Lilliput Gardens

A butterfly garden is not necessarily a big endeavor, nor does it take a vast amount of space.
You can have a small nook in the back of a larger garden, or can take a small yard and use the whole thing to lure in the butterflies to your yard.

Certain types of plants will make an attractive lure for certain types of butterflies and if you plant those the butterflies won’t be able to resist, regardless of whether you have a large area, or a small one.

Butterflies will come by the hordes to your garden to sit and sip on the sweet nectar of the plants that you’ve placed there.

Using this kind of thinking, a butterfly garden can be incorporated into nearly any landscape, climate or a design in your yard that is currently in place.

The most important part of your garden, won’t be the landscaping itself, but rather, the kinds of plants that you place to attract the butterflies, things that will serve as a food source.

Along the way you’re going to be helping to save the environment, because much of what attracts butterflies has been phased out or is in fact in danger because of the urbanization of most areas, where the wild blooms and flowers are being removed to make way for home landscaping.

As factories and homes are on the rise, natural habitats for butterflies, which can be as attractive as they are useful, have been primarily removed, or become much scarcer.

It is easy to raise the number and types of butterflies that you see in your garden or yard simply by planting the plants that they like to feed on and plants on which they like to lay eggs.
Caterpillar friendly plants are also an important aspect of butterfly gardens..

YOu are going to need various plants that will cycle with the seasons, some that work well when placed together to make sure that the garden will be blooming from the early part of spring, to as late in the fall as your climate permits.

A butterfly garden can be any size at all, even down to a window box on your sill, or as great as an entire field of untended wildflowers left to grow at will on your property.
WHen you begin to plan your garden try to stay within the realm of plants that occur in nature in your area..
Things such as milkweed will be great draws to nearly any type of butterfly, however another tip might be, to learn what butterflies are most common in your area. What will naturally be drawn to your area is what you might like to plant for when choosing plants to incorporate into your garden.

Butterflies don’t need anything fancy or expensive. Just an open, sun-filled area; some flowers, for adults; some food sources, for caterpillars; shelter; puddles; and rocks. You might consider planting an herb garden if you enjoy herbs – many butterfly species do too.

Reserving a section of your yard for native flowering plants and for weeds like dandelion, nettle, and milkweed should also help guarantee a good variety of butterflies. It’s best to avoid using any pesticides at all.

One note for dedicated gardeners who may be appalled at the idea of actually inviting caterpillars in for lunch: very few butterfly species cause harm to garden plants. If they do become a nuisance – for instance, if cabbage whites are decimating your nasturtiums – picking the larvae off by hand is a simple task.

About puddles. Butterflies can’t drink from birdbaths or other open water. But give them a damp spot of wet sand or dirt and they’ll often flock around it. In some species, young bachelor butterflies most commonly exhibit this “puddling” behavior – perhaps the equivalent of visiting the local pub after work.

If you want to be more specific, here are a few plants, and the kinds of butterflies they will attract.

Alfalfa-Eastern black swallowtail, orange sulphur, dogface, large wood nymph

Aster- Checkered white, common & orange sulphur, question mark, painted ladies, red admiral, buckeye

Black-eyed Susan-Great spangled fritillary, pearly crescentspot

Butterfly Bush- Swallowtails, mourning cloak, comma anglewing, painted ladies, red admiral

Daisy- Pearly crescentspot, red admiral, queen

Dandelion-Cabbage shite, common sulphur, comma anglewing, red admiral

Dogbane- Spicebush swallowtail, checkered white, common & orange sulphur, gray hairstreak, spring azure, pearly crescentspot, mourning cloak, American painted lady, buckeye

Goldenrod-Common & orange sulphur, gray hairstreak, American painted lady, red admiral, viceroy Lantana Swallowtails, cabbage white, Gulf fritillary

Lupine- Common blue

Marigold-Milbert’s tortoiseshell, American painted lady

Milkweed-Swallowtails, checkered & cabbage white, common & orange sulphur, gray hairstreak, spring azure, pearly crescentspot, common blue, great spangled fritillary, question mark, mourning cloak, painted ladies, red admiral, viceroy, monarch, queen

Mint- Swallowtails, cabbage whie, gray hairstreak, painted ladies, red admiral, monarch, large wood nymph

Privet- Spring azure, painted ladies, red-spotted purple

Purple Coneflower-Silvery blue, great spangled fritillary

Queen Anne’s Lace-Eastern black swallowtail, gray hairstreak

Red Clover-Cabbage white, great spangled fritillary, painted ladies, red admiral

Scabiosa-Painted ladies

Sweet Pea-Gray hairstreak

Thistle-Swallowtails, dogface, Gulf fritillary, pearly crescentspot, Milbert’s tortoiseshell, American painted lady, red admiral, viceroy, monarch

Verbena-Great spangled fritillary

Winter Cress-Checkered white, gray hairstreak, spring azure, pearly crecentspot

You can order many of these plants from one of my favorite suppliers of native plants, High Country Gardens.

The adult butterflies will stay for longer periods of time if they find plants on which they feel at ease laying eggs as well as nectar plants for food.
If possible, and it won’t make you too crazed, try to permit your lawn to grow dandelions and some clover which are both plants that butterflies are drawn to.
Minimize the use of pesticided and herbicides, both of which can harm not only the ground and the plants but also the butterflies themselves.
Flowers which are provided in sunny places such as around a rock wall or a fenced area will attract more as they will want to sit and bask in the sun as they eat, while also having some bush and shrub areas to provide shade in the heat of the day and to protect them from wind and rain.
As you watch you will see the elaborate routines that butterflies have. Males will drive others away, while females choose so carefully where to lay their eggs.
All it all it is well worth your time and an extra dandelion in the yard isn’t it?
If you want more information on Butterfly gardening, pay a visit to the Butterfly Garden Site

If you are interested in Free Milkweed Seeds, they are available to you from LiveMonarch.org which is a not for profit foundation attempting to see milkweed and native plants put back to increase butterfly habitat.
The seeds will be sent to you if you send a SASE to
Live Monarch Foundation – Seeds
3003-C8 Yamato Road #1015
Boca Raton, Florida 33434

Your donations  to Live Monarch are welcomed and are tax deductible

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