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Creating Gardens for
Butterflies -
Butterfly gardening is not only a delight; it is one way that you can aid in
bring back the butterfly populations that are on there way out. Merely adding
new varieties of plants to your garden may draw dozens of diverse butterflies.
Butterflies, like honeybees, are
outstanding pollinators and will add to your vegetable, fruit, and flower
production if you supply them with an assortment of shrubs and flowers.
Butterflies are also delightful to observe.
Start by seeding a piece of your
garden with a butterfly seed mix or, wildflower seed mix offered through seed
catalogues, garden outlets, and nurseries. Wildflowers provide a good food
source for butterflies and their caterpillars.
Select plain flowers over hybrids. They offer an easy to get source of nectar.
Provide a wide range of flower colors.
Some butterflies like yellows, reds, and oranges while others prefer blue,
purple, or white flowers.
Arrange cultivated and wildflowers in clumps that make it easier for butterflies
to identify them as an excellent source of nectar.
Do not use of pesticides, which can kill
butterflies and other helpful insects. If caterpillars are damaging your
favorite plants, move them by hand to another source of food.
Some regular caterpillar food sources are
chickweed, clover, borage, wisteria, mallows, hollyhocks, lupines, crabgrass,
butterfly weed or milkweed, parsley, pearly everlasting, spicebush, ragweed,
marigold, asters, violets, thistle and nasturtium. Caterpillars also flourish on
trees such as, black locust, ash, elm, birch, and oak.
Annual nectar plants include, zinnia, alyssum, candytuft, cosmos, dill, pinks,
ageratum, pincushion flower, and verbena.
Regular perennial nectar plants
include sea holly, onions, butterfly weed, daisies, chives, blanket marjoram,
purple coneflower, flower, lavender, mints, sage, pearly everlasting,
stonecrops, goldenrod, moss phlox, chamomile, thistles, dandelion and valerian,
milkweeds. Butterflies are cold-blooded insects that lie around in the sun to
warm their wings for flight and to orient themselves. Butterflies also need
protection from wind, a supply of water, and partially shady areas made
available by shrubs and trees.
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