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Gardening Tips. |
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Home |
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Photos of host plants |
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Photos of nectar plants |
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You don't need a lot of space to have a butterfly garden, you just need a variety of plants. Most importantly you need host plants for the caterpillar and nectar plants for the butterfly. including food for all stages of the butterfly's life will ensure the butterflies sticking around for you to enjoy. if you are limited on space, providing 3-4 milkweed plants and about a 1/2 dozen nectar plants should be sufficient. i used to live in an apt and had about 9 potted plants all different varieties and i had butterflies year round. red and orange flowers seem to be the butterfly's favorite. i have found lantana, penta and porter weed to be the most butterfly active. however, all the plants listed on my nectar page are great! |
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I have found that the more milkweed offered, the better off you are. if you only a couple of plants the caterpillars will eat all the leaves leaving you with ugly sticks and twigs. i have found that offering more milkweed plants leaves me with some leaves at the end of a caterpillar feast. if you are limited on space, plant the milkweed plants behind other taller plants, this way when they are void of foliage, they will be hidden from view. water when the leaves begin to droop. |
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For nectar plants sun is the key. butterflies need sun in order to fly. their body temps need to reach a certain level before they fly. that's why you see them basking in the sun so often. all the nectar plants are sun loving plants. keeping your garden organic (no chemicals) will ensure healthy butterflies. not only do the caterpillars eat the toxin-free leaves but the butterflies can drink toxin-free nectar. not only will this help save the butterflies, but their predators too. when birds or lizzads eat butterflies they are also eating the toxins that butterfly may have come in contact with. this is a chain effect. birds are becoming more scarce because of eating bugs that died from toxins. so as you can see, organic gardening not only saves your butterflies, but all of nature. |
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got aphids?
aphids are pesky little pests. they are most common on milkweed. you can do one of two things. you can purchase lady bugs (they can eat hundreds of aphids a day) or you can spray the aphids with rubbing alcohol. this is the only thing i would suggest using on the plants. even organic/non-toxic pesticides can kill butterflies because the pesticide doesn't distinguish between pest or butterfly. it's non-toxicity relates to residue that may be left on the plant for human consumption.. however, rubbing alcohol, if not sprayed on the caterpillar or butterfly, will evaporate leaving no toxic residue. spray directy on aphids only. |
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placing a dish or frisbee filled w/ soppy mud in your garden adds to the butterfly's environment. |
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