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The Birds &
Bees
Of
Butterfly
Gardening
Tiger Swallowtail
& Butterfly Weed
Black Swallowtail
Caterpillars |
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This first weekend of summer
provided me with the first opportunity of “the
spring” to do a little gardening work of my own.
This past Sunday turned out to be a particularly
pleasant day and I was reminded that a garden is
more than just a collection of colorful plants. What
with robins busy skirmishing over the last few
remaining serviceberries, dragonflies flitting here
and there in search of prey, I pressure, and a
surprisingly varied group of butterflies floating
gracefully from flower to flower, I may have been
the least active of the non-plant species in my
garden this past weekend.
The experience reminded me that a garden certainly
can be much more than just a collection of plants.
Birds, bees, butterflies and other assorted wildlife
can add color and intrigue to a garden. When it
comes to summer garden wildlife, butterflies are
perhaps the favorites of children and gardeners
alike. The interest and beauty of plants is
certainly work the effort of gardening, but with
just a little more planning, your garden can also
have the added interest of butterflies( and other
assorted wildlife) flitting about your garden on
almost a daily basis from June through September.
Many butterflies can e found in Wyobraska gardens at
various times throughout the spring, summer and
fall. Most butterflies visit out gardens as part of
a migration pattern that varies with each species,
but several species are “native” to the region. You
can definitely attract butterflies to your garden
with a few design considerations and proper plant
selection. Here are a few tips on how to attract
these colorful and elusive creatures to your garden.
Question Mark |
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How to Create
a Butterfly Garden
-Locate the garden in a sunny
area that is protected from wind. Butterflies and
most butterfly-attracting plants require bright
sunshine.
-Include hose plants for larvae in the garden
design. Host plants provide food for caterpillars
and lure female butterflies into the garden to lay
eggs
 .
Monarch with caterpillar on
milkweed
-Plant nectar-producing flowers. Butterflies visit
flowers in search of nectar, a sugary liquid, to
eat. Many native butterflies seem to prefer purple,
yellow, orange and red colored flowers. Clusters of
short, tubular flowers or flat-topped blooms provide
the ideas shape for butterflies to easily land and
feed.
-Use large grouping of flowers in your garden
design. Butterflies are first attracted to flowers
by their color.
-Groups of flowers are easier for butterflies to
locate than isolated plants.
-Plan for continuous bloom throughout the growing
season. Butterflies are active from early spring
though late fall. -Plant a selection of flowers that
will provide nectar throughout the entire growing
season. (see list)
-Include damp areas or shallow puddles in the
garden. Certain kinds of butterflies (mostly males)
often are seen on moist sand or mud at the edge of
puddles of water near where they feed. The function
of these “mud-puddle clubs” is not fully understood,
but it is thought that the water contains dissolved
minerals needed by the insects.
-Place flat stones in the garden. Butterflies often
perch on stones, bare soil, or vegetation spread
their wings and bask in the sun., this raises their
body temperature so they are able to fly and remain
active.
-Do not use pesticides in or near your butterfly
garden. Most traditional garden pesticides are toxic
to butterflies. Most garden insecticides can kill
the caterpillar stages of insects. Adult butterflies
can also be killed by resting on insecticide-treated
plants. |
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Previous Articles
Fractions March 15
Yardner March 8
Urban
Legends of Trees March 22
Que
Serra, Serra March 29
Grocery Store or Garbage Dumpster Plants April 5
Planning Your Landscape Project April 12
Planting
Cool Trees April 19
Keeping
Trees Alive April 26
Thrillers, Chillers, Spillers May 03
Will
You Still Love Them May 10
Ornamental Grasses May 17
In
Memory of Cedar Trees May 24
Gardening is not Childs Play
Versatile
Viburnums June 6
Yardner Plants
June 13
2007
Garden Walk and
Blue Spruce Decline
2006 Articles |
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Host Plants
for Laying Eggs
& Caterpillar Food
Sunflowers
Milkweed
Pink Swamp Milkweed
Hollyhock
Green Ash Trees
Cottonwood Trees
Chokecherry
Globe Thistle
Mallow
Dill
Parsley
Fennel
Butterflies
common to Western
Aphrodite
Fritillary
Black Swallowtail
Bronze Copper
Checkered Skipper
Checkered White
Clouded Sulfur
Edwards Fritillary
European Cabbage Butterfly
Gorgone Checkerspot
Gray Comma
Gray Hairstreak
Hackberry Butterfly
Melissa Blue
Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed
More information on Nebraska
Butterflies can be found on
theButterflySite.com |
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Nectar Plants to Attract and
Feed Adult Butterflies
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Milkweed
Swamp Milkweed
Monarda
Asters
Geranium
Cosmos
Zinnia
Marigold
Rabbitbush
Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming
Monarch
Mourning Cloak
Orange Sulfur
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
Rocky Mountain Parnassian
Silver-spotted Skipper
Two-tiled Swallow
Variegated Fritillary
Viceroy
Weidemeyer's Admiral
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Western Tiger Swallowtail
Aphrodite Fritillary
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