After deciding you want to add the poetic beauty of butterflies to your already pristine landscape, you may wonder what changes you should make to attract the delicate, colorful insects. If so, use the following three tips for turning your home's landscape into a haven for butterflies.
Plant Flowers Butterflies Love to Eat
One main way to attract butterflies is to plant the types of flowers that they love to feed on. From purple coneflowers to yellow flame zinnias, these flowers have two things in common that draw butterflies to your yard.
The first thing that the butterfly-friendly flowers have in common is they all are brightly colored. Butterflies are drawn to red, yellow, purple, and pink because they know that the sweetest tasting nectar comes out of these colors.
The flowers also have strong, sweet-smelling nectar. When the butterflies smell the nectar, they flock to the flowers to taste them. As long as you have a constant supply of blooms during the growing season, they will continue to eat in your yard.
Place Flat Stones in and around Your Flowers
After feeding on your gorgeous, tasty flowers, the butterflies will want to have a place to rest. While they may rest on a stem or tree branch, they often prefer to sit on rocks so they can easily survey the scene around them and keep an eye out for predators.
To keep the butterflies close to your flowers, place flat stones in and around the plants. You can either encircle an entire patch of flowers with the stones or set them around individual plants.
Put Everything in Direct Sunlight
Whatever you decide to place in your yard, make sure that everything is in direct sunlight. The insects prefer to have the sun shining on them to keep them warm and agile. It also helps to keep them dry since moisture weighs down their delicate wings and makes it difficult for them to fly.
If you cannot put the flowers and stones in 100-percent sunlight, try to use an area where the sun is shining during the late morning and afternoon hours. This is the time when the sun is at its peak and provides the most warmth for the butterflies.
The above tips are only a few ways you can attract butterflies to your yard. For more ideas, contact a landscaping service to discuss your options for redesigning your yard to attract butterflies, as well as see what services they can provide to help you implement your plan.
Share25 July 2017
About a year ago, I realized that part of the reason the plants in my yard kept dying was the fact that they were planted in the wrong places. I didn't pay much attention to which plants needed certain amounts of light, and it was costing them their lives. Several of the plants were really struggling to live, and it was really hard to see. I realized that if I ever wanted to make things right, I would need to create a landscaping plan that would work well for the natural landscape of my yard. This blog is all about understanding landscaping.
