There are several garden accessories that can help attract butterflies. The following article gives you the top four tips for butterfly garden design:
Butterflies Garden Basics
Butterfly garden's should be positioned in full sun. Not only do the butterflies enjoy its warmth, but the plants they like do better there. A butterfly garden can be any size or shape. You should consider a hedge in your butterfly garden design to shelter the butterflies from wind and predators on the wing.
Nectar and Flower Choice
All butterflies drink nectar. Different species of butterflies enjoy types from different flowers, however. If you want a general butterfly garden, you should design it with as many of the following plants as possible. If you are most interested in butterfly garden design for a specific species, you must research what each species likes.
Including plants in your butterfly garden design is easy. Here are some that butterflies most enjoy:
- Butterfly bush.
- Bee-balm perennial.
- Black-eyed Susan.
- Cosmos annual flower.
- Daisy.
- Day Lily.
- Impatiens annual flower.
- Milkweed.
- Purple Cone Flower.
- Thistle.
Eggs and Catapillers
Besides the flowers and plants needed to feed the butterflies in your garden, these insects also have specific needs for laying eggs. The larvae, or catapillers, eat only specific types of plants. You should include some of the following in your butterfly gardening design:
- Fruit trees such as cherry and peach.
- Nettles.
- Plants from the cabbage family.
- Sunflowers.
- Herbs such as dill and parsley.
Butterfly Houses
An accent for your butterfly garden design is the butterfly house. These wooden boxes look a lot like bird houses. Instead of a large round hole for a bird to enter, butterfly houses have very narrow slits. Inside, there should be a backing of rough tree bark for the butterflies to cling to. They will use this house as a place to spend the night, escape from predators, or hibernate in the cold months.
Designing a garden for butterflies is a great landscaping project. If you want to attract these colorful insects to your yard, you must pay attention to garden plant choice and layout. With these top four butterfly garden design tips, you will be able to design a garden that will attract the most butterflies possible.
