| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Butterfly Gardening
Butterfly gardening is not only a joy, it is one way that you can help restore declining butterfly populations. Simply adding a few new plants to your backyard may attract dozens of different butterflies, according to landscape designers at the University of Guelph. Butterflies, like honeybees, are excellent pollinators and will help increase your flower, fruit and vegetable production if you provide them with a variety of flowers and shrubs. They are also beautiful to watch, and are sometimes called "flowers on the wing." - Begin by seeding part of your yard with a wildflower or butterfly seed mix, available through seed catalogues and garden centers. Wildflowers are a good food source for butterflies and their caterpillars. - Choose simple flowers over double hybrids. They offer an easy-to-reach nectar source. - Provide a broad range of flower colors. Some butterflies like oranges, reds and yellows while others are drawn toward white, purple or blue flowers. - Arrange wildflowers and cultivated plants in clumps to make it easier for butterflies to identify them as a source of nectar. - If caterpillars are destroying favorite plants, transfer them by hand to another food source. Avoid the use of pesticides, which can kill butterflies and other beneficial insects. - Some common caterpillar food sources are asters, borage, chickweed, clover, crabgrass, hollyhocks, lupines, mallows, marigold, milkweed or butterfly weed, nasturtium, parsley, pearly everlasting, ragweed, spicebush, thistle, violets and wisteria. Caterpillars also thrive on trees such as ash, birch, black locust, elm and oak. - Annual nectar plants include ageratum, alyssum, candy tuft, dill, cosmos, pinks, pin cushion flower, verbena and zinnia. - Common perennial nectar plants include chives, onions, pearly everlasting, chamomile, butterfly weed, milkweeds, daisies, thistles, purple coneflower, sea holly, blanket flower, lavender, marjoram, mints, moss phlox, sage, stonecrops, goldenrod, dandelion and valerian. Remember that butterflies are cold-blooded insects that bask in the sun to warm their wings for flight and to orient themselves. They also need shelter from the wind, a source of water, and partly shady areas provided by trees and shrubs. Copyright © 2005 Jane Lake About the Author: Jane Lake is a professional writer whose articles have appeared in Canadian Living, You, Modern Woman, and Highlights magazines. See more information on butterflies in her article, Butterfly Gardens: How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden and learn how to make your own butterfly food and butterfly feeders in Butterfly Food.
MORE RESOURCES:
landscaping gardening - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Hummingbird Nesting Facts Every spring the United States and Canada are blessed with the presence of humming birds migrating north to make a home for their coming young. They come from Mexico and South America in search of a cooler, more suitable climate to nest and have a family. Using Push Reel Mowers If you're not familiar with push reel mowers or if you haven't used one since "back in the day", there are a few points you should be aware of before using a push reel mower:Don't expect to cut tall weeds or dandelions. You notice how your gas-powered mowers get a little "overwhelmed" when cutting weeds or very tall grass? Those issues are a bit worse with reel mowers because they become harder to push and they are limited in the height of what they can cut. Dont Roll that Lawn Every spring some mysterious hormone hits the male of the species and the urge to "do lawn work" strikes.One rite of spring is act of rolling the lawn. Garden Statuary - Time for a Fresh New Look Spring is coming, and now is the time to get out and whip those outdoor spaces into shape. With new growth appearing on trees, bulbs popping up and birds and butterflies coming out of hiding, your patio, garden or backyard is ripe for a fresh new look with decorative accents that put a delightful finishing touch on your own little corner of nature. Release Some Tension...Spend Some Time In Your Garden Gardening can be one of the most rewarding and relaxing hobbies that you can engage in. Picture a beautiful spring day, the sweet smell of grass in the air and you get to go out and work the soil and prepare your garden. Pruning the Backyard Grapevine Proper pruning of your backyard grapevines is essential to maintain vine size, shape, and yield of the grapes. If you don't prune your vines, they will become unruly, tangled messes. Gardening is Good Therapy Many of us garden just for the sheer joy of it. But did you know that all over the country the healing aspects of gardening are being used as therapy or as an adjunct to therapy? Although this might sound like a new concept, garden therapy has been around for decades. Fall Garden Planning - Garden Plans for Next Spring and Ordering by Mail It's August, the weather has cooled a bit here and the summer monsoons where I live in New Mexico have begun. The kids are starting back to school and I feel the onset of fall. Mulch Your Spring Bulbs In The Fall For A Beautiful Spring Display Flower bulbs need a good, long, winters sleep. Like some people we know, if they wake up before they are fully rested, they get kind of cranky, and then they don't bloom well at all. Wildlife Gardener Gardening for wildlife has become quite a passion for me, although I only have a small urban garden I have still managed to fit a fair amount of bird and insect friendly flowers and plants in.Since reading an article about the decline in popular species of birds such as sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes I decided to do my bit to help my local bird population by purchasing two seed feeders, a nut feeder, a bird table and a small bird bath I was ready and waiting for my new feathered visitors, which up to that point was few and far between. How to Win the War Against Slugs and Snails Slugs are one of the most hated of garden pests. You may have spent time carefully planting out your seedlings into the bed, but when you return next morning, you find chewed leaves, the growing points nibbled away and a mass of slimy trails all around. Orange Perennials For Your Garden Perennials are wonderful because, they bloom year after year. Sometimes, I forget that I even have them planted and then they spring up to my surprise and delight! I like to add some zip to my garden with flowers that are orange in color. How to Care for Your Outdoor Water Fountains Garden lovers around the world love putting fountains among their flowers, plants, bushes and shrubs. And with the Christmas season upon us in the U. Composting - aka: The Circle of Life! Composting is where the gardening thing comes full circle. You've created your garden bed, you've nurtured your plants. How To Choose Water Garden Plants So. The water garden bug has bitten. Low Maintenance Teak Furniture In all likelihood you have heard of teak furniture and have wanted to know why it's such a big deal. This article contains some simple info regarding the building material that seems a little mysterious, even has a weird sound to it, but dominates the market of outdoor furniture. Gardening Vertically: Fad, Emerging Frontier or Long-Overlooked Art Form Sure, it makes sense that there's a buzz about vertical gardening-there are lots more of us to feed these days with much less productive land. "Let's make the best use of our diminishing resources," many are saying. How to Grow Apples The first thing you need to grow apples is a long-term commitment. Growing apples takes considerable time and quite a bit of work. Science Cant Explain Everything! You will know that if you have spent at least some time reflecting on the world around you, some things cannot be explained in purely scientific terms. Armies of scientists and researchers swarm in labs around the world trying to take the mystery out of every bit of wonder we witness. Spurce Up Your Garden With Decorative Birdhouses Decorative Birdhouses are active garden ornamentation --the presence and movement of birds creates a fluid focal point for your garden. As such, placement is critical for you to earn maximum benefit from your birdhouses.
|
