Gardening

The Gardener's Graze
by Pat Sweetman, Master Gardner

Planning a Butterfly Garden

Now that it is May, the garden magazines are available at most checkout counters and you have finished pouring over the seed catalogs. You are so anxious to dig in the dirt that gardening becomes "the obsession." The new garden room or pond or color oriented garden take precedence over "what's for dinner, Mom?" Try tucking into your plans a garden that will attract butterflies.

The nice thing about a butterfly garden is that it can take as little space as you can afford to give it. A large garden will attract more butterflies, of course, but a well-planned small one can attract a good many as well.

First of all, let's talk about butterfly boxes. They are all over the place. I have one myself, and I must admit that it does add some ambience. Unfortunately, research has proven that they are useless. Penn State conducted an informal study of butterfly boxes. Of the 40 boxes that were put up, not one had any evidence of a butterfly living, procreating, or even napping in it. What they did find was that it attracted wasps and spiders. Butterflies are not stupid. Why spend any quality time living in something that will zap the very life out of you?

There are several things to keep in mind if you want to attract butterflies. Be conscious of the types and colors of flowers in your garden, make sure that there is water (dripping water preferably), and some nice flattish stones for them to light upon.

If you never see any butterflies in your garden, there are two questions to ask yourself. First, do you use any bug and/or weed killers in your garden? If you do, the butterflies are among the first things that you kill. They are as fragile as they look and can be "done in" quite easily. Second, if you have planted the right kind of flowers in the right places and still have few butterflies, have you checked your watering technique? If you are doing the "great spray" from the top down, you may be damaging the fragile wings of the butterflies causing them to become heavy and unable to fly. Try watering under the leaves, closer to the bottom of the plants.

Color. Butterflies are attracted to the stronger yellows, oranges, reds, purples and deep pinks. They are also attracted to masses of these flowers instead of individual plants.

Butterflies like pools of water, but they're crazy about dripping pools. I have a friend who punches a tiny hole in a milk jug, covers it with stones, and allows it to drip on a flat rock. The butterflies love it and she only needs to refill the jug once or twice a week.

Feeding the larva is important as well. I always have parsley, dill, and bronze fennel in my butterfly garden and am thrilled to find a big old striped larva munching on them in late spring and early summer. The more larva I find, the more butterflies I know I will see. A little planning can reap big rewards. Children act as if butterflies are magical. For me, a butterfly flitting from one flower to another always takes my heart right along with it.

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