This weekend the weather was fabulous in St. louis. My main endeavor was to clean the green house of all the weeds that have grown over the winter. I am a person that has to take a break every once in a while when doing heavy work. Not a break to stop working, but a break to another job to give me perspective. I took a look-see around the dormant garden that is showing tiny green of the perrineals besides the winter weeds (mainly chickweed, henbit and a nettle).
I also wondered when I should trim the roses and there next to them was my next project. The buddlea. It was a huge mess. I started working on it before I realized I should have taken a picture. This picture is after I had trimmed off half of the tops so I could get in and decide how much I should do.
I have never cared much for this butterfly bush. It is called "Pink Delight". I have had others and this one does not have the smell or the dense blossoms the others have. I have noticed it is not as full with blooms as the other varities I have had.
This is the Bush after I trimmed it. I don't know if I did it correctly or not. When I trimmed I noticed the center is dieing out. I left quite a bit of growth because if we get a hard freeze in the next month it might freeze it back some. Out side of its planting box is a new shoot coming up from the roots. If this weather keeps up I will be able to dig it without damage around St. Patricks day. The following pictures are are of visitors to the bush.
A swallowtail butterfly
A Humming bird moth. Not the things we like to reproduce but they are sure beautiful.
An excellent article about them can be found here
A hornet
This is how the bush looks all summer. No amount of dead heading increases the bloom. The blooms on this variety do not seem to last as long as the others. When this one is gone it will not be replaced in my main garden. The discovered shoot will be planted by the gate.
