Beneficial Grants: Texas Monarch Butterfly Grant

I live in Texas. Howdy.

I was looking into things that could boost my permaculture food forest without costing me any money. As I was looking through the many grants. It all started with the Monarch Butterfly Grant.

This is a very small personal grant that cannot exceed past 400 per person/group. This grant can only be used to purchase plants (which is all I want- free plant money). So there are some rules to this particular grant that go further than that: they have to be native to Texas. I want Butterflies

As I wait for winter to be over I plan. My close friend LD always has a beautiful yard and I want to shine too. This has inspired me to look for money to supply my hobbies.

Challenge accepted.

I want all four hundred of those dollars so that I can expand my already amazing dream permaculture food forest. So I looked into it.

Agarita is one of the native plants. I hadn’t thought about this plant before -primarily because I was so narrow minded on the idea of a permaculture food forest- but I love that we have so many milkweed plants in my pasture because it attracts the butterflies.

That’s also how I happened upon this grant because I decided I wanted to start a butterfly garden to attract even more. The agarita has the nectar that the butterflies crave. If I have this lovely blossoming flower it will give the mom butterflies plenty of food – these plants also are great for other pollinators like bees. Keep that in mind.

It is a shrub that is pointy. I like pointy shrubs because they make good barriers to keep animals away from my property. Sold. They are an evergreen, drought tolerant and they also produce tasty berries (and makes delicious jelly). Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

These are my end game goals guys. I want to be on this list.

Flame acanthus also known as the hummingbird bush. This is absolutely beautiful and another shrub. This is considered a ‘profuse’ bloomer. It allegedly is a huge bloomer and that is exciting because it attracts not just monarch butterflies but also hummingbirds and bees. (It’s also a deer resistant and drought tolerant)

Kidneywood is so beautiful. I had no idea, they are allegedly really fragrant and attract bees and butterflies. They have many branches and they can get up to be 12 feet tall. That is amazing because it is also drought tolerant and can survive cold and heat. (Clay soil is acceptable here). I am digging it. Sounds like it will be a great place for butterflies to settle in and eat some nectar.

Cone Flower is something we already have but would love to have it planted everywhere. Who knew that it was a native Texas plant? Now I know and you do too. This is a perennial and has beneficial properties which I will probably go over at a later time. They bloom from April until September so this will give my early pollinators a snack before the rest bloom in May or June.

The application is online and the application and process seems very easy.

They say purple cone flower can be aggressive- I sure hope so. So keep that in mind.

Cenizo is just a cool name to have. If I get another pet (fingers crossed I don’t but if I do) I am going to name it Cenizo. Regardless, it is made for our zone. It flowers and can take the heat but it does need to be watered. They can get to be up to 8 feet tall. Sounds live privacy fence material to me.

Cenizo goes by another name Texas Sage. Amazingly enough I already have a couple growing. I had no idea. Also this plant does not appreciate heavy pruning- I’ll have to keep that in mind.

The fragrant or pink mimosa is another thorny shrub great for deer resistance and a nice barrier around my property (I hear it smells good too). Another early bloomer but it ends earlier too (March to July). The flowers are lovely and I would love to add them to my butterfly garden (or barrier I haven’t decided). Here is even more Information.

They will check up on us and I can’t wait. This adventure will be really exciting. I can’t wait to start.

Texas Lantana is something I already have growing and they are amazing. I kind of want more of them because they make a beautiful groundcover. All parts of this plant are poisonous and it is considered deer resistant.

Lantanas are perennial shrubs that can grow 2 to 4 foot tall. Wow, they just don’t seem to be scrubbing out for me. They’re just creeping across the ground. That is strange maybe next year they will perk up, regardless I would love to have more. One more link: Texas Lantana. Just in case you’re considering it. It is really beautiful.

Last but not least is Salvia texana and I want this one. If I got that grant I would definitely get this plant. This is a perennial herb and it grows to be up to 2 feet tall. It is drought tolerant and does well in clay or rocky soil (bonus i won’t need to modify the soil I have). Salvias are a perennial flower and have more than 75 species including autumn sage. That is something we already have in honor of my eldest child: Autumn Sage. This is a rabbit hole I’ll have to go down another time, but every new flower or sage that I have gets me more excited.

I have murdered lavender every single year I’ve tried it but look at her growing it like it’s nothing. I am so jealous of her naturally green thumb.

I will, of course, get more milkweed but that will place where where I want them primarily and have a large area in the middle of the garden. That sounds absolutely beautiful.

Can’t wait and I hope I get it, but I already have some of these plants. The milkweed does grow naturally and I want to entice Monarch butterflies. I want them to pollinate all of my fruit trees and attract all of the bees. I understand the importance of planting native plants and I can’t wait to get started.

I will share more grants as I come across more information.

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New plant: Primerose Jasmine

Before we planted the primrose Jasmine

Primrose Jasmine is a lovely viney thing. It has zero uses according to Wikipedia other than looking pretty and smelling fragrant.

I hate buying plants that don’t have uses but my eldest child’s middle name is Jasmine and she will be going to college…

I got so sad thinking about how she is about to be a senior in high school.

I couldn’t help myself, plus the flowers are yellow. Birds love Primrose Jasmine, so maybe it will distract them from my garden.

So after buying two, because i always buy in pairs. It’s my thing. If I am going to be shoving them into a wild jungle I have to make sure they have a friend.

Anyway, so I looked into these beautiful plants and I got this brilliant idea. I get those quite often and it requires a fair amount of work.

I will make a wooden archway and try will grow over it. I plan on putting up a lot of fencing especially after the year I have had with nature.

I am sure that it will flourish in clay and that is what we have. Since it is only good at smelling pretty maybe I can do something with that.

Also, I looked and no one told me if these flowers were edible. I don’t want to try one because they might be poisonous, but I do because I didn’t see that they weren’t.

After we planted the primrose Jasmin. It looks pretty 😍

Who knows? Regardless, I have planted the Jasmine in my garden and shall not purchase anymore of this particular breed. Just because I want a food forest.

Don’t get me wrong it will have it’s perks. The flowers are yellow and thats my mom’s favorite color. It is a Jasmin plant and I have a daughter with the middle name Jasmin.

Plato approves of the Jasmin and often rubs up against it until I spray him with a water hose.

It won’t be long before I buy more plants. Stay turned for more adventures.

Day 2: continued firebreak phase one

Optimism is out the door. This is day two of the beginning of this battle. The vines are too much.

I am debating setting them on fire myself and just starting over. There are so many and they go all the way up to the top of the trees.

That was after one day of work already.

Even with my new fancy gloves that are amazing and have protected my blistered hands (so far). So many vines. We had no burn pile…

Now we have one… tada

Working on getting it all taken care of has been ridiculous, but we have been working at it.

We were out there working and there was this fine that had been buried beneath the brush. I didn’t notice it but when I went to pull another vine it touched me and I jumped high into the air.

A little bit that has been worked. A lot of vines gone.

If you had been there you would have been impressed with how high I jumped. Regardless, no snake just a vine, but now I am on high alert.

So we have realized that not only do we have a vine problem but we also have a baby tree problem. There are so many baby trees, they litter the floor and it is already hard enough to get to the bottom.

On a positive note we found an abandoned nest

I am debating on murdering these remaining baby trees or if I am just going to cut everything around them and let them grow.

I do not see any benefits to these jungle vines. They are huge and very thick. I have to get rid of them, but it’ll be so hard. Not looking forward to the rest of the work, but I know it will be rewarding and look better too.

Woot woot, almost got one section cleared away but as you can see in the corner of the picture there are still so many vines.