
A Painted Lady Butterfly is drawn to this flower.
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HELP......I planted a tiny bit of SITM 20 years ago. It has COMPLETELY taken over my gardens and nothing I do seems to kill it. I have kept it under control until knee surgery 5 years ago knocked me out of gardening as much as I need/want too. What do you recommend I do to get rid of this EVIL plant..!! Thanx so much for any ideas......
The recommended practice for getting rid of this aggressive plant is to apply an herbicide in the spring, when new foliage is developing. Older leaves are typically resistant to herbicides. Consult with a local garden center to find an herbicide that is right for your garden.
Repeated sprays in late spring and early summer of Tri-Mec herbicide have killed most of the invasive patch along 2 of my gardens. Spraying Glyphosate herbicide has also helped kill this very invasive aggressive plant. Applications began 5 years ago. Every year there is less and less to kill back. It is somewhat resistant to the herbicides and not every underground root gets killed so continued attention to its eradication is required.
I have old cinder blocks from a building project that I have painted. Are those okay to use as a warming stone for my traveling butterflies?
Yes, those would work fine!
I have mostly lantana and and day Lily s in my yard.I have noticed that only the lantana that is pink and yellow are always covered in butterflies. They don't touch the orange lantana.They don't seem to like the orange Lily s.
You are so very lucky--it sounds like you may have a Black Swallowtail caterpillar snacking on your Italian Parsley. I'm willing to share to have these beauties in my garden (they'll lay eggs to create MORE beautiful butterflies :)
I would add Penta and Lantana to (nectar)butterfly plants. 'My' Monarchs and Queens especially like a bright yellow lantana. Happy to say my butterfly weeds have been stripped to bare stems, and just now making new leaves for the next feast. I visited daily with several caterpillars eating 'weed'next to my porch bench, watching them get bigger and fatter. One was kind enough to hang his or her cacoon on a pot rim just a foot away from my seat, so am watching carefully, hoping i will be there to watch the amazing sight when it breaks free, and fluffs the new wings. Oh, and some black with thin white stripes caterpillars (don't know what type they are)are absolutely ravishing my Italian parsley plants (they don't seem to like the curly kind), so I have atarted some more seeds of that for them. If they have eyes on the pot of parsley on my kitchen windowsill, I'll have a stern talk with them, but they aren't hurting the parsley outside, as it is sending up new shoots already. It seems in general in my Houston neighborhood more Monarchs, and that smaller solid orange one than last spring. I was worried after last year's months of awful heat and long, absolute, drought, but it has been cooler and wetter so far, and seems this summer won't be quite so bad as last.
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