Ask The Plant Lady

Posts Tagged ‘Butterflies’

You rarely see butterflies in suburbia. Why is that? Are we just too busy to see them, or do the butterflies just not like living near people?

It’s a matter of habitat. The typical manicured lawn with grass in the parkway, bushed beneath the windows, and the occasional vegetable garden in the back yard is just not a good place for butterflies to hang out. But, if you were to grow a woodland garden populated with a variety of native plants that flower throughout the growing season, you would attract butterflies from miles around.

Where would the butterflies come from? How would they know to come looking for your garden? Though they seem delicate and ephemeral, butterflies are actually tough little critters. The monarch, for example, winters in Mexico, and summers in the Plains states, as far North as Minnesota. They can even migrate to Canada. If you grow enough of the right stuff, they will come.

Choose a plot for your woodland garden. A good place would be right under a tree with filtered shade. Beneath a Honey Locust, an Ash, or a Pin Oak would be a pretty good choice. Black Walnut is not so good because the roots excrete a chemical that is poisonous to many plants. Norwegian Maple is also not ideal—- not only is it a non-native invasive species in North America, it also just gives too much shade.

Your plot should be substantial. Think of this as an opportunity to reduce the amount of lawn you need to mow. The plot border should be at least five feet from the central tree trunk on all sides. You will need to install edging all along the border to prevent turf from invading the garden. Putting down brick edgers will clearly delineate the garden from the lawn.

Now, you need to eliminate the grass within the garden plot. You can dig it up, spray it with a surface herbicide like Round-Up (read and follow the instructions and be careful not to kill your tree), or you can cover the grass with a layer of wet newspaper and a layer of fabric weed barrier for a year.
Once the grass in the plot is dead, it should be a bit easier to dig up. You could also lightly roto-till the grass into the ground, but be careful of tree roots if you do this.

Here is a list of species that work well together to attract butterflies, as well as other pollinating insects, and many seed-eating birds:

Elymus virginicus (Virginia Wild Rye)
Hystrix patula (Bottlebrush Grass)
Chasmanthium latifolium (Northern Sea Oats)
Aquilegia canadensis (Wild Columbine)
Agastache foeniculum (Lavender Hyssop)
Echinacea pallida (Pale Coneflower)
Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
Eupatorium purpureum (Sweet Joe Pye Weed)
Eupatorium fistulosum (Tall Joe Pye Weed)
Eupatorium coelestinum (Mistflower)
Monarda fistulosa (Bergamot)
Rudbeckia hirta (Blackeyed Susan)
Helianthus strumosus (Woodland Sunflower)

Don’t leave out the grasses! They naturally support the otherwise spindly flowers and fill out your garden.
You should be able to find mail-order suppliers of plants and/or seeds for these species by doing an online search for “prairie nursery”. If you’re lucky, your local nursery may carry some of them, too.

Early spring and late fall are the best times to plant these species. The plants may appear dead, but it’s more likely that they are dormant. It may take them up to a year to break dormancy, so don’t dig them up.

Native seeds require special handling. Follow your seed supplier’s instructions—- they will probably have certified your seeds as “PLS” (“Pure Live Seed”), so no special preparation will be necessary. With native plantings, it’s typical to mix a few seeds in with a lot of moistened vermiculite and a bit of sand. The seed/vermiculite/sand mixture is then broadcast across the prepared bed. Then you can spread straw or straw pellets over the seeds and either walk over the seed bed or use a roller to make sure the seeds have good contact with the soil.

Seeding in late fall tends to succeed more with native seeds because it’s closer to their natural germination conditions, conditions for which these native species evolved. In the wild, these seeds are distributed and lie dormant over the winter, during which they are exposed to moisture and frost which cracks their hulls open preparing them for spring germination.

Establishing a woodland garden requires patience and a large initial investment of time and effort. After the first couple of years, however, it will almost take care of itself, requiring only a yearly cutting down in late fall. Ideally, a controlled burn every two or three years is recommended, but that’s not feasible for most homeowners.

Your woodland garden will also become a mecca for butterflies. Not to mention songbirds, Native American bees, and perhaps even the occasional hummingbird.

Summer garden need not possess any fast and hard rule. If you plan to plant with great care and wisely after a proper research then it is understood that the garden is quite achievable with your personal vision itself. You may plant your summer garden wisely and beautifully. Mostly the summer garden comprises of pest control to some degree. Your garden not only produces vegetables, fruits, flowers but also attracts the butterflies or birds. Thus, this leads to a average summer garden which is quite beautiful.

The following are the few things to be taken into consideration. You may plant some beautiful flowering plants or summertime vegetables as a pest control with your major plants. This is very appropriate. You may also add some of your favorite vegetables or fruits with the beautiful flower garden to make the garden look more beautiful and greenery. This method is also completely acceptable with the versatility of summer garden.

The various methods to plant your garden is almost limitless. Thus, the same is the case with colors. You can choose any bright colored flowers in the summer. Making your garden more bright and colorful more than the sunshine is in your hands. You can plant more bright colored plants as the border which are more attractive to the trespassers.So make your summer garden to be very astonishing with the brightly colored plants and flowers. Get ready to spend a lovely time in making your special summer garden with flowering plants and vines that could obviously attract the eyes of the trespassers to your garden to a great extent.

The people living near dryer climate zones may also make their own summer garden with some restrictions due to the climate. You can use the method of low water landscaping and also your own conservation techniques. It doesn’t mean that a garden should be perfectly green with all flowering plants colorfully. You can use your own tricks and ideas to make the garden beautiful with some of the landscaping techniques. This makes your garden better when compared with your climatic conditions. This makes you to get appreciated from your neighbours also. This makes you feel proud of your garden.

When you are in a normal climate, then you need not worry about the above steps clearly. Since the climate of yours can easily support you to make garden full of green. But never avoid these conservative stepsas these may be useful during droght. This can be quite moderate with the climate of Midwest this summer. So prevention is better than cure incase of draught.

Gardens can be planted with more vegetables. This serves as a best example for a versatile summer garden. Vegetables also come like vertical gardening like hangings. This may be very helpful in vertical gardening. Another advantage of this is you can use less amount of space in a very effective manner. This is also considered as one of the creative ideas in summer gardening.

You can also choose the method of raised gardening. In this method you need to plant above the ground. You can also create ‘sand boxes’ and plant on them. This method is also followed by some people. This method is best suited for people with poor landscapes and very little space but wish to have a summer garden. This is also considered as creative conservation methods.

The above are some facts to have a versatile summer garden. This also makes a beautiful sight of your garden and also provides you good vegetables for your food. These are some new tips for the summer garden to be more conservative and beautiful.

I need do a client’s garden in a couple days and I’m trying to find the perfect plant that will invite butterflies. I need something that is low maintenance, can withstand shade and partial and will do okay on slightly dry soil.

I’ve already got butterfly milkweed on my list, so what else can I plant?

There are many different reasons that different people decide to plant summer gardens. One common reason that is becoming more popular these days as people to seek to entertain their children through little things done closer to home is to attract butterflies. This is much easier done than one might think if you live in the right environment for these beautiful creatures to thrive and flourish.

Butterflies are beautiful creatures with very short life spans. For this reason they seem to be attracted to beautiful things during their short lives. Brightly colored flowers attract butterflies in droves. This means that flowers such as aster, marigold, black-eyed Susans, and butterfly weed are well known to attract butterflies.

Another thing you may wish to consider when selecting flowers for the purpose of attracting these delightful winged creatures to your summer garden is the nectar. This is the essential food for butterflies so a garden that is filled with more nectar producing flowers is likely to garner more than its fare share of attention from the butterflies nearby. The greater the selection of nectar producing flowers the greater the number of butterflies your garden is likely to attract so be sure to plant plenty and prune them in a manner that produces maximum flowers for maximum impact.

In addition to the flowers in your summer garden there are other methods that may be used to attract butterfly to the delight of young and old alike. One of those methods is by placing a several pieces of ripe fruit in your garden. This is another treat for butterflies to enjoy and will attract many that may be in the area.

One thing to remember when planting to attract butterflies is that they do adore worshipping the sun. This means that shady types of gardens aren’t best suited for attracting them and won’t keep them long if it happens to do so. Plant your butterfly garden in an area that benefits from the full force of the sun most of the day in order to entertain the most possible butterflies and keep in mind that different butterflies are attracted to different plants both as caterpillars and as butterflies. A little further study may produce the best results when seeking the most suitable plants for your butterfly garden depending on the type of butterflies you most hope to attract.

You should also avoid using pesticides in a flower garden built to attract butterflies. It wouldn’t make sense to attract butterflies to your garden only to harm them through the nourishment they receive while paying your summer garden a visit. Employ organic gardening methods in your butterfly garden for the best results.

You should also make sure there is a source of water nearby in order to keep the butterflies well hydrated. They need water just like any other animal. Many gardens these days add water features that keep the water moving (best for avoiding mosquito infestations) while having it freely available for the animals that we are hoping to attract such as birds and butterflies.

Our summer gardens are an investment of both time and attention. It is great when we can accomplish more than one beauty as the result of our hard work and effort. A summer garden designed to attract butterflies is a great way to achieve just that.

There is no hard and fast rule as to what a summer garden should be. This means that your personal vision for your summer garden is going to be quite achievable if you take the time to do the proper research and plan the planting for your summer gardening wisely and with great care. One thing is certain, planting wisely can produce a summer garden that is beautiful and maintains some degree of natural pest control. Your summer garden can produce fruit, vegetables, flowers, and even be designed in order to attract certain birds or butterflies. Of course, your summer garden may also be designed to accomplish more than one of these goals as well. That’s the beauty of the versatility of your average summer garden.

Here are a few things to consider. Versatility in a summer garden means that you aren’t committed to one prevailing purpose or theme. This means that it is not at all inappropriate to plant a few flowering plants or herbs as pest control along with your favorite summertime vegetable offerings. At the same time it is completely acceptable to add a few vegetables that you just can’t seem to live without in your flower garden or amid a the plants in a garden of green.

When it comes to colors, the possibilities of the average summer garden are almost limitless. There are plenty of brightly colored flowers that hallmark the summer season and bring a little splash of color to a world that is often drained of color by the sometimes blinding summer sunshine. By brining a few well placed colors into your garden as a highlight or border you are adding dramatic appeal. If you choose to make your garden a sea of brightly colored flowers, plants, leaves, and vines you can also achieve great affect that may be breathtaking in beauty. Be prepared to spend a great deal of time tending a garden of this nature however as many of the brightly colored flowering plants are attention hogs to some degree.

If you live in a dryer climate you also have the option of using low water landscaping or creative conservation techniques in order to create a garden that is lovely in its own right. A garden doesn’t have to be excessively green or full of bright vividly colored flowers in order to be beautiful. By using landscaping techniques that are conservative in nature you are making your own conservation efforts and the rest of the planet should appreciate not only the effort but also the beauty of the creation that was born of that effort.

If you prefer nice and lush greenery and live in a climate that will accommodate this particular style of a summer garden there is no reason to avoid this either. Be sure to use some conservation efforts though because you never know when drought conditions may present themselves in climates that are typically quite moderate as we are learning in the Midwest this summer.

Vegetable gardens are yet another option when creating your summer garden and another fine example of just how versatile these gardens may be. Keep in mind that many people are discovering the beauty of vertical gardening and hanging plants for a few favorite vegetables and this may be an option if you wish to use limited space wisely and to greater effect.

Another option when it comes to showing the incredible versatility of the summer garden is raised gardening. This is quite literally planting your garden above the ground. Some people create elaborate ‘sand boxes’ of sorts in which the garden is planted. This allows great versatility for those with smaller spaces in which to plant their gardens as well as those who have landscaping issues that are inhospitable for gardening.

These are but a few examples of just how versatile a summer garden may be but I think they provide excellent insight and food for thought for those who are looking for a little something new and different for their summer gardens.

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