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Butterfly Flower Gardens Butterflies are Flying Flowers for your Garden:Gardening Newsletter You can have beautiful butterflies in your flower gardens. It’s as easy as planting the kind of flowers they like.
About Butterflies:
There are more than 20,000 different kinds of butterflies in the world with most being found in tropical environments. Butterflies are not only beautiful to look at, they pollinate plants & flowers, and are food for birds, animals, and other insects. They are also good environmental barometers because they are very sensitive to unhealthy changes taking place and serve as a warning mechanism.
* There are approximately 575 butterfly species in the lower 48 United States.
* In moist parts of the United States there will be around 100 regularly occurring species near your home.
Life Spans:
* Generally, adult butterflies have a life span of about 1 month.
* Smaller butterflies may only live for 1 week.
* A few butterflies such as the well known Monarch can live up to 9 months. Free Newsletter Please sign up and enjoy our Gardening Advisor Newsletter. In this you will read both fun and serious gardening information covering a wide range of topics.
We will gaurd your Email with great care and NEVER send spam or sell your information. How to Make a Butterfly Garden To bring in the widest variety of butterflies you’ll need to plant a wide variety of flowers. That’s because different butterflies have preferences for different nectars. For best results, try these tips:
* Plant a mix of cultivated and wild flowers.
* Plant flowers in groups to make it easier for the butterflies to see species they like.
* Stagger flowers species so there are blooms throughout the entire season. As one species of flower dies another has taken its place.
There are many species of flowers that are attractive to butterflies including: Aster, Black-eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, Daylilies, Goldenrod, Hibiscus, Lavender, Lilac, Marigold and many more.
Other Ways to Attract Butterflies:
Butterflies use flowers for food so naturally they are attracted to gardens. Other things that attract butterflies are:
* Open areas in the yard so butterflies can sun themselves.
* Shaded areas for them to hide or cool off if it’s extra hot.
* Baths – Butterflies like puddles of water lower to the ground.
* They like overripe fruit sitting out on the ground. Additional Tips to attract Butterflies:
* In order to support the full butterfly lifecycle you’ll need to also plant flowers that are good host for caterpillars. There are a variety of caterpillar food sources. This depends upon the butterfly species and can include: milkweed, thistles, hawthorn, and many more.
* Use colorful plants – butterflies see more colors than humans do and seem to prefer red, orange, yellow, purple and dark pink.
* Pesticides kill butterflies and caterpillars. Solution: plant flowers that naturally repel pest such as mint, marigolds, and petunias. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Examples of Butterfly Species & Flowers they Enjoy: Monarch Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar - milkweed, goldenrod, thistle, mint, butterfly bush, and more. Viceroy Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, goldenrod, aster, and more. Great Swallowtail Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, goldenrod, azalea, lilac, Japanese honeysuckle, and more. Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, black-eyed susan, verbena, and more. Painted Lady Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, goldenrod, aster, butterfly bush, zinnia, and more. Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, Japanese honeysuckle, lilac, butterfly bush, phlox, and more. Buckeye Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, aster, and more. Red Admiral Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, goldenrod, butterfly bush, daisy, aster, and more. Mourning Cloak Butterfly: Favorite Flower Nectar – milkweed, butterfly bush, Shasta daisy, and more. Free Newsletter Please sign up and enjoy our Gardening Advisor Newsletter. In this you will read both fun and serious gardening information covering a wide range of topics.
We will gaurd your Email with great care and NEVER send spam or sell your information. Enjoy the beautiful butterflies in your flower garden. |