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.
Butterflies need sun as well as food, water, shelter from the weather, and protection from predators. Insects are cold-blooded, so they need to warm themselves in sunny places each morning. Placing a large rock or leaving a patch of bare earth in a sunny spot gives them a place to bask. A detail like this can also add visual interest to the garden.
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 popular blooming plants provide nectar for butterflies. Ground covers like Sweet Alyssium, Candytuft, and creeping phlox are valuable, as are flowering herbs like lantana, lavender, catmint, and peppermint. Train a passion flower vine over a trellis or along a fence. This vine is native to many areas, is a host as well as giving nectar, and is care-free.
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.
Butterflies need sun as well as food, water, shelter from the weather, and protection from predators. Insects are cold-blooded, so they need to warm themselves in sunny places each morning. Placing a large rock or leaving a patch of bare earth in a sunny spot gives them a place to bask. A detail like this can also add visual interest to the garden.
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 popular blooming plants provide nectar for butterflies. Ground covers like Sweet Alyssium, Candytuft, and creeping phlox are valuable, as are flowering herbs like lantana, lavender, catmint, and peppermint. Train a passion flower vine over a trellis or along a fence. This vine is native to many areas, is a host as well as giving nectar, and is care-free.
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.
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You can visit www.joyfulbutterfly.com for more helpful information about Create Butterfly Gardens As Sanctuaries.
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