A Wonderful Sunday

 As I ordered my Nantucket stones for the butterfly garden I noticed all my plants doing so wonderful, I just have to share!  We need stuff like that especially now!

The Codiaeum is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae.  It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.  It is native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and the western Pacific Ocean Islands, growing in open forests and scrub.

The Calotropis Gigantea, the crown flower, is a species of Calotropis native to Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, China, Pakistan, and Nepal.  I found the monarch butterflies coming to this plant as well.  Laying their eggs under the leaves.  This must be a food source for them.

Here are many flowers I added, when they were only a foot tall.  Soon, these plants will be taller than I am!  All except for the one with the little orange flowers, that is a milkweed.  If you zoom in, you will see a monarch butterfly there.  The caterpillars will eat this milkweed to the ground.  I will find out if it is established or not, being it's been in the ground for 3 months or so.  By fall it will be gone, and will be back in the spring.  If not I will be putting in another one.  I also have some seed pods that I saw on this plant.  Over a month ago it released seeds all over the place.  I see some have replanted in the sunny part, just  before entering the forest.  A few got eaten to the ground already.  Those will most likely not return.  Butterfly season is in full bloom till at least December.  They seam to like our yard and are hanging around.  YAY!

This is a Ti plant.  It is a palm lily is native to the Western Pacific Ocean region.  It's also found in South America.  I have a few at our entrance of our home and 4 others by the outside wall of the pool area. They can get pretty tall.  It didn't care for the frost though.  I'm going to try and cover them this time on the frosty nights.  I know they do come back I just don't like the fact they start out small again!  Now the 4 I planted are established now, I will try to protect them this January.