Yesterday I planted a butterfly garden. Last night, actually, had to do it in the evening after kids went to bed and it cooled down.

The garden patch of raised beds is what I see from the kitchen window, and when we moved into this house, the beds were, well, a wreck. But it was the wrong time of year to do anything about it. Had to wait for enough clear weather to get out, clear the mess, bag up the weeds and haul ’em to the curb for pickup, and get plants for a flower garden. I picked several items to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, including one lovely butterfly bush with gorgeous rich purple flowers. (The flowers sort of resemble lilac bunches and the perfume is amazing.) Now we need to bark it all in and give the roses some food, and probably the rest of the plants could use general feeding, too. It got hot yesterday and they got wilty.

But today it’s a garden. Will post before and after pics.

Updated to add: Click here to view the slideshow! Before, after, and some close-ups. As you can see, the dog is exhausted from supervising.