[Eddy Smiles]

We live in Florida where it's often hard to tell the difference between a yard and the beach. Since our oak trees have all but destroyed our lawn my wife decided that she wanted to turn the entire front yard into a butterfly garden with Florida hardy plants. Unfortunately, because of the costs we're having to do it one section at a time but with the placement of this sign we've got three sections in. The sign is made out of a piece of lap siding left over from the construction of a friend's cabin in Tennessee. It's about 18" in length and 9 inches wide. I first tried to carve the the butterfly and lettering but the wood was so darn hard that I very quickly went to my Coldwood. The finish is acrylic paint with about 6-coats of exterior urethane. The post is a piece of 1" steel channel from Lowes.

[Ashbys]

Eddy,

The sign looks good. But if you want to give it a bit more protection pick up a small can of austrilian timber oil. It is the best outdoor protection I have found.

Keep that sign alive for a long time.

Ash

[Banjo]

What a pretty sign! Good luck on attracting lots of butterflys!

[Joy]

Neat sign....neat idea.

[AlArchie]

Now, that's a cool idea! Nice work, Eddy!

Al

[FINGERS]

Very Nice. As The Garden Grows Taller Buy Or Build A Butterfly House. Same As A Hummiingbird House But The Entrance's Are Smaller. We Had One In Bradenton Prior To Moving Into A Condo In Tampa. I Went To One Of The Florida Nature Sites And Found Plans And Food / Nest Materials. I Couldn't Find The Site For This But Will Look Again And Send It To You...if Found

[Eddy Smiles]

Thanks one and all! I got the idea for the sign after seeing that joining "Monarch Watch" and buying a sign from them was more than we could afford to shell out. The wood sign may not last as long as their metal sign but I can always refinish it or make a new one. Nothing lasts for long in our Florida sun anyway.

Fingers... Many years ago I bought the wife a butterfly house as you've described. Unfortunately the wasps got more use out of it than any butterfly. In fact, now that I think about it I can't remember any butterflys ever! But thanks for the offer.

[Eddy Smiles]

I thought that I would add on an addendum to this thread. This afternoon my wife and I were looking out the window at the butterfly sign and garden and while we were looking, along came a beautiful Monarch. Must have seen the sign, right? Anyway, he or she fluttered around for over an hour and I managed to grab a couple of pictures of him/her on one of the milkweed plants. We've yet to successfully hatch any butterflys but we keep trying hoping that one like this one will leave us a present.

[Ashbys]

Excellent Pic!

You could put that one (the close up) in the reference section, it is as good as any I have seen .

Ash