Turn your Garden into a buffet! from Eden of Wings
Want to keep butterflies coming back for more? Grow a garden filled with a variety of flowers and foliage. They're really sensitive to chemicals, though, so you'll want to avoid using peptides and herbicides, which can kill them. here's what you can put on the menu that will appeal to them in all their stages.
Food for Caterpillars: Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, are looking for something to eat. That usually means foliage but can also mean flowers. There's even one, the harvester butterfly, whose caterpillar eats wooly aphids. One thing to keep in mind is that most caterpillars are rather picky. Some, such as the black swallowtail will munch on a variety of plants, while others are species specific. The Eans the caterpillars will only eat a certain group of plants. Monarchs are the best known for this they only eat Milkweeds. Because of this exclusive appetite, the monarch caterpillar's body absorbs toxins from the plant that causes vertebrates to become very sick if they eat them. Do a little research on the butterflies in your area and check out " Which butterfly is that?" on our first website page to be sure you have the plants they need for their young.
If you're worried about having a tattered looking garden with hungry caterpillars around, grow extra of the plant they love. If you do have an abundance of the hungry little critters, carefully relocate some to another patch of the same plant.
It's a good policy to avoid picking up caterpillars yourself. Some have spines or prickles that irritates your skin. Conversely, they're very sensitive to chemicals and can pick up something, even nicotine from a cigarette, if you haven't washed your hands. If you need to move them a few to avoid too much damage on a particular plant, cut off the stem they're on or get them to crawl onto s small stick for relocation. Also if you're lucky enough to come across a caterpillar while it's molting or just finished, don't touch it. The skin is very soft at this point and easy to damage.
Food for Adult: Adult butterflies are easier to pleas; they eat from a wider variety of plants. They have some of the best eyesight in the animal kingdom, seeing all the colors we can and into the ultraviolet range. Did you know that some flowers look quite different when you're able to see these high frequency colors? If you could look at a black eyed Susan flower with an ultraviolet light, you'd see a large dark center that extends out into the petals. This pattern, easily seen by the butterfly, is the flower's way of advertising the snack that's available. While feeding, the butterfly scatters pollen on its wings, legs and proboscis (feeding tubes), spreading it to other flowers.
Simple flowers that are easy to Landon, like the zinnia are favorites. But native plants and their cultivars are excellent choices, too.Generally, large butterflies feed from tall plants and small ones stay closer to ground. So grown plants with a variety of heights and bloom times to make your garden appealing to more butterflies over a longer period of time. If you can, leave an area of your yard little wild. There are many weeds, such as the white clover that are attractive to butterflies and their larvae.
Plant play a vital role in the life of butterflies. Whether your yard is large or small, having a few of their favorites around really helps these winged wonders not just survive, but thrive. Find out how to grow the plant they love, it's just a few more things that will make butterflies feel at home!
