Jun 2nd, 2009
How To Grow The Flower Varieties To Attract Beautiful Butterflies
The flower is a source of natural beauty and sustenance to bees, hummingbirds and butterflies. For this reason, many an avid gardener will create a butterfly and hummingbird habitat in their backyard flower garden. Butterflies don’t ask for much, just large, open sunny areas, a few flowers for adults, a few food sources for caterpillars and shelter to hide from predators so they can lay their eggs. Butterflies love to eat herbs, some flowering plants and weeds like dandelions, nettle and milkweed.
To create the flower patch that butterflies favor most, you’ll need to add some less attractive “host plants” that the caterpillars can eat, cocoon in safely and where butterflies can lay their eggs. Usually, butterflies lay their eggs on trees or plants. Monarchs like milkweed and dogbane; swallowtails like cow parsnip, fennel, dill, cottonwood, wild cherry, willow, maple and alder; mourning cloaks live on cottonwood and willows, and painted ladies like thistle or pearly everlasting. Once the host plants are in place, you can add the more beautiful flowering blooms, such as dogbane, lilac, red clover, lantana, goldenrods, blazing stars, ironweed and tickseed sunflower for monarchs; blueberry, blackberry, lilac, redbud, red clover, viper’s bugloss, verbena and dogbane, phlox, azaleas, dame’s-rocket, petunias, verbenas, lupines, California buckeye, yerba santa, brodiaeas, and gilias for swallowtails; oak trees or rotting fruit for mourning cloaks; and aster, cosmos, blazing star, ironweed, joe-pye weed and red clover for painted ladies.
Once the flowers for your plant habitat are in place, take other environmental factors into consideration. Your precious butterflies want a floral wonderland, but also a place that is safe from wind, rain and predators, so try adding hedges and small, dense shrubs like honeysuckle or butterfly bushes; trellises or fences covered in passion vines or hops. Generous brush piles of bark, logs, rocks and leaves allow for hiding during winter months or stormy days. Even “organic” pesticides agitate the sensitive butterfly, so keep your guests protected from any chemical sprays or dust. Be sure your butterfly habitat has at least six hours of full sunshine, with flat rocks where they can bask in the sun to warm up before taking their early morning flights. Just like humans, bachelor butterflies also want a place to drink after work: mud puddles, shallow pans of damp sand and gravel or wet dirt all make ideal gathering spots. Rotting fruit, watermelon rinds and seeds are delicious nutrients that create a true butterfly nirvana.
If you’d also like to take advantage of the hummingbird-attracting powers of the flower, a hummingbird habitat is just as simple. Usually a bright red nectar feeder is the quickest way to invite these quick, tiny creatures to your backyard. However, to keep them around at all times, they’ll need fresh water to drink and bathe in, a combination of sunny and shady perches, willow or eucalyptus tree nesting materials, as well as delicious plants, such as dahlias, cosmos, foxglove, geraniums, petunias, irises, honeysuckles, trumpet vines, azaleas, butterfly bush, hibiscus, cardinal flowers and snow angels. A flower garden can be a place of respite for you, but also an epicenter of life for colorful insects.
