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Birds & Butterflies of Bastrop Gardens
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- Butterfly Gardening
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Butterflies and other critters that visit our gardens regularly.
Natural Pest Control Solutions
Try Planting These | To Help Control These |
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Chives | Many insects |
Garlic | Aphids, Mosquito Larvae, some Caterpillars and sucking bugs |
Leek | Carrot Fly |
Marigolds | Nematodes in soil, Whitefly on tomatoes |
Mint | Ants, Cabbage-worm Butterflies |
Nasturtiums | Squash Bugs |
Radishes | Striped Cucumber Beetle |
Rosemary | Carrot Fly |
Sage | Cabbage Butterfly |
Some Work Better In Pairs | To Control |
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Tomatoes and Cabbage | White Cabbage Butterfly |
Tomatoes and Basil | Tomato Hornworms |
Beans and Marigolds | Mexican Bean Beetle (Spider Mite may increase) |
Cucumbers and Radishes or Nasturtiums | Cucumber Beetle |
Eggplants and Catnip | Flea Beetle |
Cabbage and Thyme | Imported Cabbageworms |
Carrots and Onions or Chives | Rust Flies, some Nematodes |
Potatoes and Horseradish | Potato Bugs |
Roses and Chives or Marigolds | Aphids |
Useful Links
My Favorite Rose
by Jeff Long
As spring wells up in Central Texas, so do the colors of nature, especially for the rose lover. Watching the roses begin to bloom around our nursery, my eye has often been caught by the unusual and minimalist beauty of a certain china rose, the Mutabilis. Shy like a wallflower at first, this lovely plant flowers first with a pale yellow, like a few wisps of parchment. As the days march forward, Mutabilis’ bloom then blushes pink and finally mutates to a carmine, as if it were truly embarrassed by it’s own beauty and potential. As the season progresses, you will find the five-petaled flower spread about the plant in all its lovely shades, making an average six-foot bush that truly lives up to its reputation.
Sometimes called the "Butterfly Rose", its delicate flowers often resembling a resting place for the insect the petals seem to imitate, you have to be quick to catch its fleeting fragrance when the flower just opens. According to documentation, this hardy plant was introduced before 1894 and grows from five to seven feet with repeating blooms and just a few hips and will tolerate some shade. It is considered scentless by most rose growers because of its momentary fragrance, but prized for its variety of colors that appear at the same time.
Mutabilis beautiful reddish foliage makes a perfect background for this changeling rose and many experts say this twiggy shrub make an excellent wall plant, suited to brighten any landscape. In fact, it is an excellent transition plant in the garden when changing your color scheme from yellow to pink. I like the plant so well, in fact, I have adopted a picture I took of a single bloom for the "desktop" on my computer, where it’s beauty can be with me all day long – my favorite rose.