Create a Butterfly Garden

When I was a little girl one of my favorite things to do was to chase butterfly's My grandmothers yard often caught the butterflys attention as it was decorated with lots of plants. Do you like butterfly's would you be interested in attracting them to your yard?? 

Brightly colored butterflies can be a welcome addition to your garden. The beauty of the butterfly is not all that they have to offer. They can also be useful in pollinating flowers. The trick to attracting butterflies involves keeping plants in your garden that serve the needs of all life stages of the butterfly. Butterflies need places to lay their eggs, plants to use as food for the caterpillars, places to form chrysalides and nectar sources for adults. 

check out plants to add here

Butterfly Gardens should include:

• native flowering plants that many butterflies depend on These native plants offer nectar and foliage that adults and caterpillars both need. You can research what plants are recommended for your state and area at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• plant type and color is important to adult butterflies. Blossom colors of red, yellow, orange, pink and purple that have short flower tubes or are flat topped are important to the butterflies.
• Good nectar sources should be in good sun from mid morning to mid afternoon. Adult butterfly feed only in the sun One grand idea is to plant plants with nectar sources in the vegetable garden
• Take into thought to plant plants that offer nectar to adults to be there all season long. One great idea is to plant plants that start blooming just as one blooming time comes to an end
• Do not use insecticides such as Sevin, malathion, and diazinon that are marketed to kill insects. These are lethal to butterflies as well
• Feed the caterpillars so that they turn into adults. Caterpillars never cause the leaf damage like some moth caterpillars such as bagworms, tent caterpillars or gypsy moths. 
• Small flat stones in your garden provides the perfect place for butterflies to rest and bask in the sun. 
• Puddling or drinking water is very important as well. This can easily be done by placing coarse sand in a shallow pan and insert the pan in the soil of your habitat. For this to be beneficial for butterflies you need to keep the sand moist. 

helpful resources here

shared at 
Our World Tuesday