Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[SquarePeg]

Such an amazing thing happened this morning.

I've been over-wintering two Black Swallowtail chrysalises. Late last fall, I brought my parsley plant indoors that still held some hungry, active caterpillars. They seemed on the brink of going into the pupal stage, and the temperatures were starting to get into below freezing territory. I brought the plant inside and put it into my butterfly cage and let the two fat guys eat until they went pupal, and have had two chrysalises all winter long.

One of the chrysalises ended up on the stem of the parsley plant. The plant wasn't doing well in the basement so in January I brought it upstairs and put it in the sun room where it rallied. I wasn't sure if the chrysalis was even viable; it was gray and shriveled looking, and I just watered the plant around it, figuring eventually I'd put it back in the cage around May.

You see where I'm going. It's only April! Came downstairs earlier to find a gorgeous female clinging to the sliding glass door. It's a sunny warm day, and will be even warmer over the next several days, so instead of running to the basement and trying to get her back inside the butterfly cage, I simply cupped her and went outside. She sat in a tree for about 5 minutes then fluttered to the grass, lots of dew and I imagine she wanted a drink.

Here's the baby girl:

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She flew off about 20 minutes later. I did bring up the butterfly cage and put the parsley plant in it to give the other butterfly somewhere to land when it finally opens. This one is more sensibly attached to the mesh, not on a plant that needed attention. I'm hoping that sitting in the sun room will encourage it to open, so I can set it free with its sister.

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I'm so glad the other one didn't fly up to a corner of the ceiling and become impossible to catch and release - and that a cat didn't find her first.

Fun times. Summer has begun for me, I don't really care what the calendar says anymore.

Amazing! I swear I saw a black swallowtail when I was walking Harlie in the woods last week. I was wondering what possible sources of food it could find up here at this time of year but I would imagine that they don’t hatch until they know that the temperatures are right for food for them right? Is there anything in Bloom your way? The only things we have in bloom up here right now are forsythia, tulips, pansies and some magnolia trees.

 

[SquarePeg]

 

[terri]

Amazing! I swear I saw a black swallowtail when I was walking Harlie in the woods last week. I was wondering what possible sources of food it could find up here at this time of year but I would imagine that they don’t hatch until they know that the temperatures are right for food for them right? Is there anything in Bloom your way? The only things we have in bloom up here right now are forsythia, tulips, pansies and some magnolia trees.

We have the same: lots of forsythia, pansies, and now some tulips and jonquils. I've also seen hyacinth (not mine yet), and several pretty little buttercup-like things in other people's yards. I don't know what a lot of them are, but at least they're open and a new butterfly shouldn't have to look too hard for something.

I wrung my hands over capturing her and keeping her indoors, but really had nothing to give aside from water - and we have tons out there already. A quick check of the forecast said it would be all right, plus the flowers and tree buds are opening every day.

Oddly, I could have sworn I saw a butterfly last week, too - something orange-y. I just discounted it because it seemed way too early.

 

[21limited]

The first flowers in our garden, the crosuses came up in one big bunch this year, I;m not sure what the cause might be, but based on 15 years in this location, it’s definitely unusual.
2025-04-17-Crocus Cluster by Norm Head, on Flickr

 

[Ihatemymoney]

 

[Jeff15]

Lily

 

[Digger...]

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What strains are growing? Harvesting my 2 outdoors atm, smells great...

 

[Ihatemymoney]

What strains are growing? Harvesting my 2 outdoors atm, smells great...

blue berry runts SKittles

 

[SquarePeg]

Lily

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Gorgeous but the scent triggers my allergies in seconds! I have to avoid.

 

[SquarePeg]

Things are finally happening in the garden here. We’ve had a week of consistently warmer days and everything is sprouting at once! I’ve been busy clearing out the dead stems from last season, trellising my clematis vines and protecting everything from the hungry bunnies… today I’ll be installing two new trellises and putting together a new dahlia bed. Life in the garden is good.

Here’s a photo dump of what’s growing:
Peonies (white with pink tips)

Pink Yarrow

Clematis Liberation

Salvia seedlings from a neighbor

Clematis Jackmanii

Blue False Indigo aka Baptisia australis that I grew from seed - excited for this one as it’s year 3 so should be first year to flower!

This is the Ivory Silk Lilac tree that I planted last spring.

Phlox that I couldn’t resist buying in flower at Lowes because I needed something in bloom. Love this color so much.

Major Wheeler reporting for duty!

Honeysuckle White Scentsation - usually the first perennial to flower

Red bee balm, pink phlox under the bunny buckets, pink bee balm

Bloomstruck Hydrangea and Clematis Warsaw Nike

Clematis City of Lyon

Clematis Ernest Markham and Comtesse de Bouchard and another in the middle that I forgot to label

Thundercloud Plum tree I planted 2 years ago

 

[Digger...]

Grevillea, the Wattle birds think its a candy bush.

Periwinkle i think, can't remember.

 

[Ysarex]

First Iris of the Season is blooming. The color is striking but I'm not real fond of the flower's shape. The bottom flower petals of an iris are called falls because they hang down, but these don't and it makes the flowers appear awkward rather than elegant. We have seven different varieties of iris -- this short blue and white one is always first. Fuji X-T2 w/90mm Macro Elmar.