell of the little corner of nectar it found.

Swallowtail in the Wind

Butterfly, you have an official blooming invitation to my yard and the little green garden I planted just for you.

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes! Continue reading →

Green Healing in Horticulture

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I like to call this garden the Therapy Bed.  These are some of the Fall greens growing.  Yummy and Gorgeous growing together!

This garden is very special, which I’ve probably said here before.  A healing energy surrounds it.  I can feel it in the food that grows there.

The Therapy Bed was home to the Summer Tithonia Garden and brought many species of beautiful butterflies!  I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend time there and to the woman who planted them because they are by far one of my very favorite flowers.

You can see an interesting piece of art from this year’s Sculpture in the Garden show in the background of the photo (above).  The white curves remind me of the old-time soft-serve ice cream we used to get in the small town I grew up in.

I’ve missed several group meetings (as a volunteer in Horticulture Therapy) over the past couple of months, due to health issues and stressful circumstances, but am so glad that my son has been able to attend and bring home the greens!

I look forward to participating in the colder weather horticultural activities, like when they make Christmas wreaths and aromatic herb bags. 

Oddly, when I’ve been unable to attend the group gatherings, I’ve found myself piddling around in my yard or more often, taking care of the container plants still living on my decks.

The big Terracotta filled with Chives, Thyme and the most wonderful ground cover called Carpet Mint are still quite nice.  The Mint isn’t visible, but I hope it comes back next year. 

I must admit, although I get a lot from being with my plants or walking through the woods, it isn’t a replacement for being with a group of people in Horticulture Therapy (HT).  Healing really does happen in HT and I love it!

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes!

Healthy Greens Growing Together

 

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Between Summer and Fall

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HORTICULTURAL HEALING

2012, 25 August

August is almost over.  The days of 100 degree temperatures in North Carolina are most likely gone for the year.  A few leaves are falling.  Pale yellows and a few red ones have blown with the light winds landing on my small front porch, where my little Green Healing garden grows.  Amazing how time goes by when you reach a certain age.

Fall planting has begun in Horticulture Therapy.  We planted Kale and Radish seeds.  The soil is still warm, so these will be good plants to start with.  Both are of a variety that will make for a pretty garden.  The Radish are ‘White Ice Cicle’ and the Kale will have wide leaves that are rather pale in color compared to the more common green varieties.  We’ll enjoy a lovely white (and nutritious) garden if it grows well and I sure hope it does.  The garden always offers hope.

Hand and Seeds for Fall planting

Planting seeds is one of my favorite things to do in a garden.  I think it is also one of the most hopeful tasks, because there are many events that could cause the seeds not to germinate.  The first evidence of germination makes a horticulture heart a happy one!  (Click on an image to view Gallery)

Hands Seeds Soil
Planting White Radish Seeds in Horticulture Therapy

I need a bumper sticker that says ‘I’d rather be Blogging’ because apparently, I would.  Alas.  Life calls me to do chores, take care of tasks, make decisions and then, arrive on time for another Green Healing day in Horticulture Therapy! 

One more little note:  My son and I were given a beautiful Sugar Baby (pictured below) as a gift.  Priceless!  We enjoyed our very big Sugar Baby!

Melons growing in North Carolina.

I hope you enjoyed the photos and your visit to Green Healing Notes. 

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Gracefully Winged

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Gracefully Winged by Rosa Blue
Gracefully Winged, a photo by Rosa Blue on Flickr.

I was walking to the raised bed gardens, past the meadow where a very large Joe Pye Weed is growing when I saw a shadow on the ground.  Looking up I saw this most graceful butterfly.  Wow, how absolutely beautiful, I thought.

After having spent over an hour in the Mexican Sunflower garden with the strong flying Swallowtails, along with several Skippers and Sulfers, the latter of ‘whom’ didn’t stop long to pose, this eloquent solo glider was peaceful and still. My mind captured the memory of a Green Healing moment in time.

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes!

All Copyrights Apply.  If you would like to use any image from this blog, please respect my work by giving a clear link back to this blog, Green Healing Notes @ (https://greenhealinggirl.wordpress.com/).   If you have further questions, please leave a note for Michelle via comments.  Thank You!

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Winged Yellow on Orange

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Winged Yellow on Orange by Rosa Blue
Winged Yellow on Orange, a photo by Rosa Blue on Flickr.

A Green Healing day chasing butterflies offered stunning colors of Winged Garden Friends and Flowers too.  I had a feeling if I went to the Tithonia garden around Noon that I would get to see the butterflies, and boy was I right on!

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes!

Click on Image for a Closer Look.

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Winged ~ Perched and In Flight

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Skippers perched drinking nectar and a little hummingbird on the way.

Silver-spotted Skipper and a hummingbird on the way!

(Right Click / View Images for a Closer Look)

It was the hummingbird I was looking for when I walked over to the flowering gardens and met up with a zealous group of butterflies, which I believe were Silver-spotted Skippers.  What a fun group of butterflies!

The Skippers may not seem as spectacular as the bright Zebra Swallowtail or awe-inspiring like the Monarchs, but these winged friends are very playful.  They fluttered and flitted to and fro, hovering only briefly and often gathering together on a single flower.

According to Geyata Ajilvsgi, in my all time favorite Butterfly reference book, Butterfly Gardening for the South, these winged garden friends are, “pugnacious in character and will attack just about anything in its range, especially other butterflies, no matter which species they happen to be”  (pg 150).

I would never have guessed that what I thought was simply a family  generously sharing in their source of energy, might instead have been a combative rivalry.

Butterfly Images "Silver-spotted Skippers" drinking sweet nectar

I’ve missed a few Horticulture Therapy group gatherings, but I’ve tried to keep  a connection with the gardens by visiting.  The images I come home with help me remember the Green Healing moments in time.

Image of Skipper Butterfly "Green Healing"

Thanks for visiting Green Healing Notes!

Works Cited:

Ajilvsgi, Geyata. 

     Butterfly Gardening for the South. 

     Dallas, Texas: 

     Taylor Publishing Company, 1991.

References:

The Audubon Society Pocket Guides.

     Familiar Butterflies, North America. 

     New York:

     A Chanticleer Press Edition

     Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,  1990.

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Sunflowers, Plant People, Big Color

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Well, I’m back sooner than expected to share more Sunflower photos.  I really can’t help myself.  If I wasn’t tired, which I am, I’d give fun names to the ones I saw today!  I guess some folks might think if you’ve seen one Sunflower, then you’ve seen them all, but today only strengthened my personal observation that each one is unique.

Note:  Click on images to see the original size.

Drop Dead Red Sunflower, Green Healing Notes Blog Images

My friend and I had gone to the gardens to have lunch under the naturally vine-crafted Gazebo by the herb garden.  I thought it would be cool spot to sit, but I used all except one napkin for wiping the out-pour of sweat on my body, and I had on a summer dress! 

I may be a mountain woman in my heart, but I’m not sure.  We lived in the mountains when I was a toddler, but soon moved to the Piedmont area of North Carolina, which is where I’ve spent most of my life.  We’ve always had rather hot and humid summers in NC, but they’re hotter now than they were twenty (or so) years ago.  I later moved to the mountains with my teenage son.  After living there for several years, I learned that I like temperatures around 72 degrees.  We had to move back to the Piedmont area for medical reasons, but I’ve never forgotten those beautiful blue hills.  I’ve regressed.  Back to Sunflowers…

Sunflower Green Healing Images, Drop Dead Red

My friend, Camila, who is also a volunteer in Horticulture Therapy at the Botanical gardens, was watering the Sunflowers when my friend and I arrived for our lunch outing. 

Camila likes the heat.  I salute her for enduring it because she is now solely responsible for tending the Horticulture Therapy gardens, which includes the Sunflowers.  Yay for Plant People, especially ones who volunteer their time.

As much as I love the ‘Drop Dead Red’ variety of sunflowers, an amazingly large yellow one in the back of the garden overlooking the hill and the woods where the nature trails are was most worthy of our attention.

Camila had earlier tied the plant’s thick stem to a bamboo pole.  “That one is so big it was falling down,” she said with a loving little laugh.  We’re a lot alike in our love for the Sunflowers, as for all plants.

Yellow Sunflower and Woman

SUNFLOWER SMILES

Green Healing Sunflower Images in Yellow

Is that a hummingbird hovering above? 

I think perhaps the big bloom (above) is prepared for a special event.  I mean who knows what goes on in that garden when the humans are sleeping and the Moon is shining.  For all I know they have parties and beauty contests!  I especially like the blown petals with fashionably curled tips on the big one with a very heavy head (above), but I must say, they were all beautiful!

Below is the tallest flower in the garden, not yet blooming, and Camila, a special one of the Plant People.

Beautiful woman standing in Garden of Sunflowers

The Horticulture Therapy group is harvesting Watermelons today, so I gotta go!

Thanks for viewing my Sunflower and Plant People images!

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