Butterfly Garden at the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Show

A large part of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Show, which runs every year from the beginning of March through May, is the display gardens, each focused on a different theme, such as water-wise gardening, prehistoric plants, plants to attract pollinators, or gardening with edibles. Honestly, the water-wise garden was a disappointment, but they did have a pretty cool cactus and succulent garden that I'll show in a future post, called Cactus Road Rally (it featured characters from the movie Cars).

My favorite display garden was called Butterflies On The Go.

You pass these butterfly topiaries on the way to the exhibit

Looks a lot like Ajuga 'Black Scallop', interplanted with marigolds. The body might be creeping jenny, or perhaps some kind of golden Sedum like 'Ogon.'

While I probably won't be using marigolds as a companion plant to my 'Black Scallop' Ajuga, this did make me consider interplanting it with some other self-sowing annuals that I like better.

The temporary butterfly exhibit is created by draping a tent over beds full of nectar plants.

The entrance covered with a beaded curtain lets people in easily, while corralling the butterflies within.

There was a handful of these chrysalis shelters throughout the tent, where people would gather to watch butterflies emerge.

Inside the tent, the beds are planted with a colorful assortment of nectar-producing plants

 

There was a water feature that is probably a permanent part of the bed, during times of the year when the Flower and Garden Show isn't running

None of the plants were identified, but the beds were full of informational signs about the butterflies, as well as general info about the exhibit itself.

Perfectly posed real butterfly -- I think he saw my camera coming!

Despite the admonishment in the "Native Nectar Plants" sign above about using tropical milkweed, the red and yellow flower below looks to me like Asclepias curassavica, the tropical milkweed. Oops.

It sure is a pretty butterfly, though.

These are probably some of the best shots I've taken of butterflies. They're notoriously difficult to capture in pictures, and my own garden caters more to bees and hummingbirds than butterflies, so they don't stay in my own garden long.

I hope you enjoyed them!

Wednesday Vignette

For today's Wednesday Vignette post, I'm sharing a handful of shots that I took on our recent trip to Disney World. I'm working on paring my photos down to a manageable size to share in future posts. But for now, here's a few shots of the Snow White topiary from EPCOT.

If you've ever been to Disney World, then you know that topiaries are a big part of the park landscaping. They're not the kind of thing that I'm inclined to put in my own garden, at least not on this kind of magnificent, life-size or bigger, scale. I did see a shop with some small topiaries, one in particular of Minnie Mouse that tempted me, but getting it home would have been too much of a challenge. It was fun to wander the park and spot the various Disney characters.

Snow White topiary dancing through a bed of flowering annuals

Did you happen to spot the little creature on her arm? When I noticed it, I was reminded of the scene in the movie where she sings and dances her way through cleaning the dwarves' cottage with a bevy of woodland animals. This particular creature, however, doesn't belong in any woodland.

Looks like an anole. They were everywhere in Florida.

Some of the seven dwarves as topiary, also dancing through the annuals

And, just in case you're unfamiliar with the scene I mentioned earlier, here's a video:

Anna at Flutter and Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. Here's a link to her current post.

Wednesday Vignette

Nigel and I recently got back from a trip to Disney World, where we attended the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. I took loads and loads of photos while I was there, and I'll share them in future posts. But for today, I'm going to share just a couple photos of sunflowers.

Disney in Florida excels at planting enormous swaths of bedding annuals. This picture from a bed of short sunflowers mixed with Impatiens was just a small portion of a bed that went on and on.

I thought sunflowers would be an appropriate subject for today's Wednesday Vignette, since we saw so much sun while we were there, and surprisingly, came home to a record-breaking abundance of sunshine and heat here in the PNW.

Anna at Flutter and Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. Check here to see her latest post.

Foliage Followup -- April 2016

Today is Foliage Followup, when bloggers celebrate the role of foliage in the garden. Foliage Followup is hosted by Pam at the blog Digging. Check out her post here.

Sedum 'Angelina' with black mondo grass and Pacific Coast Iris foliage

Epimedium wushanense and maiden hair fern

The leaves on this Epimedium remind me of an alligator

"Brains! Brains!" Emerging ornamental rhubarb foliage

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day -- April 2016

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! Here's what's flowering right now in my garden.

Lewisia

Zombie flamingo wearing Mardi gras beads amidst flowering rosemary

Iberis/Candytuft

Geranium phaeum 'Samobor'

Pulmonaria and Uvularia

Lamprocapnos/Dicentra 'Gold Heart'

Epimedium wushanense

Ribes sanguineum

Erythronium oregonum

Erythronium oregonum

Dicentra formosa

Trillium whose name I've forgotten -- the flower never opens any further than this

Fritillaria meleagris

Beesia

Epimedium

Lamium orvala

In the greenhouse, there is only one plant flowering -- a cactus. I've discovered with this plant, that I really have to stay on top of it. Only a few days previously, those big flowers were just tiny fuzzy nubs  barely sticking out of the plant.

Cactus flowers

So pretty!

Only a couple of days ago, they looked like this

Finally, here is yet more evidence of the general untidiness in my garden. Last year's flowers are still standing in some spots.

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Blackberry Lily

Phlomis

Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, on the 15th of every month. Check out her post here, where other bloggers from around the world share what's flowering in their gardens.

No More Yucky Yucca

Readers may remember last spring, I dug up my three Yucca 'Bright Star' from the gravel garden and put them in pots, in an attempt to keep them from getting the dreaded "Yuccacne." I wrote about it here. It was actually a suggestion from my buddy Peter The Outlaw Gardener that prompted this. In past years the Yuccas have come out of the winter wet looking rather dreadful, their leaves covered in disgusting spots caused by a fungus (I think).

I think it worked.

The pots sat all winter under the protected front porch. I don't think I watered them at all for three or four months. They might have gotten a bit of rain, if it blew in sideways.

Looking good!

These are the only acne spots

There's even a bit of pink stress coloration

Peter's idea was definitely a win!

Wednesday Vignette

I like lichens!

It's a good thing too, because they grow everywhere here in the PNW.

Anna at Flutter and Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. See her current post here, and check out the comments with links from other bloggers.