Skip to main content

How to Grow a Butterfly Garden

By planting and maintaining a butterfly garden you will be rewarded with nature’s beauty all summer long.

To draw butterflies you must select plants that produce nectar, as well as, host plants for butterfly eggs and caterpillars.

Host plants give food for caterpillars and a safe haven for butterflies to lay their eggs. Newly hatched caterpillars cannot travel far; therefore, the butterfly will lay its eggs on the preferred plants. If hungry caterpillars munching holes in your plants causes you grief, place these host plants in a less conspicuous area. However, be sure not to plant them too far from the nectar producing plants, otherwise butterflies will not lay their eggs on them.

Here is a list of some of the more common butterflies and their favored hosting plants.

  • Anise Swallowtail: prefers citrus plants and sweet fennel

    Image courtesy of: http://www.exploringnature.org

  • Black Swallowtail: prefers dill, fennel and parsley
  • Checkered Skipper: prefers hollyhock
  • Monarch: prefers milkweed
  • Painted Lady: prefers hollyhock, sunflower and thistle
  • Red Admiral: prefers nettle and pellitory
  • Spicebush Swallowtail: prefers sassafras and spice bush

After selecting your host plants you will need to select your nectar plants. Nectar producing plants give food for butterflies and help to attract new butterflies to your garden.

When choosing your nectar plants, try to choose plants that provide blooms throughout the growing season. You can also add nectar feeders to your garden to increase your butterfly population.

Here is a list of nectar plants to plant in your butterfly garden:

  • Annuals: 
    • calendula,
    • flowering tobacco,
    • heliotrope,
    • inpatients,
    • marigold,
    • petunia,
    • phlox,
    • rosemary,
    • sunflower,
    • verbena,
    • zinnias
  • Perennials: 
    • aster,
    • bee balm,
    • bergamot,
    • black-eyed Susan,
    • blazing star,
    • butterfly weed,
    • chrysanthemums,
    • daylily,
    • goldenrod,
    • heather,
    • hollyhock,
    • hyssop,
    • milkweed,
    • oxeye daisy,
    • peony,
    • peppermint,
    • Queen Anne’s lace,
    • sedum,
    • spearmint,
    • sunflower,
    • yarrow
  • Trees and Shrubs: 
    • azalea,
    • blackberry,
    • black willow,
    • blueberries,
    • butterfly bush,
    • buttonbush,
    • lilac,
    • meadowsweet,
    • mockorange,
    • privets,
    • pussy willow,
    • sumacs

Once all of your plants have been selected you will have to plan out your planting scheme. Taller plants should be planted in the back. Smaller plants should be placed in the front. A good way to plan your garden is to sit down with paper and colored pencils and draw a diagram.

When you begin planting, take into consideration how large the adult plants will be. Each plant will need a generous amount of growing room.

Caution: Pesticides, soaps and oils may kill caterpillars if they are in direct contact or feed on these items. Adding ground beetles, ladybird beetles and lacewings can help control pests naturally.


Share this Image On Your Site

 

 

 

 

 

The post How to Grow a Butterfly Garden appeared first on Downtown Homestead.



from Downtown Homestead http://downtownhomestead.com/grow-butterfly-garden
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Air Condition Your Garden

July, it is the time of the year when air conditioning is as important in the garden as it is in the home. You, as the temperature rises, can cool off with an electric fan, a cool drink or by hiding away in a cool spot. Your plants are not quite that lucky; yet certain gardening techniques can be employed to help your plants through the summer months. The benefits of air conditioning in your garden will show up in the form of increased production, greater resistance to disease and pests and, in general, a more attractive vista. An improper over-heated environment during the warmer months often leads to wilt, dropping of buds and yellowing of foliage. Aeration of the soil is concerned with its exposure to the air. If this is lacking then your plants very likely will suffer this summer. Believe it or not but there are millions of tiny spaces between the soil particles and this is where air resides. Soils that become water-logged force out this air, a condition that leads to souring of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plumbing Noises In Your Home: Your Pipes are talking to you

To diagnose plumbing noises, it is important to determine first whether the unwanted sounds occur on the system’s inlet side-in other words, when water is turned on-or on the drain side. Noises on the inlet side have varied causes: excessive water pressure, worn valve and faucet parts, improperly connected pumps or other appliances, incorrectly placed pipe fasteners, and plumbing runs containing too many tight bends or other restrictions. Noises on the drain side usually stem from poor location or, as with some inlet side noise, a layout containing tight bends.   Common Plumbing Noises Hissing Pipes Hissing noise that occurs when a faucet is opened slightly, generally signals excessive water pressure. Consult your local water company if you suspect this problem; it will be able to tell you the water pressure in your area and can install a pressure reducing valve on the incoming water supply pipe if necessary. Thudding Pipes Thudding noise, often accompanied by shuddering pipe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fragrant Winter Shrubs: Perfuming Your Garden: Slideshow

Although sweet floral fragrances are usually associated with spring and summer flowering plants, there are a goodly number of shrubs, bulbs and bedding plants that   perfume   the air all through winter.   Fragrant Winter Plants Fragrant Winter Shrubs Best known of all winter fragrant shrubs is probably Daphne Odora – the flowers may be pink or white – the foliage dark green or green with a silver edge. It should be planted in a semi-shaded area along with another excellent shrub, Sarrococca, which has spicy, small white blooms and glossy pointed leaves – a plant of neat growth habit. Fragrant viburnums are a mid-winter favorite – nurserymen will have a selection of varieties. The Fragrance of lemon blossoms is most delightful in a winter garden – as is that of other citrus. For many months honeysuckle provides a favorite scent and holds great allure for hummingbirds. For a camera buff, what a picture with a humming bird drawing nectar from a garden flower. Insofar a...
Post a Comment
Read more