Cultivating and maintaining a butterfly garden can be a beautiful and unique idea for environment conservation. With over 700 different butterfly species in North America, it is easy to attract them to your yard.
Butterflies are an important part of the environment. The caterpillars and adults are both food sources for birds, bats and other wildlife. The adults pollinate flowers, and also the blooms of vegetables.
The size of your butterfly garden is of no real importance. Start small and add new plants yearly. Try clumping several of the same type of plants together as butterflies are nearsighted and are attracted to large clusters of color. Place the garden strategically in a sunny area that is partially protected from winds and relatively closely to any vegetable gardens. Choose plants that are popular to butterflies and provide them with nectar.
To provide a source of water, without encouraging mosquitoes, try placing a sheet of aluminum foil in an open area and add a shallow layer of aquarium gravel, creating a small shallow depression in the center to create a small puddle. As you water the flowers, this drinking pool will retain moisture. Just enough for the butterflies but not enough for mosquitoes to lay their eggs.
I want to attract many different species of butterflies to my gardens, so I select perennials suited to each species that is commonly found in my area.
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