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How to Plan Your Butterfly Garden
When creating a butterfly garden,
the possibilities of what to include in your butterfly
garden design are endless. Below are some suggestions
to help get you started when designing your butterfly
garden plan. They are designed to spark the creative
process of your mind and get you started on your way
to creating a lovely and well-suited butterfly garden.
- First, before you even begin your butterfly garden,
find out which species of butterflies are in your area.
Consider taking an exploratory hike around your location
with a butterfly identification book to find the butterflies
that dwell close to your property. This may take a little
extra time and some research on your part but the results
will be worth the effort. After you have compiled your
list of local butterfly species, be sure to write down
in your butterfly garden plan what these particular
species of butterflies use for nectar and food plants.
- Be sure that your butterfly garden
plan includes a location that provides at least six
hours of sunlight per day. Butterflies are cold-blooded
creatures and therefore, do better where they are warm
and sheltered.
- Wind can be a butterfly's worst enemy
so be sure to have plenty of wind protection in your
butterfly garden design. You can plant tall shrubs and
other plants in order to create a wind break. Know the
direction of your area's prevailing winds. The first
choice, however, is a nice 'tucked away' location that
avoids heavy winds.
- Keeping the above points in mind,
choose a suitable location to have your butterfly garden.
The best of all worlds would be a butterfly garden placed
on the south side of your home with windbreaks on both
the west and east sides. You may also wish to be sure
that you are able to view you butterfly garden from
inside your home as well as provide seating outside
from which to observe the antics of the butterflies.
- If your area permits, a possible suggestion
for location of a butterfly garden is provided by Barbara
Damrosch in her book Theme Gardens. She suggests the
use of an old basement or home foundation if such is
available around your home or the place you wish to
have your butterfly garden. As an alternative, you can
excavate an area and build a stone wall around the excavation
to simulate an old construction foundation. Remember
to covered the bottom of the excavation with several
inches of gravel where you do not intend to plant your
nectar and food plants for the butterflies. This will
save you from a muddy walk through your butterfly garden
after a rain.
There are many creative ways for constructing
a butterfly garden. Take your time to design a garden
that you will enjoy and be proud of later when all is
said and done.
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