Creating a butterfly garden
Bring your garden to life by making it a habitat for butterflies which will bring beauty and charm to your surroundings. Can you imagine your garden area being, filled with activity and excitement as you watch some of nature’s beauties in their natural habitat
So what does it takes to construct a butterfly garden?
Constructing a butterfly garden can be lots of fun not only for adults but it can also be a fun activity for kids as well as learn about the different features and plants that it takes to make our gardens inviting to our colorful friends.
Creating a butterfly garden
Planning your garden
Sunny location
In order to construct a butterfly garden, you will have to put a well thought out plan in place. For example, choose a location that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. In nature, butterflies’ natural environment we would see them at times resting on a plant in the sun, as a result of doing this they are raising their body’s temperature in order to be able to fly. So a sunny location is a must if you are to experience success.
1. Choose host plants for your garden. Host plants can be considered as larva or caterpillar food.
You will need to plant the right type of plants in order to invite butterflies into your garden where they can lay their eggs. These are some of the plants that you can choose so their young will be able to have a food source. The kind of plants that will attract them are classed as HOST plants. We will be looking at a few of them just to get an idea of what to plant.
Milkweed
This is a good host plant that will satisfy your garden friends with its beautiful orange flowers.
Parsley
Not only can parsley be used to garnish or decorate those many delightful meals that we prepare but caterpillars take delight in them also. So be sure to add some to your garden.
Violets
With its beautiful multicolor, this flowering plant makes the ideal food source for caterpillars. Violets are considered to be weeds as beautiful as they are. Plant some for your garden friend. They will enjoy it.
Black cherry
Black cherry is also a favorite of caterpillars. Caterpillars feed on both the cherries as well as on the leaves.
Coneflowers
Coneflowers also provide a good food source. This is a beautiful plant with its purple flowers.
These are just a few of the many host plants that we can choose for our butterfly garden.
2.Nectar foods
Nectar foods are some plants that butterflies are attracted to which are their food source.
Choose plants that contain nectar.
Marigolds
Marigolds are another plant that butterflies love. The flowers of these plants can either be orange, yellow, or mixed color. Soil should be moist, not waterlogged. Make this plant a part of your collection.
Geraniums
Geraniums are very beautiful with their many bright colors. Their colors can either be white, pink, or dark pink. The leaves and stems of geraniums are very delicate so care should be taken when handling this plant.
Petunias
Petunias come in an array of colors. These beautiful plants are very delicate so care should be taken when handling them. Mixing these colors in your garden will give that colorful added touch. Soil should be somewhat moist and allowed to dry out a bit between watering. Your little garden friends will enjoy these plants.
Portulacas
Portulacas are also a great food source for your butterfly garden. This plant runs like a vine and is used in many landscape garden designs as a ground cover. These flowering plants have beautiful small showy flowers to lighten up your garden.
The list can go on and on but these are just a few of the many plants that you can use in your butterfly garden. You can check your nursery for more choices on which plants are advisable for you to use.
3. Provide a water source
Adding water to a shallow bowl or two and placing them in your butterfly garden will supply them with all the water they need.
4. Flat rocks
You will need to provide resting places for butterflies to rest on like a few flat rocks. Remember the goal here is to make the garden as natural and as inviting for our butterfly friends.
5. Create a puddle station
All this entails is simply using a large shallow bowl. Fill the bowl with sand and add water to the bowl. The sand must be moist at all times. Add two tablespoons of compost, chicken manure, stale beer also add a few stones where the butterfly can sunbathe. This puddle station is not only for the butterfly to sunbathe but as the male butterfly drinks this water it will encourage them to mate. It is a butterfly love potion.
Lantanas
N.B. Consider adding a few slices of apple to your rest areas for feeding purposes.
Use of pesticides
Never use pesticides in a butterfly garden. In the event a pest situation arises in the garden, just use a garden hose to wash them off. The pressure from the hose will kill the pests or they will drown in the water.
The final words
Creating a butterfly garden can be very gratifying but please be aware that you cannot attract butterflies that are not naturally in your region. Nor can you plant plants that are not native to your region. Find out what plants and butterflies are natural to your region and incorporate them into your landscape design. As long as you follow the steps that I have shown you are bound to have success.
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About the author
Norman loves being in the garden, both at home and for his job....
he is 'Natures Little helper' being outdoors, growing his vegetables and flowers from an early age.
Now having spent over 22 years in the profession he want to give some of his knowledge to others...
his vast array of hints and tips you will find scattered over this site will help you no end growing plants in your garden.
Hi and thank you for this how – to guide.
I recently visited a butterfly garden in Singapore and I want to try to recreate the experience at home but I don’t have much of an idea where to start. Will I need any pesticides to stop other insects invading, or is there anything I should be aware of?
Thank you again,
JDOO
Hello their thanks for the follow. In my opinion you should not use pesticides because it may be harmful to your butterfly what you can do is to knock the pest off with a strong spray of water the pressure should kill them. Get a water hose along with and adjustable spray nozzle.
Hi Norman,
Wow, thanks for sharing! Right now I’m reading a Haruki Murakami book that features a butterfly garden in a greenhouse, which I know is quite different, but it reminds me of that. I love butterflies, my middle name is represented by a butterfly in greek mythology, so they have a special place in my heart.
I hadn’t thought about doing pretty much any of those things to attract butterflies, but I’m definitely going to give those all a try!
Thanks again for sharing your ideas and knowledge.
All the best,
Katia
Thanks for your comments and have a good day
I actually have a product suggestion you could promote so I have this area that has these big nasty weeds I even dug them all out. You can buy these bags of wildflowers that. Bring butterflies and they cover like 500 sq ft they come up on there own there beautiful if you want a butterfly garden where you don’t have to do as much to it there’s a idea.
Hello sounds good, I would like to learn more about these wild flowers. Thanks again and have a good day.
Thanks for sharing. I think this will be a great project kids for the kids during summer! Thanks for the tips.
I like this niche, I wanna go start my garden like now, thank for the awesome information.
have a great day.