Gardening for Butterflies

While we humans may like our gardens because of the way they look or the inviting spaces in them, butterflies visit our gardens for their own non-aesthetic reasons: they are looking for nectar sources and larval plant foods. To truly entice these lovely creatures into our yards and gardens, we need to give them a lot of reasons to be there.

 

 

Planning a butterfly garden:

 

There are several things to keep in mind:

 

1. What species of butterflies occur in your area, and what do plants do they use for nectar and larval food?
2. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need sunlight to warm the muscles they use to fly. Look at your garden’s orientation and decide if it receives enough sunlight. Will you need to move some plants to provide enough sun?
3. How much time do you want to spend maintaining your garden? Do you want to have only butterfly plants or integrate these into the rest of your garden? Keep in mind that the ideal butterfly garden will have no pesticides used in it.
4. What is the style of the rest of your yard? formal? informal? You will want your new area to fit in with the older portion.
5. Color–Butterflies do not care if the colors in your yard coordinate with each other, but you may. Keep in mind that flowers loved by butterflies may range from whites to cool colors into the hot yellows oranges and reds.

 

Other Users Also Read:

1. Attracting Butterflies To Your Garden
2. butterfly chair
3. Gardening in Containers
4. Winter Gardening
5. Wonder Seeds