Friday, November 21, 2014
By Ida Dorsey
Butterflies have joined the endangered list because roads, housing developments, and mono-crop farming are steadily encroaching on their habitat. Fortunately, helping them out is easy and pleasant. All people have to do is create butterfly gardens with trees, shrubs, vines, ground-covers, and flowers that these beautiful insects need to survive. Many butterfly-nurturing plants are ones gardeners love anyway.
Butterflies like bright colors, so many native and cultivated plants that attract them also please gardeners who want pretty borders. However, all kinds of plants are important as 'hosts' for the larvae and to provide nectar for the adults. These include trees, shrubs, perennials, herbs, ground covers, and vines.
Even a window-box can help a hungry butterfly along its way to other things it needs. However, a true habitat will have food, shelter, and suitable watering places. Beneficial herbs include dill, fennel, the mints, hyssop, parsley, and rue. Dogwood, pawpaws, sassafras, and some kinds of magnolias are good caterpillar nurseries. Sunflowers, hollyhocks, and the magnificent butterfly bushes are great as a backdrop for shorter flowers like asters, Black-eyed Susan, nasturtiums, and echinacea. Milkweed (favored by Monarchs) comes in the wild variety plant and a bright orange version called butterfly weed.
Full sun is best for this kind of garden; the minimum amount of sun is about six hours. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need sun to warm up, so setting large rocks out or leaving areas of bare ground will give them places to bask. This can also lend visual interest to the garden. Think how pretty a kaleidoscope (one term for a group of butterflies) will be, sunning themselves on a bright morning.
Butterflies are attracted to moist sand or dirt, an important water source. They find it at the edges of puddles or at 'puddling stations' especially set up by the gardener. Rounded stones placed in a shallow dish or bird bath also give insects safe access to water.
Many of the blooming plants gardeners love are valuable for their nectar. Sweet Alyssum, creeping phlox, and Candytuft are colorful ground covers. Lantana, hyssop, the mints, lavender, and marigolds are butterfly favorites. These low-growing plants and herbs can be grown in front of taller favorites like Butterfly Bush and milkweed. Vines trained on a fence or trellis provide both food and shelter while taking up little space.
A lot of native plants are low-maintenance, while some are spectacular in the garden. The purple blaze of Ironweed is hard to surpass, for instance. Bee balm is another wildflower that gardeners in zones three to eight have embraced. This wild herb comes in brilliant red or shades of blue and purple and will naturalize widely where it is happy. Coneflowers, which have been hybridized to give more colors than were found in wild varieties, are seldom troubled by deer or slugs. It's fun to find out which butterflies are native to your area and which wild plants will nurture them.
Mixing in cultivated favorites like roses, hyacinths, daffodils, and allium adds color and provides cut flowers for the house. These imported plants thrive in much of America, are hardy for years with proper care, and are attractive to many species of butterfly. They may require more care, but remember to avoid systemic pesticides, which will kill the butterflies as well as harmful insects.
Butterflies like bright colors, so many native and cultivated plants that attract them also please gardeners who want pretty borders. However, all kinds of plants are important as 'hosts' for the larvae and to provide nectar for the adults. These include trees, shrubs, perennials, herbs, ground covers, and vines.
Even a window-box can help a hungry butterfly along its way to other things it needs. However, a true habitat will have food, shelter, and suitable watering places. Beneficial herbs include dill, fennel, the mints, hyssop, parsley, and rue. Dogwood, pawpaws, sassafras, and some kinds of magnolias are good caterpillar nurseries. Sunflowers, hollyhocks, and the magnificent butterfly bushes are great as a backdrop for shorter flowers like asters, Black-eyed Susan, nasturtiums, and echinacea. Milkweed (favored by Monarchs) comes in the wild variety plant and a bright orange version called butterfly weed.
Full sun is best for this kind of garden; the minimum amount of sun is about six hours. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need sun to warm up, so setting large rocks out or leaving areas of bare ground will give them places to bask. This can also lend visual interest to the garden. Think how pretty a kaleidoscope (one term for a group of butterflies) will be, sunning themselves on a bright morning.
Butterflies are attracted to moist sand or dirt, an important water source. They find it at the edges of puddles or at 'puddling stations' especially set up by the gardener. Rounded stones placed in a shallow dish or bird bath also give insects safe access to water.
Many of the blooming plants gardeners love are valuable for their nectar. Sweet Alyssum, creeping phlox, and Candytuft are colorful ground covers. Lantana, hyssop, the mints, lavender, and marigolds are butterfly favorites. These low-growing plants and herbs can be grown in front of taller favorites like Butterfly Bush and milkweed. Vines trained on a fence or trellis provide both food and shelter while taking up little space.
A lot of native plants are low-maintenance, while some are spectacular in the garden. The purple blaze of Ironweed is hard to surpass, for instance. Bee balm is another wildflower that gardeners in zones three to eight have embraced. This wild herb comes in brilliant red or shades of blue and purple and will naturalize widely where it is happy. Coneflowers, which have been hybridized to give more colors than were found in wild varieties, are seldom troubled by deer or slugs. It's fun to find out which butterflies are native to your area and which wild plants will nurture them.
Mixing in cultivated favorites like roses, hyacinths, daffodils, and allium adds color and provides cut flowers for the house. These imported plants thrive in much of America, are hardy for years with proper care, and are attractive to many species of butterfly. They may require more care, but remember to avoid systemic pesticides, which will kill the butterflies as well as harmful insects.
About the Author:
Feel free to take a tour of our website to read the blogs that are published about the beautiful butterfly gardens. Here is the homepage you need to check out on http://www.joyfulbutterfly.com right now.
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)