In order to attract butterfly to come to your garden, you need to plant suitable butterfly garden. This will also help provide a habitat for other butterflies to feed themselves at your garden. It is not that difficult for you to attract various kinds of butterflies to the garden. You only need to grow plants that caterpillars like to feed on and also where adult butterflies also likes to eat. Make sure that you plant butterflies favorite host plants. Apart from that, it also likes nectar types of plants such as yellow sunflowers, pink Joe Pye weed, purple coneflower, purple verbena, rudbeckia, red bee balm, and wild aster that provide lots of attractive colors. Whenever you decide to grow butterfly garden, you must do some studies on the species that lives nearby your house and surrounding plus also the plants that they normally feeds on. You should also know that butterflies also lay their eggs on certain type of plants and therefore you need to have some knowledge on the suitable plants for that purpose. Below are some of the tips that you can learn before you can start planting a butterfly garden.
To plant butterfly garden, you need:
- Choose the suitable area for your garden
- Creating a raised-bed butterfly garden
- Boards, rot-resistant lumber such as redwood or cedar, treated landscape timbers, used railroad ties, concrete blocks, stones, rocks, bricks as well as old tires
- Mulch
- Shovel
- Hand gloves
Planting a Butterfly Garden
Tips for Planting a Butterfly Garden
- The first thing that you need to do is to select the most suitable location for planting your butterfly garden.
- You will find some butterfly garden being planted on a large plot of land, as well as in an area with 5′-by-10′ located near your walkway or window box or even being planted on a container garden.
- You must also make sure that the garden is situated in open sunny areas because butterflies are much more active in the sun and large open areas.
- Besides the sun, you need to also protect the garden from the wind and in order to do this you can simply plant shrubs nectar and food plants. For example plants such as Buddleia, Honeysuckle, Spice Bush and Hawthorn. In addition to that, you can also use a small fence, evergreen trees as well as a large rock to form a shelter to the garden from being attacked by the wind.
- Butterflies are among the species that does not drink directly from open water. Therefore, you need to make some sort like puddles of moist sand and you can even place a few rocks or sticks inside the puddles to enable the butterflies to perch and drink. It is also a good idea to place some rocks near the garden so that the butterflies would be able to bask in order for storing body heat with the help from the sun.
- You will find some butterfly garden being planted on a large plot of land, as well as in an area with 5′-by-10′ located near your walkway or window box or even being planted on a container garden.
Always remember that some of the plants with lots of colors that you can grow in your garden includes yellow sunflower,
pink Joe-Pye weed, purple coneflower, and
purple verbena, yellow Black-eyed Susan, red bee balm/bergamot, plus also purple wild asters.
- For those of you who chooses to make a raised bed butterfly garden, you simply need to make a raised area of soil framed by using materials such as boards, rot-resistant lumber such as redwood or cedar, treated landscape timbers, used railroad ties, concrete blocks, stones, rocks, bricks, old tires or any other material that you have at your house.
- Raised-bed garden provides you with better heating, having better drainage and also much easier to maintain the plants. Apart from that, it also uses much lesser areas, only requires you to use less fertilizer and water, plus also able to assist you in eliminating soil problems.
Even though the butterfly garden can be created according to any size, but kindly take note that the raised-bed butterfly garden’s width need to be narrow enabling you to reach all areas easily.
- Before making the raised-bed garden, you have to use a shovel in order to remove the grass and weeds that surrounded the area where you want to plant the butterfly garden.
- There are several materials that you can use for creating the border or frame of your raised-bed garden. You can even create temporary raised-bed using a simple marking of its perimeter as well as by tiling the soil.
- You will notice that the soil of your loosened soil will remain a bit raised above its surrounding areas. As for the temporary raised-bed which is borderless will gradually flatten or erodes over a certain period but it is actually a good approach especially if you want to create the garden only for temporary purpose.
- However, we recommend that you choose permanent raised-beds because even if you are investing more of your time and money, you will find that the finished product would assist you in controlling erosion and long lasting.
- It is recommended that the design of your garden is laid in a rectangular design where its width should at least within the range of 4 feet. This is to make it easy for you to reach the centre of your raised-bed from any of the sides.
- Once you have created the border or frame of your raised-bed butterfly garden while the soil has been mixed thoroughly, it is time for you to start planting it with beautiful as well as colorful plants that can attract butterflies.
- Another option of planting is to use a shaker of wildflower or butterfly flower seeds that you can simply scatter it thoroughly around your raised-bed.
- Once done, you must always control weeds and retain the moisture of the soil by applying mulch onto it.
- There are several materials that you can use for creating the border or frame of your raised-bed garden. You can even create temporary raised-bed using a simple marking of its perimeter as well as by tiling the soil.
- When you place the plants on the bed, it should be done carefully. Make sure that if you have taller plants
- It should be placed at the back of smaller ones. As for the mid-sized plants should be planted right in the middle of much shorter ones.
- By applying the above technique, you will be able to assist the feeding of low-feeding and high-feeding butterflies without any problem.
- It should be placed at the back of smaller ones. As for the mid-sized plants should be planted right in the middle of much shorter ones.
- For those of you who have a walkway in front of your house, you can create the butterfly garden surrounding the area.
- It is easy for you to apply this method and do the planting in layers.
- In order to produce optimal growth, the spacing of the plants should follow the recommended spacing requirements.
- It is easy for you to apply this method and do the planting in layers.
Please remember that butterflies will not visit noisy or busy areas. Therefore your butterfly garden should be located in a peaceful surrounding in order to attract lots of butterflies to the garden.
- As for a small garden with 5′-by-5′ size, you can simply make use of a shaker of wildflower or butterfly flower seeds.
- Once you finished applying the above method, you have to rake the soil gently in order to scatter the flower seeds thoroughly within the area.
- You need to water them daily and after a few weeks time you would be able to see a beautiful butterfly garden that can attract various kinds of butterflies.
- The only maintenance that you need to do reseeding in order to replenish some of the flowers whenever the need arise.
Always remember that whenever you want to plant a butterfly garden,
- Make sure that the host plants that you choose does not sacrifice its flowers and colors.
- You should also work some potting soil along with compost or shredded leaves right into your loosened ground for the garden. You must ensure that the soil is loose enough. You would be able to know it whenever you feel the soil is soft and you can easily crumble it using your hands.
- You should do some research on the types of butterflies that you see in your neighborhood because this will assist you in selecting the most suitable flowers to be planted in your garden. The plants should be suitable for adult butterflies and the caterpillars as well as encouraging the butterflies to even breed and lay eggs at your garden.
- Once you finished applying the above method, you have to rake the soil gently in order to scatter the flower seeds thoroughly within the area.
