What are Butterfly Gardens?
For once, haven’t you just wanted to find something in your garden that wasn’t a rabbit gnawing at your plants or a bee threatening to sting you? What about insect eggs infesting your soil? Well, believe it or not, you can with butterfly gardens.
What are Butterfly Gardens?
Butterfly gardens do what their name suggests. They’re gardens that attract butterflies, possibly the only insect that doesn’t completely gross us out. They tickle, they don’t sting, and of course, their wings are absolutely beautiful. They use their wild and vivid colors to ward off predators, but they had the adverse effect of making them too pretty for us to swat.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little garden with pretty bugs and critters than just about everything else that finds its way into your garden?
Why It’s Okay to Have Butterflies
Not every creepy-crawly, bird, and critter is bad for a garden. Butterflies are usually a herald of good things to come because they only come to gardens with a healthy array of plants and a lack of dangerous predators. If you see butterflies, that means your garden is likely clean of most pests. However, you should still check your soil since butterflies focus more on what’s already grown than what might be growing.
If you create a garden that appeals to butterflies, you’ll inadvertently attract other animals and bugs that are good for your garden. This can include bees, birds, and ladybugs who naturally eat the creep-crawling insects that you don’t want around your garden.
How Does a Butterfly Garden Work?
To create a butterfly garden, you first have to make sure that you’re planting some of the flowers that butterflies like. A butterfly doesn’t just go up to any flower, they only fly to their favorites. Flowers that attract butterflies include:
- Milkweed
- Coneflowers
- Hyssop
- Asters
- Liatris
- Pentas
- Cosmos
- Lantana
- Petunias
- Zinnias
Vary Your Plants
Don’t just pick your favorite of these flowers – they all have benefits. These flowers are either rich in nectar or they’re perennials. The nectar-rich flowers give butterflies a place to collect food and nutrients. Perennials also provide nectar but are mainly used as a location for female butterflies to safely lay eggs.
It’s also important that the flowers be of different and varying sizes as butterflies each like flowers of differing heights. Some like the ones that are a few inches tall, while others like them to be at least a foot tall. Plant a collection of different flowers so can attract as many different butterflies as possible.
Try Shrubs If That’s More Your Thing
If you don’t want to plant only flowers, shrubs can attract butterflies as well. Some shrubs that attract them include:
- Viburnum
- Scaevola
- Sweetspire
- Elderberry
These shrubs eventually flower, which attracts butterflies to them. Butterflies will also make homes in them because they provide decent shelter from the rain and other harsh weather elements. You can put them around your garden, depending on how you want to space out your landscape.
Make Sure the Garden is in the Sun
Nectar-rich flowers require at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight, so don’t be afraid to plant your garden in the sunshine. Many flowers that you can grow in Arizona will die from starvation before dehydration. You can even put them next to surfaces that retain heat, like flat stones and pavement.
Avoid Pesticides
Most pesticides, even of the organic kind, will kill butterflies and make it unsafe for them to settle. If you do feel you need to use pesticides, make sure you thoroughly research what animals and bugs they target. If you don’t, you may end up killing the exact bug you wanted to invite to your garden.
Contact Pioneer Landscape Centers for More Information About Butterfly Gardens
Who wouldn’t want to see a butterfly flying around their garden? They’re pretty, they’re peaceful, and they have a positive effect on the environment. If you want to try building a butterfly garden for yourself or know anyone who is, talk to our experts, they can help.
We can supply everyone with the supplies and tools they need to create butterfly gardens. Turn away pests and attract some welcome faces with the help of experts at your local Pioneer Landscape Centers. Contact us today.