Butterfly Flower Gardens

A butterfly garden is filled with a variety of flowering plants of various sizes, textures and colors that is as pleasing to the human eye as it is to the butterflies. Planting a successful butterfly garden that will attract hundreds of fluttering butterflies requires planning. Your garden must provide nourishing nectar, but it must also provide shelter and a home for caterpillars as well.

Annuals
Annuals provide ample blooms and additional color throughout the season. Choose nectar-rich blooming plants such as coneflowers, flowering tobacco, impatiens, pansies, marigolds, phlox, sunflowers, violets and verbena. Butterflies are most active in mid to late summer and annuals bloom consistently, providing food when it is most needed. Group three or more plants together for the best appearance and to attract the maximum number of butterflies.

Perennials
Choose perennials that bloom in early summer through late summer to attract the first butterflies of the season and keep them until the season ends. Butterflies prefer perennials such as asters, bee balm, butterfly weed, red clover, privet, daisies, lilies and live forever. Fill most of the garden area with perennials, using annuals as border plants, for an easier yearly maintenance.

Shelter
Butterflies need shelter from the wind and storms if you want them to stay in your garden for extended periods of time. Plant large shrubs along the sides and back of the garden to shelter the delicate butterflies from the breeze. Blooming shrubs that attract butterflies include azaleas, blueberries, butterfly bushes, privets and sumacs. In addition to shrubs, or instead of shrubs, consider adding a decorative trellis with climbing vines to provide shelter.

Pesticides
Avoid using broad spectrum pesticides in a butterfly garden. Pesticides will kill the butterflies and their larvae as well as it kills weeds and pests. Inspect ailing plants thoroughly if you suspect a pest is killing the plant. Even though butterflies rarely cause plant damage, you may discover that the pest is actually a colony of butterfly caterpillars. Spray oil or soapy water as a spot treatment in areas as needed, but avoid spraying the butterflies or caterpillars during treatments.

Accessories
Add a few rocks in a sunny spot for the butterflies to rest and place a shallow butterfly bath at the edge of the garden. A butterfly bath can be as simple as a bowl of sand with water on top, or a small mud puddle kept filled with water.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/info_8102754_butterfly-flower-gardens.html

What Is the Butterfly Plant?

The butterfly plant (Buddleja davidii), commonly called a butterfly bush, is a shrub that produces flowers that are attractive to many types of butterflies. Butterfly plants are of Chinese and Japanese origin, but are now the main features of American butterfly gardens designed to lure in these showy insects.

Size
The butterfly bush can grow as high as 12 feet and can be even wider, with some possessing a spread of 10 to 15 feet. The leaves are long, with some in the 10-inch range, while the clusters of flower blossoms can grow up to 1 1/2 feet in length.

Time Frame
Butterflies begin to flock to butterfly plants in late spring when the flowers first bloom in order to drink their nectar. The plant continues to produce flowers until late fall.

Growing Conditions
While a butterfly plant will do best in well-drained soil, the plant can easily survive in dry conditions after it is established. You can trim a butterfly plant down to ground level in autumn and it will grow back in the spring, according to Floridata.com.

Features
The flowers on a butterfly plant can grow so densely that the branches will bend under their weight. The aromatic flowers come in an array of colors, with purple, white, red and pink being the most common shades.

Considerations
Landscapers typically will place larger hybrids of the butterfly plant behind shorter species that attract butterflies, such as zinnias and other similar annual flowers.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/facts_6156504_butterfly-plant_.html