Save the butterfly plant buddleia for Peacock Butterfly Red Admiral Butterfly

I picked up a copy of Gardner's World (July 2011) because the cover of the magazine had a butterfly with the heading "save our butterflies." I am a massive butterfly fan and love to see them fly around in our garden. For years I could not make out why we only attracted the white cabbage butterfly to our garden. Then I read about the buddleia plant. I think I planted this plant last year or the year before and wow for the first time I got to see the Peacock butterfly and photograph it. What a stunning butterfly it is, my heart sank as I stood above this gorgeous butterfly while it let me take photos. I also got to photograph the Red admiral butterfly, which made my day. You can see pictures of my butterflies in our Butterfly Lullaby garden below (butterfly below is the Peacock butterfly:)



Butterflies are magical little creatures as they turn into fairies at night. A real childhood garden adventure! Anyone that loves butterflies please go and buy this magazine as it is packed full of details on how to save our butterflies. There is also a special offer for butterfly plants. Today I am going to read as much as I can on now to save the butterfly. One interesting thing I found out and that is those horrible stinging nettles are important food for some caterpillars. We don't have any so I will have to ask our school if I could dig one of theirs up. Today I wish I was stinking rich as I would buy the school field instead of them selling it off for housing. Then the field could be shared with the Welsh School so they don't have to travel 45 minutes for their sports day. The kids love playing in the field after school we are all very sad.

If you go to www.gardenersworld.com/images you will be able to see the relevant caterpillars.

Join the Big Butterfly Count from 16 July to 31 July. Simply make a note of any butterflies you spot over a fifteen minute period.  www.bigbutterflycount.org

I am going to do some more research and try and share with you what I know and hopefully together we can save our butterfly for our children and their children to enjoy.

I will be back to share more butterfly and fairy images...

www.butterflylullaby.co.uk fairy songs, fairy portraits, art and crafts for children, music, fairy music, true stories, poems, children's stories, free fairy network for businesses and stay at home Mum's (Mom's)

Pink lavatera my Wimbledon garden - Sharon J. Bainbridge

When I lived in Wimbledon we had an amazing bright pink lavatera, which I just loved. I have always enjoyed planting things and have been a great lover of the outdoors since childhood. But why oh why can I not grow a lavatera here in Wales? Over 6 years I have tried to plant all sorts of lavatera plants and all of them have died. Any advice? What am I doing wrong? Picture of me below in my Wimbledon garden sitting on the grass right next to my gorgeous pink lavatera plant.

I have just done some research and found that most garden centres do not stock Perennial Lavatera's, so that has no doubt been my problem. I just assumed that the Lavatera plants were all Perennials. I have found a place on line which stock the Perennial Lavatera, so wish me luck. On Mums Net they are having a discussion about a gorgeous purple lavatera, I wonder if I can talk her into swapping cuttings? That is if the plant has not been killed off by our harsh winter. What a great club that would be swapping cutting by post. One way to make up for low wages and poor lifestyle. Good luck to the teachers on Thursday who are on strike because of pension cuts etc, I feel sorry for them. It is important we fight for justice! They are under so much stress with all these silly inspections. That money should be spent on stuff like making schools safe and getting rid of asbestos on school canteen roofs!

My ex and I used to do the garden together. I still cannot believe we turfed the whole of the garden ourselves. Ok it was a small garden, but it was damn hard work digging up the old path etc. When he used to cut back my lovely pink lavatera I used to hit the roof. "Don't cut all the flowers off  my lovely plant" I would cry. Because I love the wild look.

I am currently using my partners computer as mine is not working, surprised "not!" It will be so nice when life starts to go the way it should. Oh well who cares because when I am outside in my garden I think of nothing but how lucky we all are to have such a beautiful planet. And that is why we all need to do our bit and recycle for our children's and their children's future. I love the den my little girl and I have built together. Try and get out in the garden this summer with your kids and show them what real childhood is all about. I can help you with that memory and show you how to create some magical things! Here is a video of the den. We have moved the old sandpit down the garden and now have tadpoles. Will show you updates soon as I am going to plant some dwarf water Lillie's in the pond.

If you fancy swapping cuttings get in touch. Leave me a message! www.butterflylullaby.co.uk , fairy songs, fairy portraits, art and crafts for children, music, fairy music, true stories, poems, children's stories, free fairy network for businesses and stay at home Mum's (Mom's)