adult butterflies

Create a Haven for Butterflies

BUDLLEIA WHITE FLOWERS Image via Wikipedia

Whatever the reason most people enjoy seeing butterflies in their gardens and would welcome more.The good news is that it is not that difficult to add the essential ingredients that attract lots of these beautiful creatures, and keep them happy once they have turned up.

It is worth saying that a garden that works for butterflies is perfect for other creatures too.Like the canary down the mine, the presence of lots of butterflies is often an indicator of a healthy environment. Butterfly lifecycle

Every infant school pupil knows caterpillers turn into butterflies (and moths).But most of us are often less clued up about the details of the butterfly lifecycles.In the late summer months buddleias and other flowering plants are alive with the flutter of butterflies, but within a few weeks the majority though not all will die as winter approaches. (more…)

Tags: butterflies and moths, red valerian, school pupil, adult butterflies, butterfly lifecycle

Butterfly Gardens

Mar 26th, 2011

by ButterflyLover.

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Underside of a Danaus plexippus plexippus feed...

UNDERSIDE OF A MONARCH BUTTERFLY (DANAUS PLEXIPPUS PLEXIPPUS) FEEDING ON NECTAR FROM AN ECHINACEA PURPUREA FLOWER Image via Wikipedia

Have you seen a couple of butterflies fluttering about your yard and would like to see more? With a butterfly garden you can grow both the plants that caterpillars like to eat and also the plants the adult butterflies enjoy as well.

By providing the right environment you can help them thrive. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Picking Your Plants

Your garden should include host plants and plants that contain flowers filled with nectar. You will want to research plants that will attract the types of butterflies local to your area.

Butterfly Weed, also known as Butterfly Plant is a type of milk weed that is a potential host for Monarch caterpillars. The plant also has flowers that are a nectar source for other butterfly species including the tiger swallowtail.

Some other host plants include herbs like parsley, dill, fennel and oregano. Other host plants include hollyhock, sunflowers, lupine, milkweed and violets, just to name a few.

There are numerous nectar bearing plants for those adults you want to attract such as: daylilies, peonies, delphiniums, echinacea, salvias, marigolds, morning glorys, petunias, zinnias, and allysum. (more…)

Tags: monarch caterpillars, nectar source, adult butterflies, butterfly weed, milk weed

Locations to Plant Your Butterflies Garden

Mar 19th, 2011

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Plant your butterfly garden in a sunny location (5-6 hours each day), but sheltered from the winds. Butterflies need the sun to warm themselves, but they won’t want to feed in an area where they are constantly fighting the wind to stay on the plants. Afternoon sun will not only bring in lots of butterflies, but will provide glorious light for viewing and photographing them. It’s a plus if you can watch from your kitchen or living room window. Your location should be calm and relatively undisturbed – meaning only occasional visits by humans. the more natural the area the greater the number and diversity of butterflies attracted.

Provide cover and shelter such as broad-leaved trees, shrubs, and log piles. You also want to have several landing pads or sunbathing perches in open and sunny areas throughout the garden. Butterflies rely to a large degree on thermal heating and sunbathe in these open spots. These are most often a variety of large varied sizes of stones that can be used for decorative purposes as well.

Determine what type of soil you have. Is it sandy, clay, wetland, well-drained, or very dry? This is very important to know when you select the plants. It’s a good idea to have the soil tested. This will provide you with valuable insight into the chemical makeup and condition (texture) of your soil. The soil testing lab will gladly provide you with suggestions for improving soil fertility and drainage, if needed. This can also make a difference in what types of plants will be able to thrive in your garden.

What types of trees are in the area? This is important since most moth larvae eat tree leaves; leaves are also the food plant for some of the swallowtails and the mourning cloak. Some trees also produce flowers attractive to adult butterflies. There are specific trees called butterfly trees that can draw hundreds and hundreds of butterflies to it. These include birch trees and red oaks.

Visit the Butterfly Facts website to learn about swallowtail butterflies and butterfly stages.
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Tags: moth larvae, adult butterflies, soil testing lab, butterfly facts, swallowtail butterflies

Plants for Your Butterfly Gardening Plans

Mar 16th, 2011

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Gardening is a wonderful pastime that creates beauty outside our homes as well as enchanting flowers and plants to decorate inside our homes. If we add the extra element of butterflies, those flying jewels, to our gardening efforts, all the better. This article will give you a couple of basic butterfly gardening plans and some tips to get you started attracting and adding butterflies to your garden.

You probably have heard it before but perhaps the easiest way to begin your butterfly gardening plans is to simply check out what type of plants and flowers attract butterflies in your local area. Take a walk about your neighborhood and see where the butterflies alight. What flowers and plants in your neighbors’ yards have butterflies flitting around them? Where nature still rules with wild plantings, what plants have butterfly caterpillars crawling on them? Which ones do the butterflies draw nectar from?

Do you see females laying eggs on certain types of plants? Those are host plants for the butterfly caterpillar to eat and grow up on till they are ready to become butterflies. To keep butterflies in your own butterfly garden, you will want to include some of these.

Next keep a sharp eye open for the nectar plants the adult butterflies use. If you are lucky enough to find they enjoy your favorite flowers, rejoice.

More than likely you will find your butterfly gardening plans should include an area where you allow the local native plants a chance to grow. Perhaps you can tuck it away in a corner where the neighbors just won’t see if you are unfortunate enough to live where your yard must comply with certain rules. Just be sure the area has a sunny spot as butterflies like lots of sunshine to warm and get them flying every day.

Now if a wild bit of native plants just won’t fly, then you can still provide some plants that will attract butterflies and add them to your butterfly gardening plans. Be sure your garden also includes a water source, sunshine, shelter, nectar plants and host plants for the caterpillar.

One basic plan could include such plants as lilacs, butterfly bush, Sweet William, zinnias, marigolds, phlox and aster. Or you might want to try the combination of sedum, Rudbeckia, some different mints and, of course, butterfly bush again. If you can grow it, butterfly bush is the standard plant to be included in any butterfly gardening plan.

Looking for info on a
Butterfly Garden? Find all kinds of Flower Gardens at flowergardenlovers.com. Read about water, shade, wildflower and rose gardens and gardening tips.
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Tags: host plants, butterfly caterpillars, Butterfly Gardening, adult butterflies, nectar plants

Gardening and Butterfly

Mar 14th, 2011

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Garden And Butterfly

Butterfly gardening has become popular, both to attract the beautiful travelers and to help preserve species of butterflies that were dwindling due to human encroachment into their natural habitats. Butterflies love sunlight! Whether you choose to plant a traditional garden or a container garden, make sure that

the plants are in direct sunlight for much of the day.

If you’re planning a butterfly garden, it’s important to keep in mind that there is no one recipe for a successful garden. Butterflies like to “puddle.” Your garden needs a sort of watering hole for the butterflies to drink from. This can be done by simply filling a terra cotta pot or small plastic bucket with small rocks or pebbles about two inches from the brim. Butterfly species that are indigenous to different areas are attracted to different types of plants. In order to foster butterflies, you’ll need to know the butterfly species that are found in your area, and provide them with plants that are favored food sources for adult butterflies as well as those plants that they prefer for laying their eggs and nourishing larva.

Add water to fill the remaining space. Place the puddle in the center of your garden, some standards that apply to all butterfly gardens. Wherever you live and whatever butterflies you hope to attract, you’ll attract more of them if you follow a few simple basics, Butterflies love to eat nectar. Use several of these nectar-producing plants to attract them: milkweed, azalea, goldenrod, black-eyed susan, zinnia, aster, phlox, Japanese honeysuckle, ironweed. A few nectar-producing shrubs are butterfly bush, various fruit trees, privet, lilac and redbud.

Butterflies will flock to large expanses of flowers in similar colors that bloom at the same time rather than to single plants with just a few blooms. A carpet of violets, a sea of buttercups or a wide open field full of Queen Anne’s Lace is sure to be visited by dozens of butterflies. Butterflies like lots of color! Group clusters of the same plant together to make them easier for butterflies to see. A group of colorful flowers attracts them easier than

single flowers.

Butterfly gardens need to provide both sun and shade.

Like all insects, butterflies are cold-blooded creatures. They thrive on warm sun, and will bask on flat rocks or perch for long minutes on the branches of a high bush in the sunlight. At the same time, they need shade and shelter when the sun is too hot, or on cool, cloudy days. An area that gets bright sun for at least 4-6 hours per day is the best spot for a butterfly garden, but don’t forget to include landscaping details that offer shade.

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Tags: terra cotta pot, adult butterflies, human encroachment, butterfly butterfly, japanese honeysuckle

Butterfly Garden Basics

Mar 1st, 2011

by ButterflyLover.

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You can design a garden that will attract butterflies. The flowering plants and peaceful butterflies will help ensure a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere in your garden.

Put your butterfly garden in a place where you can sit and enjoy it. Many people like to place them around a gazebo, beside a walking path or near their porches where they can spend some time adoring these mysterious creatures.

Butterflies love the sun and require the heat from the sun to move. You may want to place dark colored stones around the area so that the butterflies can absorb the warmth whenever they need it.

Concrete benches make nice warm landing areas and offer a great place to sit observe the butterflies up close. Choose a sunny location for your butterfly garden. Thankfully, the plants that attract butterflies also thrive in direct sun. (more…)

Tags: concrete benches, fence sections, adult butterflies, butterfly garden, plants that attract butterflies

Attracting Butterflies to your Garden

Feb 24th, 2011

by ButterflyLover.

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Two caterpillars of the Heliconiinae family. T...

Image via Wikipedia

There are dozens of myths and beliefs surrounding the lives of butterflies. From legends to mythology, many mystical qualities are attributed to the common butterfly. However it is their radiant and colorful beauty that has brought butterfly gardening to the forefront of hobbies for people from all walks of life.

There are a myriad of reasons for wanting these flittering creatures to be a part of your gardens. Butterflies have inspired humankind since antiquity, not just for their decorative value but also as spiritual beings, symbolic of metamorphosis, rebirth, love, hope, and freedom. (more…)

Tags: nectar sources, adult butterflies, butterflies and moths, winged insect, life cycle of butterflies

Learn About the Monarch Butterfly

Feb 16th, 2011

by ButterflyLover.

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Image via Wikipedia

The most familiar form, and well known form of butterfly in North America is the Monarch butterfly. Monarchs are somewhat large for a butterfly, with a wingspan of about 4 inches, with charming ginger, black, and colorless coloring on their wings – Monarchs are regularly highly required after by butterfly enthusiasts and photographers alike.

Scientists deem the Monarch butterflies are the only family of insects that actually migrate. As chill approaches in colder climates, the Monarch starts to dense down and reproduction stops. Over the summer, they amass fat coffers in their stomach in preparation for the chill.

As temperatures drop, Monarchs originate to journey south for the chill. In the west they lean to trek south of the Rocky Mountains. Throughout the U.S., they move to Florida, Texas and Mexico. Canadian and Northwest American Monarch butterflies voyage south to the coast of California and down to Southern California. (more…)

Tags: butterfly enthusiasts, Monarch butterflies, adult butterflies, Monarch butterfly, milkweed plants

Interesting Butterfly Facts

Feb 12th, 2011

by ButterflyLover.

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Blue morpho (Morpho peleides) butterfly at the...

Blue Morpho butterfly. Image via Wikipedia

The thought of butterflies generally brings a feeling of innocence, of joyful childhood years, and basically an easy feeling.

Some associate butterflies with a transformation, where the natural world converts something common into a magnificent and colorful flying animal.

For a few people, the artistic sense of butterflies can improve home decorations, from draperies to cabinet doors and overall décor – butterflies offer a cohesively happy feeling.

But apart from all that, there are plenty of interesting facts with regard to butterflies:

•   Many species of butterfly are endowed with sensors on their legs, and these are utilized to decide whether a chosen leaf is suited to lay eggs on. Butterfly offspring require a lot of food. Adult butterflies therefore test leaves for sustainability before laying eggs.
•   The bulk of a butterfly, depending on the species, can start at 1/8 of an inch and can grow as big as 1 foot.
•   A given butterfly is able to move at an average speed of 12 miles per hour; yet, specific butterflies are able to reach 25 mph. The tempo is affected by the bulk of a given butterfly, hence, their wings. (more…)

Tags: adult butterflies, brimstone butterfly, species of butterfly, butterfly facts, flying speed, good eyesight

The Popularity of Butterfly Gardening

Feb 4th, 2011

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Butterfly gardening has become popular, both to magnetize the scenic travelers and to help domain species of butterflies that were dwindling due to soul encroachment into their innate habitats. Butterflies feeling sunlight! Whether you wish to works a traditional plot or a container plot, make positive that the plants are in sincere sunlight for much of the day.

If you’re forecast a butterfly plot, it’s important to keep in psyche that there is no one recipe for a successful plot. Butterflies like to “pond.” Your plot desires a place of watering puncture for the butterflies to juice from. This could be done by basically rich a terra cotta pot or small plastic bucket with small rocks or pebbles about two inches from the edge. Butterfly species that are indigenous to different areas are attracted to different types of plants. To forward butterflies, you’ll poverty to know the butterfly species that are found in your blackhead, and suggest them with plants that are special food sources for adult butterflies as well as those plants that they pretty for laying their eggs and nourishing maggot.

Add water to permeate the lingering liberty. Place the puddle in the midpoint of your backyard, some values that relate to all butterfly gardens. Wherever you live and anything butterflies you prospect to magnetize, you’ll attract more of them if you pursue a few unfussy basics, Butterflies dearest to eat nectar. Use some of these nectar-producing plants to attract them: milkweed, azalea, goldenrod, black-eyed susan, zinnia, aster, phlox, Japanese honeysuckle, ironweed. A few nectar-producing shrubs are butterfly plant, many fruit leaves, privet, blue and redbud.

Butterflies will flock to large expanses of plants in analogous colors that flourish at the same time rather than to release plants with just a few blooms. A carpet of violets, a sea of buttercups or a thick open pasture detailed of Queen Anne’s Lace is solid to be visited by dozens of butterflies. Butterflies like bags of influence! Group clusters of the same plant together to make them easier for butterflies to see. A group of quaint plants attracts them easier than distinct flora.

Butterfly gardens should to provide both sun and shade.

Like all insects, butterflies are cold-blooded creatures. They boom on thaw sun, and will relax on fixed rocks or perch for long notes on the twigs of a high plant in the sunlight. At the same time, they require shade and shelter when the sun is too hot, or on cool, imprecise living. A field that gets lively sun for at least 4-6 hours per day is the best spot for a butterfly plot, but don’t forget to embrace landscaping facts that offer shade.

Learn about butterfly identification and karner blue butterfly at the Butterfly Facts site.
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Tags: adult butterflies, terra cotta pot, black eyed susan, japanese honeysuckle, species of butterflies