Eastern Shore Gardener

Greetings Eastern Shore Gardeners!

I’ve pulled my head out of my manuscript on this gloomy morning to get started with my annual events for gardeners. There are several lectures already scheduled in 2013 that are worth registering for, and you can check out the details at the Eastern Shore Gardener Calendar.

As always, if you know of events that should be included,  please let me know about them by sending an e-mail to hackberrypoint@gmail.com.

I’m back to writing! Happily, I am working on a section on attracting butterflies and moths. It’s a really fun topic. In addition to lots of flowers for adult butterflies, I will have extensive information on food for caterpillars. Did you know that violets are larval food for  great spangled, meadow, variegated, regal, and silver-bordered fritillaries? That’s more than enough reason to keep drifts of them in your garden. While they may be too enthusiastic to be planted with other herbaceous perennials, consider using violets as ground cover under shrubs and trees. Here is a great site to learn loads more about the Butterflies of North America http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/