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Friday, May 29, 2009

Attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden – Our First Contest!

Although we love earthworms and bees here at Renee's Garden Seeds, there's nothing quite as exciting as catching a glimpse of a hummingbird zipping through your garden, looking for a snack. You can't deny the lift in your spirits when you watch a butterfly crash-land gently onto a bright “Red Sun” sunflower.

So, we thought. Why don't we share our winged friends with our readers?

Contest #1: A Blooming Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Contest

For our first-ever contest on Renee's Blog, we want to offer each of our two contest winners a butterfly bonus pack and a hummingbird bonus pack. You can grow your very own butterfly and hummingbird gardens.

Here's what they look like:

seeds for a hummingbird gardenseeds for a butterfly garden









These are both brand new for this season. Click here to read about these collections.

How does this contest work? This contest is open to our Canadian and US readers. You may enter once anytime before 11:59 PM Pacific Time on Friday, June 5th. The following week, we will select two responses at random, contact the winners, and send them each a butterfly garden and a hummingbird garden.

All you have to do is click on the "comments" link below this article. In the text box, tell us your favorite vegetable or flower and include your name and e-mail address so we contact you. After filling out the box, click the orange "publish your comment" button.

Two winners will be selected at random. The week of June 8th, we'll publish the winners' first names on the blog.


In Other News: Our New Intern!

Also new at Renee's Garden Seeds is Nellie Boonman, the marketing intern (me). I recently graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship.

I'm very excited to work with Renee and the entire team here in beautiful Felton, California. The trial gardens are absolutely bursting right now with lettuce and spinach, so everybody in the office goes home with bags of leafy greens in their back seats. Definitely a perk. I've especially enjoyed the Mesclun mixes, which you can order online through our catalog. They're incredibly tasty with an Orange Citrus Dressing and our chopped Delicious Duo scallions.

I'll contribute occasionally to the Renee's Garden Seeds blog, Twitter account, and to the Renee's Garden Seeds Ning community. I look forward to hearing your gardening stories and comments.

36 comments:

  1. My favorite flowers are Peonies. Unfortunately, I live in southern California where they can't be grown!
    My name is Mary Ellen Satterfield, email is mamy360@sbcglobal.net

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  2. My favorite flowers are David Austin roses and I have about ten of them. They grow like weeds here in Southern California!
    Jan Mackey
    mackey2@pacbell.net

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  3. Being asked to select a favorite fruit, veggie of flower - that's a tough call...

    Favorite flowers include many native Salvia varieties - they go from almost pure white to almost black, and bright red to deep blue, and all attract hummingbirds.

    Or Matilija Poppies (Romneya) - what's not to love about hundreds of 6" to 8" diameter, fried-egg, crepe-paper white flowers glowing in the moon light.

    Or Fremontia, a native so drought tolerant it dies if you water it the summer, completely covered with its brilliant, intense yellow star-shaped flowers...

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  4. My favorite flowers are daisies. I've always liked simple flowers like daisies and carnations.

    My mom and mother-in-law are just bewildered that I want carnations at our reception this fall. Charlotte York would not approve.

    Cody Clark
    cody@humangirl.com

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  5. Hmmm... favorite veggy or flower...

    I enjoy having giant sunflowers in my yard, because they attract the goldfinches. It's fun to watch them land on the flowers and pluck out all the seeds (even when they don't leave me any). I'm hoping to have some good ones growing this summer so my son can watch the birds.

    Favorite veggy is tomatoes... even though they're not really a veggy. I remember eating them right out of the garden when I was little. Favorite fruit is watermellon. We used to grow those when I was little, too.

    I hadn't even realized that you sell seeds! I recently joined the ning site, but haven't had the chance to check it out fully. I'm glad I got the email for this and decided to head on over here!

    Dodia DodiaFae@gmail.com

    PS. Welcome Nellie!

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  6. I'm Stephanie and my favorite flowers are fuschias and my favorite vegetable is kohlrabi. My email is innateknowing at gmail dot com

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  7. Every seed packet I've ever purchased from Renee's Garden has been successful.
    I love growing the wide variety of radishes.
    I have basil growing in my windowsill. Outside, the "Container Garden" seeds (which were started indoors) are flourishing proudly. I can't wait to try the Pompeii Italian Sauce tomatoes or the Pizza My Heart peppers.
    We have hummingbirds and butterflies and would love to plant flowers for them.

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  8. My favorite flower/plant is the hydranga. I treated the soil several years ago to make them more pink. Now I like how some are more lavander than blue or pink.
    Kathy
    kfiehler@yahoo.com

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  9. Hi, my favorite flower is the morning glory. I love them all.

    I found some seeds I had planned to plant, but I moved so put them in a drawer. A couple years Later I finally planted them.

    I had glories all over the place, big ones, small ones, a bunch of colors. Not knowing much about planting, I went nuts and plannted everything I had and I'm not sorry! (lol)
    Barb

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  10. It's really hard to pick one, as I love so many and it really depends on the day. But if I have to pick only one, I think I would have to go with Squash blossoms. The edible flower of a vegetable - what could be better?

    Eva
    trueepicure@gmail.com

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  11. I would love to try these seeds and see if they'd attract Hummingbirds. It's been said that hummingbirds are traveling further North. I know we have them in South East Alaska. I live in Anchorage (South Central, AK) and I think we get them occasionally.
    My favorite flowers would be either sweet peas, roses, or lavender. It's just too hard to choose one favorite!
    Jenny
    jlynnmoos@yahoo.com

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  12. My favorite flower is Cerinthe. I like the seeds' shape, the adorable seedlings, the way the raindrops get cuddled by the leaves, and the flowers! I wait every summer for the beautiful flowers.

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  13. My favorite is the flower from the Acacia tree. Here in NJ, it heralds in the summer with a fragrance that perfumes the twilight air. This bloom only lasts about 2 weeks and I look forward to it every year.

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  14. opps..fogot my email leenersmith@hotmail.com

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  15. I love them all, but I especialy love to see the wild "sweet pea" now in bloom along the sides of the roads and fields in Western NY.
    Plilnane@aol.com

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  16. When Renee's seeds were not available as "Renee's" for a few years, I sorely missed trombone squash. I could not find them anywhere else! I am not a big fan of most summer squash-too watery and sometimes a little bitter. But trombone squash is sweet and meaty with a taste reminiscent of sunflower seeds. And, the vine is beautiful...it will ramble along a fence with huge white flowers that bees adore. I am so glad to find that the seeds are available again, and I started enough for a bumper crop for myself, for all my friends and to cover the new fence that is being installed in our school garden. It is going to be a trombones galore summer! Thanks, Renee, for continuing to offer my favorite summer squash.

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  17. favorite flower - peony, wish they grew in warm weather!
    favorite veg - radishes! love the ease of growing, the pretty colors, and the taste.

    jmcoyle@gmail.com

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  18. My favorite flowers are morning glories! I singlehandedly credit them for catapulting me to first runner up in 1996 Chicago Tribune Garden competition (Age group 5-11 years)
    -Paulina

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  19. My favorite vegetable is beets- roots and greens.

    My favorite flowers at the moment are bachelors buttons and calendula. Simple and bright and beautiful.
    Heather
    hsl166@yahoo.com

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  20. My elegant femine side prefers calla lillies, while my rough-and-tumble tomboy side adores nasturtiums. Some weird "third" side has suddenly emerged which desires a garden full of sweet williams! I would love to enlarge my garden to provide an additional haven for hummingbirds and butterflies.
    Betsy
    bloureiro@sbcglobal.net

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  21. I would have to say my favorite flower is a peony, although I love violets too. Hydrangeas are so beautiful, especially the blue ones. And daisies,love those daisies. I don't know of to many flowers I don't like. This is harder than I thought.
    Thanks
    Teresa

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  22. My favorite flowers are orchids (all varieties) and fuchsias. My favorite veggies are cucumbers.

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  23. My favorite vegetable is the tomatoe, from the smell of the leaves as they are growing, to the adorable little yellow flowers that bloom, to the big juicy tomato sandwich.
    gina thomas
    myskinnygarden@yahoo.com

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  25. It's hard to choose just one, but right now my favorite flower is a coral flowered Penstemon. The hummingbirds love them.
    suzanne.offner@gmail.com

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  26. Well, I have to favorites. The Calla Lily- it's beautiful, feminine, elegant (and a touch erotic, if I may say so!)- the second is a fairly new one. For the past few years I've been starting Nicotiana from seed- I just love how they release their scent in the evening around 7pm!

    Thanks for running this contest!

    Tessa (aka dirtdigr)
    blossomsnblunders@gmail.com

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  27. A favorite annual flower is the old faithful, corn flower. The butterflies like it too. There are pink, white and black, but my favorite is the "Blue Boy" because it is a clear,bright blue, long blooming in the garden and as a cut flower.

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  28. What a tough choice!

    I would have to say the zinnias are my favorite flower. In summer, the temperaturesin my arid area of California can soar above 100 degrees for weeks. The zinnias just seem to thrive, and without gallons of water! My favorite variety is "Polar Bear." They truly live up to the name. And the bees just love them.

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  29. I know it is a common bloomer, but the purple coneflower is my most favorite, meaning there are many favorites on my list. Magnus and Primadonna Deep are both in my garden with Double Decker following soon. The bees love them and they are easy to grow. They almost bloom year round here in Florida.
    Raedene deedy@tampabay.rr.com

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  30. My favorite vegetables are artichokes. My favorite flowers are snap dragons. Dominique Teaford
    domino3646@comcast.net

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  31. I have lots of favorite flowers, but I guess my most favorite would have to be Gladiolus. They are easy to grow and make fabulous photography subjects:)

    By far, my favorite veggie is the Tomato. Fresh out of the garden..I take a bite and I am instantly in Heaven, LOL (oh no..just thinking about them makes my mouth water and mine aren't ready yet!)...

    Angela Coffey
    junkyardcat@earthlink.net
    OR
    felixthejunkyardcat@yahoo.com

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  32. My favorite Sunflower is Chocolate Cherry! In fact we used these in my Daughter's Fall Wedding along with white and orange pumpkins. Everytime I see them I remember how beautiful the Wedding was.
    Pam Shearer
    mastergardener2000@yahoo.com

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  33. I love my hydrangea bushes. The blossoms are a beautiful purple.

    I'm a first time gardener this year and can't wait to try out all of my new vegetables. I'm most excited about the bush slicer cucumbers that I'm growing in pots.

    Melanie
    eatonmc@gmail.com

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  34. I love sunflowers, any kind. So benificial to the garden and the our winged friends.
    Peppers are my favorite vegetable.

    Michelle
    pummi1220@carolina.rr.com

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  35. Wow I'm getting in just under the wire here! 10:10 my time on June 5th!

    My favorite flower is Provence lavender. It's particularly difficult to grow since my husband keeps MOWING IT DOWN! grrr I even put this year's lavender behind a fence! He pulled the fence up and cut down everything inside it. I just didn't understand that one!

    Thanks for the cute contest!

    Lisa
    @mflowerfarm on Twitter
    Meadowflowerfarm @ gmail . com

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  36. My favorite at the moment is a huge tomatillo plant that I expect to get lots of delicious green sauce from a little later. It looks like an umbrella and all the yellow flowers look like balloons
    Kathy Hamel
    skylarknla@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete