What is butterfly gardening? Simply put
butterfly gardening is the art of growing
flowers and plants that will attract these
colorful and dainty creatures to your garden.
Delight your family and visitors with beautiful
butterflies, but be sure to create a safe
habitat for them. If you own cats rethink your
plans, because it would be a shame to attract
these lovely insects to their death.
The design your butterfly garden is a matter of
personal preference. Typical points to consider
are the size of your garden and the types of
flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a
style of garden that appeals to you, but ensure
it also contains the plants and flowers that
appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.
It is important to find out which plants and
flowers will attract the species of butterflies.
that live in your area. This information can be
found at the local library
To create the kind of environment that they find
attractive, you will also need water of some
kind. A birdbath will look attractive and keep
the butterflies up off the ground, away from
stray cats or mischievous puppies. A shallow
dish on a post or hung in a tree will do just as
well.
When planting your butterfly garden be careful
how you coordinate the colors you choose for
your flowerbeds. Although butterflies do not
care about your choice of color, you don't want
your garden to be a hodgepodge of unrelated
colors and textures. Butterflies are attracted
to those flowers that have nectar rather than
pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer
lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower,
Yellow Sage, day lilies and lavender.
Some people find it helpful to draw and color a
layout of their butterfly gardening plan to see
what the finished product would look like. Keep
in mind that warm colors like red and orange are
flashy and showy. These colors have a greater
impact against a strong green background. Cool
colors such as blue and purple are soothing and
toned down and would work better with a white
contrast to create the look of freshness and
brightness. |
