Friday, June 6, 2008

Butterflies Are Free

Butterflies are such brightly colored, beautiful additions to your garden and give it a sense of happiness and peace. I love watching them flit from one plant to another sampling the necture of each flower bloom like it was a buffet laid out on nature's table.




Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink, or purple blossoms and flat-topped or clustered flowers. They love zennias, marigolds, cone flowers, daisies, verbenas, garlic chives, lilacs, bee balm, and many mint plants to name a few.



Butterfly adults feed mostly in the sun so your plants should receive full sun mid-morning to mid-afternoon.




There are at least 700 species of butterflies in North America and most insecticides are lethal to them.




In a previous blog I talked about toad abodes so wondered if there was such a thing as a butterfly house and found out there are such things for the garden. You can make your own or order them from various places.




The following link will give you plans for building a butterfly house for your garden and various other butterfly related items: http://butterflywebsite.com/articles/house/plans.htm






I, also, learned that butterflies love over-ripe fruit such as bananas, strawberries, orange slices, and leftover melon ends.






A ceramic or glass pie plate, plastic or terra cotta plant saucer, or a dish with a sloping rim can all be used to make easy butterfly feeders. Suspend the plate with flower pot hangers or fashion a macrame style holder from household twine. You could wind the stems of silk or plastic flowers around the twine holder to decorate the butterfly feeder and make it visually appealing to butterflies.Simply hang the feeder from the bough of a shady tree, in a spot where you can easily view visitors to the feeder. Try to place it a little higher than your highest flowers. Add slices of over-ripe fruit. You can sprinkle a little fruit juice or water over the fruit slices if they dry out too much - remember it's the mushy, rotting, very over-ripe fruit that butterflies like best. Replace the fruit if it dries out or becomes moldy.




This is a cute poem or song I found about butterflies:




The Fuzzy Caterpillar (Tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider)

The fuzzy caterpillar curled up on a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly,
And later when she wokeup
She was a butterfly!

6 comments:

Jamie Dawn said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog via Clara's.

I love watching butterflies flit about. They are so light and pretty.
Great idea for using ripened fruit to attract them!

Clara....in TN said...

Great Post. I had two butterfly bushes last year and they stayed full of butterflies. Both of them died and I don't know why. Maybe too many dogs passing by! LOl
Did you get my e-mail about your playlist?

Rachel said...

I love butterflies! I didn't know about butterfly houses though. Love that cute little poem!!!

Clara....in TN said...

My playlist worked!!!! Thanks for the help. Clara

Anne and Leigh said...

Butterfly houses!! I want one!

-Anne

Judypatooote said...

I love going to the butterfly house...it's amazing how they land on you and the colors are so vibrant.....even a bright green.