How to attract butterflies to your garden
The flowers and plants in your garden may be attractive, but nothing compares to the pleasure and beauty that come from watching birds and butterflies frolic in your yard. Beyond enjoyment, your personal space can be an essential part of these creatures' habitat. Read on for tips on attracting birds and butterflies to your garden.
It may seem like your little backyard can't make a difference for wildlife but in reality, you can give birds and butterflies a much-needed place to call home. "A backyard butterfly garden really makes a difference to local butterfly populations," says James Miskelly, a butterfly biologist based in Vancouver Island, B.C. And the same is true for birds, especially migratory species. "They're desperate to rest along their flight," says Bridget Stutchbury, author of Silence of the Songbirds (HarperCollins, 2007).
Create a magnet for butterflies and birds
"A good butterfly garden should be able to provide butterflies with some of the resources they need to complete their life cycles to help offset the effects of habitat destruction," says Miskelly, noting that many species are facing a shortage of habitat. "The key is to create a space that includes the elements they need to go [to] through their whole cycle, not just flowers." Stutchbury adds that food and shelter are the primary elements that will attract birds to your garden. "Especially during migration," she says, "songbirds fly at night and they need shelter and food during the daytime."
5 tips for attracting butterflies
"The best plants to include in a butterfly garden are not flowers for the adults, but the plants that the caterpillars like to eat," says Miskelly. "You will have more butterflies in your garden because there will be more in your whole neighborhood." He offers the following tips for attracting butterflies:
1. Plan to have nectar-providing flowers such as butterfly weed, coneflower, milkweed, black-eyed susan and nasturtium in bloom in your garden throughout the growing season.
2. Grow milkweed and asters, which provide both nectar (for adults) and caterpillar food.
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"A good butterfly garden should be able to provide butterflies with some of the resources they need to complete their life cycles to help offset the effects of habitat destruction," says Miskelly, noting that many species are facing a shortage of habitat. "The key is to create a space that includes the elements they need to go [to] through their whole cycle, not just flowers." Stutchbury adds that food and shelter are the primary elements that will attract birds to your garden. "Especially during migration," she says, "songbirds fly at night and they need shelter and food during the daytime."
5 tips for attracting butterflies
"The best plants to include in a butterfly garden are not flowers for the adults, but the plants that the caterpillars like to eat," says Miskelly. "You will have more butterflies in your garden because there will be more in your whole neighborhood." He offers the following tips for attracting butterflies:
1. Plan to have nectar-providing flowers such as butterfly weed, coneflower, milkweed, black-eyed susan and nasturtium in bloom in your garden throughout the growing season.
2. Grow milkweed and asters, which provide both nectar (for adults) and caterpillar food.
Click to continue...
Page 1 of 2
