Butterfly garden!

We've decided to plant a butterfly garden this week. We've had a few friends talking about theirs and I thought this would be a wonderful garden the kids would enjoy. We had a bare spot around the tree out front that needed some attention. This seemed like the intended spot for the butterflies. No dogs, less foot traffic of kids from the back door to the play area, good drainage, and a spot we'd see every time we hustle in and out to run from here to there.
Today is my day off, so I loaded up my tot and headed out to a few nurseries to find some plants, specifically milk weed, which we've found to be a challenge.
After several stops we ended up at Dammanns, a local nursery with a large selection of just about everything. We scored the very last Butterfly milk weed, as well as some cone flowers, Lantana, Asters, and a beautiful and unique shaped red flower that the master gardener said was enjoyed by humming birds.

It was raining for the 37th day in a row...or so it felt, so we decided to place the plants on the patio and wait for tomorrow to see if we could plant them.

The day was perfect for planting so we got started bright an early, to beat the storm front that was coming our way. It's amazing to me that we actually have any landscaping left. I'd have thought most of it would have washed away with the ark by now.
So, here is the planted butterfly garden. We look forward to adding some stepping stones, and garden stakes to the area to finish the look.

All in all I spent $40 on plants, and that was on the very high end since Dammanns is usually priced high compared to other garden centers, but they offer specialty plants, like the ones that I
needed, that other garden centers just didn't have in stock.

Happy gardening!