I finished the saloon door gate. It was a big hit with the 7-year-old, who immediately began bursting through one way, then the other. Why, she asked, did we ever take these out of the house when they’re sooo cool?

Incidentally, these gates are placed in a break in the new border of azaleas being made by the Great Azalea Migration. In my mind’s eye, these gates will one day offer an enticing  pathway through great billowing flowering shrubs. We’ll see.

In the afternoon, I sowed:

• Echinacea purpurea
• Digitalis purpurea
• Cleome ‘Two Tone Pink’
• Datura (white, variety unspecified)
• Campanula trachelium
• Asclepias incarnata (pink)
• Asclepias tuberosa (orange)
• Blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis)
• Gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’
• Shasta daisy ‘Alaska’
• Monarda (unspecified purple)
• Bachelor button ‘Blue Boy’ (Centauria cyanus ‘Blue Boy’)
• Peach-leaf campanula (Campanula persicifolia)
• Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

So, adding to the butterfly-friendly theme, the Asclepias, Echinacea, Monarda, Datura, and Zizia aurea should reel them in. Maybe more of them will as well; I need to read up.

If I had any sod to bust, I would say I had better get to it; assuming all these things grow, my garden will absolutely explode with plants next summer. As it is, I had better start busting clay and place an order for about 12 yards of manure. It may take me from now to the last frost to prepare good beds for all these fellas.