Here is a photo of a monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus that I raised. Sept. 2009Planning and site preparation are the two most essential things to do when you want to have a successful butterfly garden. You might want to consider researching information provided to you by your local Agricultural Extension Office, butterfly gardening books specific to your region, or websites devoted to gardening instruction. When you have located the website for your county Agricultural office, look up wildscapes, gardening for wildlife or butterfly gardening and read the informative brochures on line. The individuals who wrote them have experience in the planning and procedural aspects of all types of gardens. Second, be sure you are aware of your specific plant hardiness zone map; you can find one on the National Arboretum Web-site. From there, it will be easier for you to see which plants do well in your zone.
Another method of research can be easily found in your neighborhood family owned and operated garden center. These individuals are learned in what plants do well in your area and would be pleased to assist in your research and planning. They probably have mock butterfly gardens on site. Don't think that you have to have an elaborate garden for butterflies to visit your yard and entice your with their beauty and wonder. You can easily attract butterflies with a mass planting or a single plant of one particular species. You just have to know what plants those are.
When I first started butterfly gardening, I was given a milkweed plant in a one gallon pot and told that if I plant it, they will come. The following day I planted the Asclepias curassavica ( Mexican milkweed) and to my amazement a monarch butterfly arrived and drank nectar from the flowers and because it was a female, she also laid eggs on the underside of the leaves. I was hooked, and to this day I am an avid butterfly gardener and rearer of native species of butterflies. Right now, there are 23 Spicebush, Papilio troilus butterfly larvae and 9 Giant Swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes larvae munching on their specific food source and being housed in a small aquarium in my laundry room. I utilize this method so that I might protect them from predators a subject we will cover later. When they have emerged from their chrysalis, I release them into my yard.
Once you become familiar with the host plants, food for caterpillars, the nectar plants, food(nectar) for the adult butterflies to drink from the flowers with their long proboscis, you will have a better understanding of the choices you can make for your specific garden site.
Choose a site in your yard that gets lots of sun each day 6 to 8 would be a good number of sunlight hours. The nectar sources you choose need this amount of light in order to produce flowers. The site should be protected from high winds, this makes it easier for the butterflies to light on the flowers to feed and to light on the host plant leaves to lay eggs. You should consider the size of your garden and either spray paint a pattern directly onto the grass with a can of brightly colored spray paint or lay a hose or rope out in the design that you want the garden to be.
Once you have familiarized yourself with specifics, you can then begin soil preparation,planting and caring for your new wildscape. I will explain the soil and site preparation in a future post. An explanation of all of the specifics that I have a familiarity with that pertain to butterfly and wildlife gardening will be posted. I will also include specifics on the plants that grow well in Houston, Texas as well as post photo's of butterflies, larvae, plants, and rearing methods.
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