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More About Butterfly Gardening

By C. Thomas Wetherald

 When creating a butterfly garden, the possibilities of what to include in your butterfly garden design are endless. Below are some suggestions to help get you started. They are designed to spark the creative process of your mind and get you started on your way to creating a lovely butterfly garden.

Before you even begin your butterfly garden, find out which species of butterflies are in your area. Consider taking an exploratory hike around your location with a butterfly identification book. This may take a little extra time and effort, but the results will be worth it. After you have compiled your list of local butterfly species, be sure to write down in your butterfly garden plan what these particular species of butterflies use for nectar and food plants.

Be sure that your garden is in a location that provides at least six hours of sunlight per day. Butterflies are cold-blooded creatures and therefore do better where they are warm and sheltered. A basic understanding of the life history of butterflies, their food needs and the plants that provide these will be all you need to plan a butterfly garden.

Wind can be a butterfly's worst enemy so be sure to have plenty of wind protection in your design. You can plant tall shrubs and other plants in order to create a wind break, but a location that avoids heavy winds is even better.

The best of all would be a butterfly garden placed on the sunny side of your home with windbreaks on both the west and east sides, or wherever the prevailing winds come from in your area. Try and locate your garden close to a window so you can view the butterflies from indoors. Provide seating outside too.

If possible, you could excavate an area and build a stone wall around it. This would create the ideal windbreak for your butterflies. Incorporate a water feature in your garden, or adapt an existing feature to keep a small section of the ground moist. Make gravel pathways around your garden to save walking in mud. With the right plants, butterfly gardening can be as easy as sowing a few seeds.

There are many creative ways for constructing a butterfly garden. Take your time to design a garden that you will enjoy and be proud of.  Go on a leisurely hike to take in the scenery. Look at natural woodlands around you to get ideas for plant combinations.  Keep in mind that a natural woodland is generally free from human traffic, which can disturb the often shy birds of the forest. Keeping your garden as natural as possible will also attract more

butterflies and a wider variety of species.  You can use it to raise butterflies and help

children learn about nature and how to restore our natural environment.

As I have said before thanks for reading my articles. Just remember that this information is for you to benefit from.

Be sure you pick up your copy of the Free Report Container Gardening.

 Butterly Gardening