Butterfly Bonanza

​The butterfly garden has shelter for beneficial insects year-round. In springtime, there are various kinds of daisies: oxeye, fleabane, and shasta; in high summer, zinnias, marigolds, queen Anne’s lace, chicory, Indian paintbrush, and echinacea, and in autumn, goldenrod  and  purple asters. We’ve tried planting butterfly weed but it hasn’t taken in that stony sandy soil. Of course, there is milkweed for the monarchs, of which we saw two or three in late autumn. Mostly it was yellow or black swallowtails and the little endangered orange marsh butterflies. The garden is also beneficial to bees, both native and our own honeybee hive.