Sweet Romance Reads: butterflies

Monday, May 30, 2016

Beautiful Flowers to Attract Bees, Butterflies and Hummingbirds by Denise Devine

My Flower Garden

As you probably know, bee and butterfly populations are in serious decline. This is not good news! Did you know that in 1997 there were more than 1 billion Monarch butterflies, but now there are only about 57 million? The rapid decline is due to pesticides, loss of habitat, and milkweed, which is the main diet of caterpillars.

Bees are dying in record numbers—putting our food supply seriously at risk—and it’s mostly due to toxic pesticides called “neonicotinoids.” These nasty chemicals are used in nursery plants and they’re systemic, which means that the poison goes up through the plant into the pollen and nectar and kills the bees. PLEASE, only buy plants that aren’t chemically treated!

Make your yard an area where bees and butterflies can survive. Plant wildflowers native to your state, plant milkweed and don’t use chemicals!

Echinacea (Coneflowers)

Some bee-friendly flowers…

Spring Blooms - Crocus, hyacinth, borage, calendula and wild lilac
Summer - bee balm, cosmos, echinacea, snapdragons foxglove, and hosta
Fall - zinnias, sedum, asters, witch hazel and goldenrod

Some butterfly-friendly flowers…

Aster, bee balm, cornflower, daylily, hollyhock, lavender, lilac, milkweed, phlox, purple coneflower, snapdragon, zinnia

Ten top flowers for hummingbirds…

Bee balm, cardinal flower, zinnia, salvia, bleeding hearts, butterfly bush, trumpet flower, lupine, columbine, petunia

Cardinal Flower

The All of the pictures in this post are from my own backyard. If you'd like more information on how you can do your part to help save the bees and butterflies by creating a friendly habitat for them, here are a few very good resources:

American Meadows for wildflower seeds

The Xerces Society for information on bees, butterflies and dragonflies

The Honeybee Conservancy for planting a bee garden

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Denise Devine is a USA TODAY bestselling author who has writes sweet romantic comedy and inspirational romance. She is currently writing two series, Forever Yours (Inspirational) and Counting Your Blessings (Christmas romantic comedy). You can visit her at www.deniseannettedevine.com.

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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Butterflies...

Yesterday, with the delight of social media communication, I had a conversation with a wonderful childhood friend who now lives over 3,000 miles away. Like so many of us, with the long awaited arrival of spring weather, she was thinking of gardening. She was contemplating planting a “Butterfly Bush” near her house. At first, she was excited about the idea of attracting colorful butterflies to her yard. But she changed her mind.

“Of course, first you have to deal with all the caterpillars,” her mate had commented.

“Ugh!” said my friend. “No way. No caterpillars. No Butterfly Bush.”

And that was that.

This got me to thinking. So many things in life that are enjoyable and rewarding begin with “caterpillars.”

In my writing, it’s MANY drafts of a story, creeping and crawling through the editing process. This can be both difficult and sometimes disheartening. But it’s a necessary part of the process, if the story is to “emerge” (hopefully) in its full glory when it’s done.

In my kitchen, sometimes it’s the messy clutter on the counter as the ingredients are tossed and measured and chopped and blended, hurricane style. The final creation can be quite wonderful, but you could have a lot of doubt about that if you saw the kitchen in progress.

In my garden, it’s dealing with the mulching, the fertilizing, the planting, the weeding. It’s a lot of hard work and a lot of dirt on the way to the blossoming of the flowers and ripening of the vegetables.

In the gym… well, I don’t really think I have to explain what the “caterpillars” are. I am no athlete. I grunt and groan a lot. But I’m loving the effects and strengthening that develops from the efforts.

I think it’s easy in life to make decisions NOT to deal with the caterpillars. But then we don’t have the butterflies. I have to remember this when I plan my day. It’s worth it. And I’m still hoping my friend will plant her Butterfly Bush.

What are the “caterpillars” you have to deal with on the way to your “butterfly” goals?

Christine Bush is the award winning author of many books and novellas of sweet romance and light mystery. She also writes Middle Grade Fiction. When she isn’t writing, she can be found working with clients as a Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice, or teaching Psychology at a local college. She lives with her family and two crazy cats in northeastern Pennsylvania, and loves to hear from readers and aspiring writers.

Her latest book “Cindy’s Prince” can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Cindys-Prince-Christine-Bush-ebook/dp/B00IFSRVJ2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1393781746&sr=1-1&keywords=christine+bush+cindy%27s+prince