Plant Inspection by Tabbycat Inspector #1

At the end of January, I ordered a bunch of plants online. It was winter and I was dreaming of flowers, and butterflies. And so I packed my cart full of things that I thought butterflies and hummingbirds might like to eat. The package arrived in early May, containing 41 plants.

The handful that arrived potted, I immediately repotted into larger containers. The bare-root plants have been sitting in a box in the garage, waiting for it to be the right time to plant.

We have still been having frost in Pennsylvania as recently as about a week ago. On principle, I don't typically plant things until around Memorial Day. And here it is, Memorial Day weekend, so maybe it's time to get cracking on those plants!

I planted a butterfly garden years ago, on the sunny southern side of the house. I diagrammed the heck out of it, making drawings of all kinds of arrangements. Then I planted. And since then, many of the plants sort of disappeared, except for monarda. We do really well on monarda, and the hummingbirds adore the big, red, showy blooms.

I am planning a new butterfly garden now, this one in honor of my dear, departed sister, the original Butterfly Girl, in a sunny corner of the front yard. It is by the place where the tree fell last summer. It used to be very shady in that spot, but with the tree gone, there is more sunshine now. Perhaps a spot for welcoming butterflies?

Anyway, I need to make some diagrams before I plant, and I am working on that. It is a pleasant interlude: drawing pictures of where the flowers will go, dreaming of the butterflies and birds that will come; hoping even more that my big sister, the Angel the new butterfly garden is for, will come, herself, to visit me there.

But first we have some things to do before we make it so. On this morning, Dexter and I went through all of the plants in the box, and counted noses, and yes, everyone was present and in good condition. Look at Tabbycat Inspector #1, with tail held high! He loves his work, and he is good at it.

These plants are good to go! Tabbycat Inspector Dexter says it's so!

A thing my oldest sister always said to the rest of us was this: "I love you to the moon and back." And this butterfly garden will be for her. So here is a song to accompany this posting : Savage Garden, with To the Moon and Back.