Garden of Surprises

My neighbors think I'm nuts.  I know if I was in their position, that I would be inclined to agree... and I admit it, I'm a bit on the eccentric side.  I think it makes me interesting and I like to be myself!  This past weekend, I was caught laying on the ground in my yard staring at some flowers during a light rain... crazy, right?

I was lying down in the grass on the right side of this picture, my head buried in some plants. did I mention it was raining?

It began as any other day, I was out filling up the bird bath (if you recall in Water, Water, Everywhere, I do this nearly daily in the summer).  I had a bit of water left in the watering can, so I decided to water a few rain garden plants that looked especially crisp...

It took me months to plan this garden, weeks to dig it, and around three days to actually plant it (in 90 degree July!!), but I finally got my rain garden in the ground.  It was a lot of hard work but SOOOOO worth it! If anyone is even thinking about planting one, I highly recommend it.. feel free to drop me a line.

Now at this point, some of you might be asking "what in the world is a rain garden?"  (skip ahead if you know this already)  Simply put, a rain garden is a flower garden, typically of native plants, that is planted not far from the house that you divert water from a downspout of your roof into, typically through an underground pipe.  Sometimes they are runoff from a driveway or parking lot as well.  Why do this?  Stormwater issues are huge in this part of the country - I work in wastewater and it is consistently a matter of discussion.  Our sewers are called "combined" in most cities - the septic and water from storms are intermixed.  This causes huge problems during heavy rainfalls, the sewers get overloaded and overflow into "CSO"s - Combined Sewer Overflows... yucky water full of raw sewage and all the runoff of chemicals and sediment from our streets.

Water.. the lifeblood of the ecosystem...

YUCK!  But my rain garden is helping to reverse this.  By diverting water that would normally go in the sewer (or in my case straight into the river since I live <1/4 mile from the river), I am in effect catching this water with my rain garden = giving my beautiful plants water without having to water them (much! right now I've had to water them a few times just to get them stabilized from the transplant), plus I'm helping to recharge the aquifer.

There is more science that goes into this, but I'm assuming I lost some of you in the last couple of paragraphs. Bottom line   Beautiful garden, less polluted river = double bonus!  Extra plug: I got all of the plants ($250 worth) payed for through the County.  If you live in Elkhart County, in the Elkhart River Watershed, and pay a Stormwater Fee every year, you are eligible for the program too... just drop me a line and I can refer you to the right place!

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.. I kind of obsess over my rain garden.  I am really enjoying watching it grow - the plants have increased in size and some even flowered this year!  That I was surprised about, most of the time native plants spend the first year sending down their roots and don't bloom until the second year.  About half of my plants bloomed this year, which was fine by me!

Cardinal Flower in full bloom

I did buy a few larger plants (1 gallon size, instead of the typically plugs) that I knew would bloom this year.  In face the Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) was already in bloom when I bought it.  This is one of my favorite wildflowers with its bright red blooms on spikes.  I will never forget, being on my hands and knees planting on the 95 degree days of July.  Sweat is dripping off my face.  I had just planted the Cardinal Flower and was planting some Marsh Blazing Star next to it when a Ruby-throated Hummingbird comes and drinks out of the flower next to me, right at eye level!  I called this "instant gratification" - it was awesome!! Boy have I been blessed with the hummers this year!  First, my Impatient Hummer and now this!  I've also seen a record number while on birding expeditions, which is fairly rare.  It is hard to catch them outside of a feeder scenario.. they move so fast!

Marsh Milkweed just starting to open up

The other gallon-sized plant I bought was Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), which also bloomed this year... pretty pink flowers probably three weeks after I planted it.  This day, the flowers were done blooming and so I just bypassed it as I went around my garden.  It had tons of aphids on it, bright little orange guys.  There were also ants, flies, bees, and lady bugs all over the plant.  Oh no, something was eating the leaves!!  I stoop down and look closer - leaf damage always spikes my curiosity.  I love finding caterpillars on plants, it is sort of a game for me.  My husband and I actually play the "milkweed game" where we search milkweed for missing leaves, half eaten portions, etc.  Do we all remember what particular caterpillar eats milkweed? ...



YES! The Monarch!! One of the most striking, beautiful, butterflies in the world!  I absolutely love these guys!  I was so ecstatic to find a monarch caterpillar that I got down in the grass and watched the little guy chew up a leaf right before my eyes.  After watching the one for probably a half hour, I continued searching the plant and ended up finding a total of 4.  They were all of various sizes.  Caterpillars molt their skins and continuously grow until they are ready to form a pupae (chrysalis) and becomes adults.  When monarchs first hatch, they are barely visible with the naked eye.  They increase in size 300 times in the first two days.  300 times?!?!!!! that's amazing!

I have continued to watch the caterpillars grow in size and then leave the plants - I'm assuming to go form chrysalises nearby, though I have searched and not found any..

Monarchs mating

Here is a picture of some adults that I took out at Boot Lake.  Monarchs are definitely my favorite butterfly and I feel EXTREMELY blessed to have them in my rain garden in the first year.

I promise, this won't be my last post about my rain garden.  I'm obsessed. :)