Butterflies and Humans
Butterfly gardening
Printable Version Chapter Contents On
|
 |
Butterflies are wonderful animals to look at when they flutter around, tasting some nectar here and there. Additionally, they serve to pollinate the plants.
Nevertheless it's easy to make them visit your garden if you consider some aspects.
Below you can search for butterfly plants and the species they attract.
|
|
|
|
With their sensitive sense organs butterflies can identify food plants over great distances and fly long ways to get there.
Many species are very selective with plants, they have specialized in one species of plant. Without this plant they cannot survive. If the plant disappears because its habitat is destroyed, the butterfly is doomed to disappear as well. Therefore a butterfly garden providing various types of food plants has a highly protective effect for nature. It's time to make your garden a little paradise.
|
|
|
|
Nectar plants
The perfect nectar plant for butterflies meets three conditions:
- bright, strong colors: Butterflies are attracted by orange, yellow, purple, red, pink. The colors not only lead the butterflies to the nectar (along with ultra violet patterns) but also serve for camouflage. Yellow Sulphur Butterflies (Colias eurythmene) for example prefer yellow Cassia (Cassis corimbosa).
Therefore you can attract butterflies with red and orange sponges with sugar solutions when they find few flowers.
Moths are attracted by white blossoms reflecting the rare light at dusk.
- fragrance: pungent, sweet and heavy fragrances attract butterflies by day as well as moths at night. Remember that many new plant varieties and hybrids don't smell as strongly as "old" ones.
- every plane needs an airport: blossoms providing a place to land and easy access to nectar are more suitable for butterflies than others. Butterflies cannot "stand" in the air, they need a place to land.
|
|
|
|
Prefer native plants, wildflowers and grasses. They make the garden easy to maintain since they are best adapted to the conditions in your region (climate, soil). Additionally, most of them grow on less fertile soil as well and nevertheless look very attractive. Indeed many "weeds" are butterflies' favourite plants. Butterflies don't like a well-manicured garden.
With these plants you will not only create a natural habitat for butterflies but also for birds and other wild animals and therefore contribute to preserve the natural heritage.
The easiest way is to just leave a part of the grass uncut and give herbs the room to flourish there.
Butterflies will lay their eggs there and stay permanent guests in your garden.
|
|
|
|
Don't forget the caterpillars!
If you lay out a butterfly garden, don't forget that the butterflies will only stay there for a longer period if they find plants to lay their eggs on. Consider that many species only feed on a specific plant. Therefore you find caterpillar feeding plants as well on this site. If you choose your plants carefully, butterflies will stay in your garden for their whole lives. This might only cause problems if the caterpillars become pests, such as the European Cabbage Butterfly, whose caterpillars mainly feed on vegetables like broccoli and cabbage.
|
|
|
|
Plant masses of plants rather than single ones and separate the plants to give the females space for their eggs.
If you water and sometimes feed annuals in the early morning hours the nectar flow will attract butterflies on midday.
|
|
|
|
Even if you don't have a big garden, you can attract butterflies by growing butterfly annuals and herbs in pots, window boxes or hanging planters. Take Verbena or Lantana as plants, for example.
|
|
|
|
What else can I do to make my garden attractive for butterflies?
- Butterflies need to "bask" in the sunshine, especially in the morning. They cannot fly when their muscles are cold. Therefore plant flowers on sunny places and provide for some rocks or stone walls where the animals can warm up.
- Avoid pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Most of these poisons can kill caterpillars. Butterflies may die when they rest on surfaces that had been treated with insecticides.
Treat pests manually: Pick off unwanted insects and use boiling water against ant nests. Eliminate fire ants who feed on caterpillars and use the growth hormone treatment instead of poisons.
- Provide for sheltered areas. Shrubbery, wood or brush piles protect from wind and rain or during winter months and are the place to pupate.
- Some species do not only feed on nectar. They like decayed fruit, tree sap, animal scat and carrion as well. They will thank you for leaving them some rotten fruit or ripe fish.
- Butterflies, mainly males, gather on puddles to drink and get dissolved minerals with the water. This behaviour is called "puddling". If you have a permanently damp, slightly salty sand patch in your garden, you will be able to watch this behaviour as well.
- Butterflies love the boundaries of natural habitat zones, for example where a meadow meets a tree. The animals can look for partners and at the same time hide in the shrubbery. They like edges, therefore plant low flowers at the edge of your lawn and high flowers at the edge of trees.
- Leave old and young trees in the garden for the butterflies to perch on and the caterpillars to feed on. Butterflies also like to sit on lower dead branches. Dead and hollow stumps are welcome insect refuges.
- Water your garden but don't use a sprinkler system. Sprinkling washes away the nectar of the blossoms that should be butterfly food.
- Observe the animals. This is the best way to find out what they like and what they don't like.
|
Which species are attracted to your garden?
Do they have any preferences?
At what time of the day do most visitors come?
How many caterpillars have you found in your garden?
|
|
|
Make sure you also have a good place to watch the butterflies visiting your garden. Butterfly plants in front of a window make the view more valuable throughout the day. Moths can be observed preferably around dusk.
|
|
The Human Threat
|
|
|
Even if you don't have a big garden, you can attract butterflies by growing butterfly annuals and herbs in pots, window boxes or hanging planters. Take Verbena or Lantana as plants, for example.
|
|
|
|
What else can I do to make my garden attractive for butterflies?
- Butterflies need to "bask" in the sunshine, especially in the morning. They cannot fly when their muscles are cold. Therefore plant flowers on sunny places and provide for some rocks or stone walls where the animals can warm up.
- Avoid pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Most of these poisons can kill caterpillars. Butterflies may die when they rest on surfaces that had been treated with insecticides.
Treat pests manually: Pick off unwanted insects and use boiling water against ant nests. Eliminate fire ants who feed on caterpillars and use the growth hormone treatment instead of poisons.
- Provide for sheltered areas. Shrubbery, wood or brush piles protect from wind and rain or during winter months and are the place to pupate.
- Some species do not only feed on nectar. They like decayed fruit, tree sap, animal scat and carrion as well. They will thank you for leaving them some rotten fruit or ripe fish.
- Butterflies, mainly males, gather on puddles to drink and get dissolved minerals with the water. This behaviour is called "puddling". If you have a permanently damp, slightly salty sand patch in your garden, you will be able to watch this behaviour as well.
- Butterflies love the boundaries of natural habitat zones, for example where a meadow meets a tree. The animals can look for partners and at the same time hide in the shrubbery. They like edges, therefore plant low flowers at the edge of your lawn and high flowers at the edge of trees.
- Leave old and young trees in the garden for the butterflies to perch on and the caterpillars to feed on. Butterflies also like to sit on lower dead branches. Dead and hollow stumps are welcome insect refuges.
- Water your garden but don't use a sprinkler system. Sprinkling washes away the nectar of the blossoms that should be butterfly food.
- Observe the animals. This is the best way to find out what they like and what they don't like.
|
Which species are attracted to your garden?
Do they have any preferences?
At what time of the day do most visitors come?
How many caterpillars have you found in your garden?
|
|
|
Make sure you also have a good place to watch the butterflies visiting your garden. Butterfly plants in front of a window make the view more valuable throughout the day. Moths can be observed preferably around dusk.
|
|
The Human Threat
|
|
| | |
