The Mother-in-Law of Plant Life

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

There are two types of people in this world: those who view insects as beneficial friends and those who view insects as winged lilliputian monsters. However, there is one insect that even the latter cannot detest—a virtual flying work of art, the butterfly. Seeing as the butterfly season is here, Noreen Damude of the National Wild-flower Research Center offers the following ways to attract butterflies to your garden:

•Butterflies enjoy perching on edges, so plant low flowers at the edge of your lawn and high flowers at the edges of trees or along fences.

•Locate a major part of the garden in a sunny, protected area. Butterflies are coldblooded and need sunshine to raise their body temperatures enough to fly on cool mornings. Place flat stones at various sunny locations in the garden for butterflies to bask on.

•Use large splashes of color. Butterflies are first attracted to flowers by color, so a large flower mass is easier for them to spot. Members of the Compositae family, such as asters, coreopsis, boneset, goldenrods, and sunflowers, are excellent nectar sources.

•Leave young and old trees; butterflies like to perch on them and larvae may use them for food. Small trees such as hawthorns, buckeyes, and sumacs offer nectar and shelter.

•Provide host plants for butterfly larvae food. Don't get overly attached to the larval host plants, though, or you'll be upset when you see hungry caterpillars eating them to shreds. However, the caterpillars will repay you indirectly over time by pollinating other plants once they become butterflies.

•Try to leave dead and hollow stumps and thick brush under some of the trees for butterflies to hide from predators and find warmth on rainy or colder days.

•Provide damp areas or make available shallow puddles.

•Don't use insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides anywhere near your butterfly garden, the larval food plants, or the adult nectar sources because they can kill larvae and adult butterflies. Treat pest problems by plucking the offending insects off garden plants with your fingers.

Editor's note: If you have interesting, timely, or even peculiar news items you'd like to share with readers, please send them to "Bits & Pieces," MOTHER EARTH NEWS , P.O. Box 129, Arden, NC 28794. Please also send accompanying photographs if you have them.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print