Perennials in Wisconsin

  

Cardinal Flower

 I love perennials...they're an economical way to maintain long lasting seasonal color AND when planted in the perfect spot, they sing. It's certainly magical how beautifully they grow in size and stature, adapt to my Wisconsin weather, and attract many new species into the garden. I never attracted hummingbirds like I do now, the hummingbird moth which still takes me by surprise, bumble bees, and so many butterflies! Over 60% of my garden is part sun/part shade, because of this I also attract insects that I don't appreciate, like my never ending battle with japanese beetles, aphids, and earwigs. My Grandmother Josephine (God bless her soul) had a green thumb in which anything she planted...thrived. She taught me about home remedies to battle bugs in the garden.  



White Coneflower



The first tonic includes:

 

1 T any liquid dish soap

1 average onion; chopped fine

6 cloves of garlic; minced fine

1 quart of warm water

 

Mix all ingredients together and let stand overnight, preferably in a well ventilated area due to fumes. The next day pour tonic in a mist sprayer and mist bugs dead. I also use and LOVE this tonic for sprucing up perennials all through the growing season. 



Swamp Milkweed



To send bugs away mix up this concoction:

 

1 cup of Murphy's Oil Soap

1 cup of chewing tobacco juice

1 cup of Scope antiseptic mouthwash

 

To make the tobacco juice I fill an old nylon stocking with 3 to 4 teaspoons of chewing tobacco and steep in a gallon of boiling water until a nice rich brown color or overnight.

I use an old milk gallon to keep this juice ready to mix. I have even added quite a few dashes of tabasco to the soap, tobacco juice, mouthwash mixture. Place in a hose end sprayer and soak plants and leaves. These mixtures don't smell pretty, but they do work!!! The mixture used every 4 to 6 weeks adds a nice shine to my perennial leaves and flowers and helps to perk up my garden from the start of Spring right through the end of Summer. Enjoy!

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."-- Thomas Jefferson