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How to attract butterflies to your garden

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Back in 2002/2003 when my husband and I landscaped our backyard and created our raised bed garden I’d wanted to grow plants that would attract butterflies and birds to the garden. I spent the winter researching plants that would thrive in my area and that would attract butterflies. If they happened to have scent that was just a bonus!

Butterflies sip from the nectar of many flowers and their larvae eat the leaves of plants such as milkweed, so when planning a garden meant to attract butterflies you should keep all of their life stages in mind.

It’s also important that your butterfly garden be organic. You can’t use pesticides that kill a wide variety of insects as you’ll likely end up killing the butterflies that you desire.

Habitual zones and places where areas of the landscape meet with the tree lines are favorite safe places for them. They also search for areas that can shelter them from high winds, summer storms and rains. Shrubs and trees are good choices for plants that will provide them protective shelter. It is also helpful to find out what kinds of butterflies are native to your area so you can find appropriate plants for them.

Some plants that attract Anise Swallowtail and the Black swallowtail butterflies are fennel, parsley and dill.

Lupine flowers are a favorite with Fritillary butterfly and Snapdragons are a great choice of attracting butterflies that are native to your own area.

Gardens that offer a safe haven for butterflies will not only attract passing butterflies but likely encourage them to stay longer or to return frequently. Most butterflies are active in the mid to late summer, so it is important that you also have plants available to them during that time.

A home made butterfly feeding station might also be a great idea. You can make a feeder by using a small jar, a lid with a small hole drilled in the center and a piece of cotton to plug the hole in the lid. The nectar is made with 9 parts water and one part sugar. Very similar to hummingbird nectar actually. In fact if you have hummingbird feeders in your garden they might suffice as an additional area for butterflies as well.

Butterflies do not drink water from birdbaths, however they will drink water that puddles on large rocks or from areas where water has gathered on the soil after a rain storm.

As your plants mature you’ll likely see more and more butterflies visiting your garden each year. I know that’s been the case with our garden. We have quite the variety of wildlife that seek out our garden.

Here’s a list of plants that attract butterflies:

Annual Plants and Flowers

  • Anethum graveolens dill
  • Bidens alba shepherd’s needles
  • Coreopsis tinctoria calliopsis
  • Coriandrum sativum coriander
  • Cosmos bipinnatus cosmos
  • Cosmos sulphureus orange cosmos
  • Foeniculum vulgare Florence fennel
  • Gomphrena globosa globe amaranth
  • Helianthus annuus common sunflower
  • Petroselinum crispum parsley
  • Phaseolus vulgaris common bean
  • Tithonia rotundiflora Mexican sunflower
  • Zinnia elegans zinnia
  • Zinnia haageana Mexican zinnia

Perennial Plants

  • Achillea millefolium common yarrow
  • Allium tuberosum garlic chives
  • Asclepias curassavica scarlet milkweed
  • Asclepias tuberosa butterfly weed
  • Aster tataricus Tatarian aster
  • Clerodendrum indicum tubeflower
  • Conoclinium coelestinum mistflower
  • Coreopsis verticillata whorled coreopsis
  • Coreopsis grandiflora coreopsis
  • Cuphea hyssopifolia Mexican false heather
  • Cuphea ignea cigar plant
  • Cuphea micropetala tall cigar plant
  • Echinacea purpurea purple coneflower
  • Echinops ritro small globe thistle
  • Erythrina herbacea coral bean
  • Eupatorium fistulosum Joe Pye weed
  • Gaillardia pulchella blanket flower
  • Gamolepis chrysanthemoides African bush-daisy
  • Glandularia puchella moss verbena
  • Hedychium coronarium ginger lily
  • Helianthus angustifolius narrow-leaved sunflower
  • Helianthus tuberosus Jerusalem artichoke
  • Heliopsis helianthoides oxeye sunflower
  • Lycoris squamigera surprise lily
  • Melissa officinalis lemon balm
  • Monarda didyma beebalm
  • Monarda punctata spotted horsemint
  • Narcissus spp. daffodil
  • Pentas lanceolata pentas
  • Phlox paniculata garden phlox
  • Pycnanthemum floridanum Florida mountainmint
  • Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii orange coneflower
  • Rudbeckia hirta black-eyed Susan
  • Ruellia brittoniana Mexican petunia
  • Russelia equisetiformis firecracker plant
  • Salvia lyrata lyreleaf sage
  • Salvia coccinea scarlet sage
  • Salvia guaranitica blue anise sage
  • Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ Indigo Spires sage
  • Salvia leucantha Mexican bush sage
  • Scabiosa columbaria butterfly blue
  • Sedum spectabile showy sedum
  • Tagetes lemmonii mountain marigold
  • Verbena bonariensis purpletop verbena

Shrubs

  • Buddleja davidii butterfly bush
  • Caesalpinia pulcherrima peacock flower
  • Cephalanthus occidentalis buttonbush
  • Cestrum nocturnum night blooming jasmine
  • Choisya ternata Mexican orange
  • Clethra alnifolia sweet pepperbush
  • Duranta erecta golden dewdrop
  • Hamelia patens firebush
  • Heliotropium arborsecens common heliotrope
  • Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis Chinese hibiscus
  • Hypericum frondosum golden St. John’s wort
  • Justicia brandegeana shrimp plant
  • Lantana camara lantana
  • Lantana montevidensis trailing lantana
  • Leonotus leonurus lion’s ear
  • Malvaviscus penduliflorus Turk’s cap
  • Odontonema strictum firespike
  • Pittosporum tobira Japanese mockorange
  • Plumbago auriculata leadwort
  • Prunus angustifolia Chickasaw plum
  • Rhododendron austrinum Florida flame azalea
  • Rhododendron canescens pinxter azalea
  • Rosa laevigata Cherokee rose
  • Salvia elegans pineapple sage
  • Salvia greggii Autumn Sage
  • Salvia mexicana Mexican sage
  • Senna pendula Cassia bicapsularis

Trees

  • Cassia roxburghii Ceylon senna
  • Citrus meyeri Meyers lemon
  • Citrus sinensis sweet orange
  • Coccoloba uvifera sea grape
  • Fortunella spp kumquat
  • Jatropha integerrima peregrina
  • Sassafras albidum sassafras
  • Vitex agnus-castus hemp tree
  • X Citrofortunella microcarpa calamondin

Vines

  • Antigonon leptopus Mexican creeper
  • Aristolochia elegans Calico flower
  • Campsis radicans trumpet creeper
  • Clerodendrum splendens flaming glorybower
  • Cuscuta spp dodder
  • Dolichos lablab hyacinth bean
  • Helianthus debilis beach sunflower
  • Ipomoea quamoclit cypress vine
  • Lonicera japonica Japanese honeysuckle
  • Lonicera sempervirens coral honeysuckle
  • Passiflora caerulea blue passionflower
  • Passiflora incarnata maypop
  • Passiflora racemosa red passionflower
  • Phaseolus coccineus runner bean
  • Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides Mexican Flame Vine

It’s certainly not to late in most areas to start a few of these plants or perhaps buy some seedlings or potted plants from a nursery.

Get started on your butterfly garden now.






Update the look of a room with custom window treatments and designer fabrics

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It’s spring and I’ll bet good money that a few of you have thought about updating the look of one of the rooms in your home. I think many of us begin to think about re-decorating when spring rolls around. Perhaps it’s the fresh air and that sense of renewal that spring brings that makes us think of giving our homes a new look?

It would be nice to hire a decorator every time we get the urge to redecorate a room, but few of us can afford one, especially these days with the economy, high gas prices and other expenses! I think it’s best to do what you can yourself and purchase decor items at wholesale prices whenever possible in order to save as much money as possible. Plus when you come up with your own decorating ideas and then redo a room you get quite the sense of satisfaction when your project is finished, don’t you?

When you are decorating a room consider fabric as a decor item. Certainly updating your curtains or adding decorative pillows can change the whole look and feel of a room.

If you are about to start redecorating a room or are thinking about your next project and want to get some ideas visit FabricWorkroom.com. They have a huge selection of luxury bedding, designer fabrics, decorative pillows, shower curtains, Window Treatments, upholstered headboards and more to choose from at reasonable prices. In fact you can save 25% to 35% just by shopping at their online store.

I spent some time looking at the wide variety of custom window treatments offered at FabricWorkroom.com and I was impressed. You can view classic, semi and full custom styles for drapes, curtains, valances, shades, swags and other types of window treatments.

Just browse through the selection and once you’ve found a window treatment style that you like you can then move on to selecting the type of fabric that you’d like to use. Fabric choices range from silk, linen, cotton, faux silk, satin and many more. In fact there are thousands of fabrics and fabric designs to choose from at FabricWorkroom.com.

So if you are redecorating don’t forget about fabrics! Visit Fabricworkroom.com for ideas and to save money! They also have free shipping on most items!

Pet Alert – Cocoa bean mulch can be toxic to dogs

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I use mulch in my garden beds, as I’m sure many of my fellow garden readers do as well.

I use shredded cedar and sometimes small cedar chips. It sure works well on the garden and looks nice too, but I suppose from a pet point of view that mulch isn’t the best bet. Plus the mulch I use is colored red and I have no idea if the dye is toxic or not, but I do know that coniferous woods like cedar are toxic to most animals.

My puppy is slowly learning to stay away from the garden, but when she was younger she was attracted to the cedar mulch and I found myself constantly pulling pieces of it out of her mouth (as soon as she grabbed it of course). She’s a Labrador Retriever – a breed that’s notorious for eating just about anything they can get in their mouth. They also have one of the highest rates of bowel obstructions (and surgeries due to said bowel obstructions) because of all the indigestible stuff they eat. That’s why I’ve been worried about my dog and my garden ever since I got her. Not to mention the toxic plants that I grow as well!

Cocoa bean mulch has become quite popular in recent years. It looks nice in garden beds, breaks down like other natural mulches and I believe it smells nice too.

If you happen to use Cocoa Bean Mulch in your garden and own a dog you might want to read the report that i just received in my ASPCA newsletter. Here’s an excerpt:

If your dog likes to spend his summer grazing in your garden, his treat-seeking nose may lead him to one danger in particular: the sweet-smelling, but potentially harmful cocoa bean mulch. Made of cocoa bean shells and considered desirable for its eventual degradation into organic fertilizer, this gardener’s choice can be toxic to canines if eaten in large quantities—and some dogs have been known to eat amazing amounts!

In 2007, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) handled 26 cases of cocoa bean mulch ingestion—a third originating in California. “Dogs are attracted to the fertilizer’s sweet smell,” says Dr. Steven Hansen, ASPCA Veterinary Toxicologist and APCC Director, “but like chocolate, cocoa bean mulch can be too much for our canine companions.”

Ingestion of large amounts of cocoa bean mulch, which contains residual amounts of theobromine—a methylxanthine found in chocolate and known to be toxic to dogs—may cause a variety of clinical signs. These typically start with vomiting, diarrhea and elevated heart rate, and if large amounts are consumed, they may progress to hyperactivity, muscle tremors and possibly other more serious neurological signs.

Treatment includes administering medical-grade activated charcoal, bringing tremors under control, cardiac monitoring and preventing further exposure.

“One key point to remember is that some dogs, particularly those with indiscriminate eating habits, can be attracted to any organic matter,” says Dana Farbman, APCC Senior Manager, Professional Communications. “Therefore, if you have a dog with such eating habits, it’s important that you don’t leave him unsupervised or allow him into areas where such materials are being used.”

By now most of you have probably already added mulch to your garden, that is, if you regularly do add mulch. If you used cocoa bean mulch be sure to keep your dog away from your garden beds!

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