Creating a Butterfly Garden
If you enjoy the company of butterflies in your yard, as I do, then one type of garden you will definitely want to create is one that will appeal to butterflies. A butterfly garden has flowers that are colorful, bright, and cheerful. You can make your butterfly garden in the front yard, back yard, or on the side if you have room for one on the side of the house. Your butterfly garden can be situated next to a stone wall or picket fence. You will definitely want to make sure it is in an area where you can look out the window and enjoy the butterflies who flock to your garden. Butterfly gardens should not only contain flowers with a high nectar content but also contain plants for the larvae and caterpillars to feed on.
Female butterflies lay their eggs in these plants, which are commonly referred to as host plants. The leaves of these plants will be consumed by the larvae and caterpillars.
Your butterfly garden should receive full sunlight for the flowers to grow well. Popular flowers for a butterfly garden include: phlox, aster, coneflower, hibiscus, lobelia, verbena, passion flower, daisy, zinnia, cosmos, impatiens, azalea. Host plants include: fennel, milkweed, dogwood, willow, black cherry. Do not use any pesticides in your butterfly garden as these substances are toxic to butterflies and their larvae. Use an insecticidal soap in place of pesticides to keep unwanted insects away from your flowers.
The type of butterflies your garden will attract depends on what kind of butterflies are native to your region. The Butterfly Site.com provides a clickable region map that allows you to see what butterflies live in your state.
Another alternative you can provide as living space for the butterflies in your garden is a butterfly house. While these houses are the average size of a birdhouse, the entry is designed so that only butterflies can enter, and birds cannot, so the birds in your yard cannot disturb the butterflies inside. The butterfly house can be mounted on a pole in your garden with the openings facing your window so you can watch the butterflies enter and exit the house.
Finally, don’t forget to include some type of birdbath for your butterfly garden. Butterflies require water for drinking as do all living beings, and they are quite fun to watch when they drink water while they sit on the edge of the container.
Enjoy your butterfly garden!
Image Credit: Zindbar.
