Many butterfly feeding and breeding grounds have been destroyed because of pesticides and the construction of housing and shopping centers. So creating a butterfly garden will not only attract these beautiful winged creatures to your yard, but can help them flourish again.
Butterflies are easy to attract; you just have to know what they like to eat. Caterpillars eat "larval" plants like milkweed, marigolds, Queen Anne’s lace, and violets. Butterflies like "nectar" plants, like the butterfly bush, the beauty bush, sunflowers, lilacs, snapdragons, and zinnias.
Select plants that are diverse in color and bloom at different times, so you will attract butterflies all summer long. Check with a nursery to see what plants will grow well in your area, and understand that different plants attract different butterflies and caterpillars.
Be sure the area receives five to six hours of sun a day and is sheltered from the wind. Also, a mud puddle in a sunny spot will provide butterflies with other essential salts and nutrients.
Watching these flying flowers flit around your garden is delightful. And the satisfaction of preserving a species by providing a safe habitat is immeasurable.
Provided by guest editor of The Butterfly Gardener's Guide; Claire Hagen Dole
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