Butterfly Gardening
butterfly garden Video
An introduction to how and why you should create a butterfly garden.
Video Rating: 5 / 5
Home Garden Decor
Today’s garden decor is more of an extension of your living space. Versatile outdoor spaces can be used for dining and lounging with family members, as well as entertaining guests. Decorating your garden for these functions gives you a fabulous alternative to the traditional dinner party! With the wonderful new garden decor trend of creating an outdoor kitchen and dining/living area you are expanding your square footage and increasing your home value. According to “Smart Money” magazine, consumers who spend 5 percent of the value of their home on landscaping can expect to add 15 percent or more to its value. Entertaining trends are following suit with the garden decor trends. Themed garden parties and of course the traditional American Barbeque is all the rage. It’s very easy and affordable to double your living space.
Add a few comfortable weatherproof chairs, an unused table, paint a lasting rug to your patio and you are on your way to doubling your living space or be inventive…Create a grass couch, table and loveseat, using a wood structure covered in sod. Be creative in your garden decor. Center your living/dinning space close to your “kitchen” area. In 2004 alone 14.5 million grills were sold, so that along with a small refrigerator, a prep/serving table and you have just achieved an inexpensive outdoor kitchen. You can always build a more defined structure encompassing built in appliances. Use your imagination and remember your garden decor is a refection of you and your family.
Adding a canopy or fire pit will make a wonderful addition to the completion of your garden decor. Create different rooms outside by separating the areas by plants, screens, and trellises. Place a fire pit in one corner away from all flammables, of course and place some place a few chairs around, to create a wonderful area to tell ghost stories and roast marshmallows. Use a canopy in another area and place an outdoor bed or picnic table under it and this will create a place to lounge in a shaded area and enjoy your garden. Trends are gearing towards mimicking your home outside. So duplicating your living spaces outside is an important aspect to your garden decor.
Adding life to your garden decor is also an essential part. There are many different ways to accomplish this. Make it a project for your whole family. Incorporate a vegetable and herb garden, pond or Butterfly garden to your garden decor. Nothing improves your garden more than the use of plant life, trees, native plants, perennials or annuals. Just make sure that they will survive your climate. Ask your local gardening store for assistance with your selection.
Ensure that your garden decor includes fragrant plants to enhance your outdoor experience. A Butterfly Garden is a perfect avenue to take. Not just beautiful plants to view, but an outdoor lab for your children to explore. Chose a sunny spot and include plants such as Lantana, zinnia, coneflower, butterfly bush and abelia. Butterflies especially love clusters of small tubular flowers. Some species enjoy fennel, parsley, dill, and rue which is a wonderful gateway to incorporate an herb garden. Adding a few of the fragrant plants will assist in drawing in birds bringing in even more life and color to your garden. Interjecting a birdhouse and a water source into your garden decor will ensure that the birds will come back and will provide hours of entertainment.
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butterfly garden Questions & Answers
Question by Canez93: I want a butterfly garden.?
i need help, we have a pretty big bacyard and want to start attracting butterflies and hummingbirds and other cool nature animals. Please help me with some plant ideas?? To attract them! We would realy like a garden taht we can go out too and jsut wath the butterflies, im also a photographer and would love taking nice pictures of teh butterflies on the plants. Please help me witha list of plants that i can plant into my garden so that i can attract butterflies! Thanks so much! Im looking forward to it. Cant wait to have a butterfly garden.
I went to homedepot and they gae me like a whole list of plants i bought a few, its been about a 4-5 month and i have seen 1 butterfly on the plants only 1. I NEED HELP!!!!!!!!
Best answer:
Answer by Tom C
thats a good idea. dunno though
Give your answer to this question below!
category: Butterfly Garden Articles
Gr8 video. Beauty is reason enough to support butterflies. when u grow up you’ll understand life can be boring without variety. We need harmless insects for pollination & our survival.
Good informative video! Chris/JCMDIdotCOM
I was very impressed with your video! You gave a lot of action shots of actual butterflies and caterpillars, and it was fascinating to watch. I loved your ideas for growing host plants, and can’t wait to implement some of them. I also, live in MIssouri, and planted my first butterfly garden last year. Thanks for sharing.
Nice video. You never really get into the “why” part, though. I was hoping to get an explanation of what they do for the environment.
sounds cool, don’t know how though
Check with your local garden center. They are going to know what types of plants will attract the butterflies in your area. And what types of plants will do well in your zone.
you need tons and variety of flower
I used to raise butterflies using them as a center peice in group homes and such. Mainly monarchs, which are black and orange. The live off of, lay they eggs, and even bread on the milk weed plant. Its not particularly pretty, almost weedy in appearance, but very easy to grow.
Definitely lots of pollinated flowers… they’re are plenty of home grown Caterpillar farms you can raise them in mass and let them go in your yard and hopefully they’ll stay. Just watch out for the attraction of bees.
plant flowers and flowering bushes. each month plant a few different flowering plants so that you’ll have flowers blooming all season. then leave it to nature, the butterfly’s will come If you supply the flowers.By the way, it doesn’t matter what the flowers are Butterfly’s like all flowers
Well i dont know the names of the plants but i know butterflies like colorful flowers.
First, learn about the kind of wildlife in your area, try to leanr what attracts them. Plant lots of flowers, make bird feeders, and keep everything in good shape.
A lot depends on where you live and what kinds of butterflies are native to the area. Typical are milkweed for monarch butterflies, lilacs attract swallowtails in the spring, petunias or other trumpet shapes flowers in bright reds or pinks are favorites with hummers as are my geraniums, hosta, snap dragons and impatience. A guide to North American Butterflies will tell you what kinds of flowers each species feeds on or lays its eggs or spins its cocoon on. There are seed packets for annual and perennial butterfly mixes in most garden centers or even the grocery store at this time of year in the upper midwest so just get what you think you can grow and make a start.
We grow several colors of buddleia (aka “butterfly bush”) lavender, purple, white, pink and yellow, for that very purpose. they don’t seem to prefer one color over another, but do seem to go to the buddleia plants over other nectar plants.
See this Google page for links to sites that discuss hummingbird flowers: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flowers+for+hummingbirds
There is a plant specifically called a butterfly bush. Check it out it really does attract butterflies.
Hon, the people at places like Home Depot are not as well-versed in horticulture as the employees at a greenhouse. Since I’m one of them, here’s some suggestions!
Monarchs love Joe-Pye weed (eupatorium), a relative of the common milkweed. They’ll lay their eggs on it for the caterpillars to use as a food source. There are both annual and perennial asclepias (butterfly weed) that are beautiful and irresistable to butterflies.
Bee balm (monarda) is another good choice and comes in a wide range of colors. Butterflies also seem to enjoy phlox, probably because of its intense fragrance.
All of the above-mentioned plants are easy to grow in a sunny location.
The very BEST plant I’ve found for attracting butterflies, however, are the butterfly bush (buddleia) and tall verbena (boniarensis). The latter is a very tall, stiff-stemmed verbena that is perennial in warm climates but can be grown as an annual in the north. (Seeds are available from the Burpee company.) At any given time, I can look at one and see half-a-dozen swallowtail butterflies on one plant—spectacular!
For hummingbirds, nothing beats trumpet vine and especially honeysuckle. Best of luck! :)
first off……make sure you are not using any pesticides.
and i am jealous because it is still cold here so the butterflies are not active yet.
butterflies need food, water source, shelter
During the summers here in our gardens we see them enjoying the buddleia, lantana, gaillardia, coneflowers, cosmos, marigolds, crepe myrtle, hostas, hibiscus, all kinds of daisies, salvias, verbenas.
hummingbirds like all of them too.
a mud puddle is a good addition because they like the minerals and need water too.
The University of Kentucky has thorough information on gardening to attract butterflies.
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef006.asp
I am sure you will find it helpful.
http://www.milkweedcafe.com/bflygarden.html
Check out this little website. It may help you.
We have a Butterfly House in St.Louis that you may check out someday also.
I know there they have bananas out for them.
After they get kind of brown and sticky.
grow alyssum: carpet of snow
milkweed
butterfly bush (they also attract earwigs)
painted ladies (the flowers)
purple liatris
blue butterfly delphinium
limerock ruby coreopsis
there is so much more at this site!
http://springhillnursery.com/search.asp?ss=butterflies&x=0&y=0
to attract hummingbirds use red flowers/plants and a hummingbird feeder with red jello mix (put it in the feeder as a liquid)
listen to gypsy cat for sure! i worked at a greenhouse for a time and got to bring home the tall verbena annual that she was talking about and it has attracted many more butterflies than any other flowers iv had. and whats great is that it normally reseeds itself every year and i never have to sprout my own! i just transplant the seedlings i find when i weed .. very spectacular to look at as well!
here are a few that will attract butter fules
the butterfly bush.
cold hardy to -20 also attracts bees and humming birds
the crape myrtle
cold hardy to -30 a tree blooms in the summer and is like every other tree in the winter attract bees birds humming birds and buttterflys
hibiscus
THE TROPICAL HIBISCUS
this one has glossy leaves and is cold hardy to 32 F
THE TEMPERATE HIBISCUS
this one is cold hardy to -30 and is a perennial
cannas
these are bulb and have floilage and later huge flowers. put in fun sun and water well. cold hardy to 5 f and will attract bees hummingbirds and butterflys
gereniums
common annual flower and butterflys seen to like them.
gardenias
like it cool and will attract bytterflies with there fragrance