The Flower Garden Nursery Landscaping Guide
The Flower Garden Attracts Butterflies
By Suzzie T Franklin
A flower garden is a place of serenity where you can just get
away from it all in your own backyard. There’s nothing comparable
to breathing in the soft fragrances of rose, jasmine and hyacinth,
with the sun and wind working together to spread warmth onto your
face.
Blue skies and the soft rustle of leaves in the trees can bring
a little bit of comfort and paradise to your life. Imagine, then,
a splash of color catches your eye: a beautiful, dainty butterfly
has found its way into your floral arrangement! This unexpected,
yet pleasant surprise can become a daily occurrence if you plan
and plant the flower varieties just right.
Attracting A Variety Of Butterflies To Your Flowers
The flower of the butterfly bush is most attractive to diverse
types of butterflies from swallowtails to skippers. Consider the
black-eyed Susan, milkweed and purple coneflower as other flower
garden favorites that are bound to bring hordes of blues, coppers,
skippers, hairstreaks, sulphurs, whites, brushfoots and swallowtails.
In addition, the chrysanthemum, marigold, lilac, goldenrod, lavender
and salvia are the flowers that the Audubon Society recommends
for creating an easy butterfly garden. Aside from having treat
plants, you’ll need host plants where females can lay their eggs
and for caterpillars to munch on.
Placing Plants With Caterpillars Away From Your Main Garden
You’ll probably want to situate these plants away from the main
garden, tucked away. Most caterpillars only need one or two host
plants, so you probably won’t even notice the damage.
Monarchs feed exclusively on milkweed, while painted ladies prefer
thistles. Give your fritillaries violets, your red admiral butterflies
nettles, the zebra swallowtails the pawpaws plant, give giant
swallowtails citrus plants and give black swallowtails an assortment
of carrots, parsley, dill and sweet fennel. Foxgloves, sunflowers,
birches, willows, wild plum, spicebush and passion vines also
attract butterfly breeding.
Adding Hedges And Small Dense Shrubs To Keep Predators Away
Once the flowers for your plant habitat are in place, take other
environmental factors into consideration. Your precious butterflies
want a floral wonderland, but also a place that is safe from wind,
rain and predators, so try adding hedges and small, dense shrubs
like honeysuckle or butterfly bushes; trellises or fences covered
in passion vines or hops. Generous brush piles of bark, logs,
rocks and leaves allow for hiding during winter months or stormy
days.
Even "organic" pesticides agitate the sensitive butterfly,
so keep your guests protected from any chemical sprays or dust.
Be sure your butterfly habitat has at least six hours of full
sunshine, with flat rocks where they can bask in the sun to warm
up before taking their early morning flights.
Mud Puddles And Wet Dirt For Water
Just like humans, bachelor butterflies also want a place to drink
after work: mud puddles, shallow pans of damp sand and gravel
or wet dirt all make ideal gathering spots. Rotting fruit, watermelon
rinds and seeds are delicious nutrients that create a true butterfly
nirvana.
If you’d also like to take advantage of the hummingbird-attracting
powers of the flower, a hummingbird habitat is just as simple.
Usually a bright red nectar feeder is the quickest way to invite
these quick, tiny creatures to your backyard.
However, to keep them around at all times, they’ll need fresh
water to drink and bathe in, a combination of sunny and shady
perches, willow or eucalyptus tree nesting materials, as well
as delicious plants, such as dahlias, cosmos, foxglove, geraniums,
petunias, irises, honeysuckles, trumpet vines, azaleas, butterfly
bush, hibiscus, cardinal flowers and snow angels. A flower garden
can be a place of respite for you, but also an epicenter of life
for colorful insects.
About the Author:
Suzzie T Franklin has written a number of articles on gardening
and landscaping including
White Flowers,
Fruit Trees,
Tole Painting,
Lady Slipper Flower,
Plastic Flower Pot,
Zen Garden,
Wire Topiary Frames,
Window Bird Feeders,
Planting Guide,
Flower Seeds,
Gardening Vegetable,
Cherry Blossom.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Little Known Flower Facts....
Is it better to plant flowers from seeds, bulbs or starters?
As you already know, a flower can be purchased
in three ways: bulbs, seeds and starters. The flower that you
pick up at a nursery is what is known as a starter. Someone else
has planted the seed in very rich soil and it has grown to the
point it is blooming and green. If you do not want to wait on
your blooms, it is a good idea to go ahead and pick up starters.
Your flower beds will immediately be in
color and bloom. But not all flowers can be purchased this way.
For the flower that comes from a bulb, you have to plant the bulb
in the fall. By spring, or early summer, it will have grown and
be in bloom. So what you start with is not as important as how
patient you are.
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