Jul 16 2010
How To Attract Butterflies
Butterflies are often attracted to a butterfly garden for two reasons, food in the form of flower nectar and the proper conditions in a garden that butterflies need to live and reproduce. Good examples of these proper conditions include puddles or moist areas that butterflies use to get nutrients, sheltered, sunny spots to bask in, and host plants that the butterflies can lay their eggs on. Butterflies can be very picky about their host plants, the monarch butterfly will only lay eggs on plants of the milkweed family, such as swamp milkweed and butterfly weed.
Shallow depressions in the soil that collects rainwater are ideal for attracting butterflies to your garden. If you find that you are short on natural mud puddles,you can also create more permanent mud puddles by burying a shallow container so that it is flush with the ground, fill it with dirt,sand,and gravel and then just add water to it. The butterflies use this to get the nutrients and minerals they need to reproduce.
Butterflies are cold blooded creatures, and depend on finding a flat area to bask in the sun to keep their body temperature regulated. So they are naturally attracted to sunny spots. Flat, open lawn areas or a group of flat stones are two easy ways to provide these sunny spots for basking butterflies.
Butterflies also need shelter from strong winds and protection from heavy rains. Place your butterfly garden in an area sheltered from the north winds, and leave a stack of old logs in an out of the way area of your yard for the butterflies to shelter in when it rains. By providing this protection the butterflies will stay in your yard for longer .periods
Butterfly host plants will also attract a large number of butterflies, but each type of butterfly has their own special plants or trees that they use for their caterpillars to feed on. That can add up to a large number of plants to be planted and since some butterflies only use large trees for their caterpillars it is best to choose a couple of your favorite butterflies, and only provide the host plants for them.
Butterflies will use any number of different flowers to get nectar from. Native flowering perennials, trees, and shrubs that bloom throughout the growing season such as Purple Coneflower, Goldenrod, Butterfly Weed, Black-Eyed Susan’s,Butterfly Bushes, and the Redbud tree are all excellent choices for butterfly gardens. You can also add cultivated annuals such as Zinnias, Pentas and Vincas.
You should plant your butterfly flowers in small groups of 3 to 5 plants, or in a broad sweeping mass. A large grouping of wild bergamot for instance, is better than planting a single plant because a greater number of butterflies will be able to find them that way.
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