Thanks! The birds love it too!

They are gorgeous. I can't wait to see what you design!

Every Garden is beautiful!

There are six of us. We Garden together because we like the company. We use about a quarter acre.

Hey, awesome butterfly garden! I want to do more of that. I just have to get my rose beds laid down for my 4 dozen bushes, then I want to add some varies butterfly attracters. They do like the roses, but parsley and butterfly bushes and some native wildflowers would add a nice dimension. You have REAL winter. I hate the summer heat here, but the trade off is I can garden at least 10 months of active growing season.

@Leafhead thanks for the plant ideas. I just bought my first house and am having fun learning about various garden plants. I already know roses, but not much else.
As for Louisiana being atheist hell yeah. Having found a local freethinkers meet up group has helped. Plus, I am in a gay men's chorus, 4 years and counting. Even though most in the group are still Christian-identified (something for the like of me I will never totally wrap my head around; talk about false consciousness of the oppressed!), at least they almost all can't deny the horrible oppressive history of the church--and that it continues to be the strongest societal force set against us-- these guys at least don't look at me like I'm crazy when I rail against the oppressiveness and illogic of Christianity. Still, it is amazing what people will cling to just because they are socialized into it with fear tactics.
(Sorry for the soapbox. But occasional rants are another important way to keep one's sanity in "Gawd's country!" ) ?

@MikeInBatonRouge
I totally understand. I've been there, having grown up in South Florida. I became atheist after moving north to the Midwest, where the Jeebus doesn't hang like a scabby scrotum in the air.
In case I forgot to mention, in order to effectively garden for butterflies, it is vital that you abstain from any and all chemical use in the garden, especially pesticides. After all, what kills the goose kills the gander.
Soon, you'll have a very buggy garden, but it will balance out to a proper ratio of good, beneficial bugs to bad.
1% of bugs are harmful, and the rest are beneficial, neutral or just plain fascinating!
And that's my soapbox for the day

@Leafhead good reminder for me. Unfortunately, I was smitten early either the rose growing "bug," and roses developed in the 20th century are largely magnets for insects and disease. I learned long ago to rarely use any insecticides, and never preemptively. I handle spider mites by blasting the leaves every few days with garden hose spray in dry weather. Aphids are just lunch for lots of good bugs and don't even do much damage. Blackspot fungal disease is the one scourge I remain convinced cannot always be kept in check organically, and believe me, I have tried. But even there, I am gradually adding more and more blackspot-resistant varieties as they are brought to market and have gotten rid of the worst blackspot-prone roses. Still, my preference has always been the florist-style showy blooms, and as a class those are the most vulnerable. At least I notice that just spraying for fungal disease, I still see lots of spiders and good bugs hanging around. Caterpillars seem to love roses, but I can deal with seasonal leaf damage. I could be cracked, but I like the notion that planting attractive alternative to my roses will give the butterflies more attractive options than to lay their eggs on my roses. I don't know.