Gardening and Butterfly

Garden And Butterfly

Butterfly gardening has become popular, both to attract the beautiful travelers and to help preserve species of butterflies that were dwindling due to human encroachment into their natural habitats. Butterflies love sunlight! Whether you choose to plant a traditional garden or a container garden, make sure that
the plants are in direct sunlight for much of the day.

If you’re planning a butterfly garden, it’s important to keep in mind that there is no one recipe for a successful garden. Butterflies like to "puddle." Your garden needs a sort of watering hole for the butterflies to drink from. This can be done by simply filling a terra cotta pot or small plastic bucket with small rocks or pebbles about two inches from the brim. Butterfly species that are indigenous to different areas are attracted to different types of plants. In order to foster butterflies, you’ll need to know the butterfly species that are found in your area, and provide them with plants that are favored food sources for adult butterflies as well as those plants that they prefer for laying their eggs and nourishing larva.

Add water to fill the remaining space. Place the puddle in the center of your garden, some standards that apply to all butterfly gardens. Wherever you live and whatever butterflies you hope to attract, you’ll attract more of them if you follow a few simple basics, Butterflies love to eat nectar. Use several of these nectar-producing plants to attract them: milkweed, azalea, goldenrod, black-eyed susan, zinnia, aster, phlox, Japanese honeysuckle, ironweed. A few nectar-producing shrubs are butterfly bush, various fruit trees, privet, lilac and redbud.

Butterflies will flock to large expanses of flowers in similar colors that bloom at the same time rather than to single plants with just a few blooms. A carpet of violets, a sea of buttercups or a wide open field full of Queen Anne’s Lace is sure to be visited by dozens of butterflies. Butterflies like lots of color! Group clusters of the same plant together to make them easier for butterflies to see. A group of colorful flowers attracts them easier than
single flowers.

Butterfly gardens need to provide both sun and shade.

Like all insects, butterflies are cold-blooded creatures. They thrive on warm sun, and will bask on flat rocks or perch for long minutes on the branches of a high bush in the sunlight. At the same time, they need shade and shelter when the sun is too hot, or on cool, cloudy days. An area that gets bright sun for at least 4-6 hours per day is the best spot for a butterfly garden, but don’t forget to include landscaping details that offer shade.