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Butterfly Gardens Tip and
Tricks
How to Create a Butterfly Garden With Soul
The key to attracting butterflies is to provide
them with food sources as well as for the larvae and caterpillars. If you are really seriously,
research what types frequent your locale. Look up your USDA zone so you can easily figure out which
plants will do alright in your region as well as finding out which species of butterfly you might
be able to attract.
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Caterpillars
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Host
Plants
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Black
Swallowtail
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dill, carrot,
parsley
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Giant
Swallowtail
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prickly
ash
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Eastern Tiger
Swallowtail
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Ash
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Cabbage
Butterfly
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cabbage, mustards,
cauliflower
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Clouded
Sulphur
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clovers
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Alfalfa
Butterfly
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alfalfa,
clovers
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Melissa
Blue
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lupines, alfalfa, wild
licorice
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Variegated
Fritillary
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violets,
pansy
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Great Spangled
Fritillary
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violets
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Pearl
Crescent
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asters
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Mourning
Cloak
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willows, American elm,
hackberry
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Painted
Lady
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thistles
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Viceroy
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willows
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Hackberry
Butterfly
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hackberry
trees
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monarch
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milkweed
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Here are some more hints for creating your own butterfly
garden!
Locate the garden in a sunny area with protection from the wind.
Butterflies
and most butterfly-attracting plants require bright sunlight
Plan for continuous bloom throughout the growing season.
Butterflies are active from early spring until late fall. Plant a selection of flowers that will
provide nectar throughout the entire growing season.
Use large splashes of color and select single rather than double
flowers.The
nectar of single flowers is more accessible and easier for butterflies to extract than the nectar
of double flowers which have more petals per flower. Large splashes of color will attract
butterflies. Groups of flowers are easier for butterflies to locate than isolated
plants
Include caterpillar host plants in the garden
design.
Provide damp areas or shallow puddles in the garden.
Butterflies cannot drink from open water, but prefer damp areas and shallow puddles. Male
butterflies will congregate at
producing flowers.
Butterflies visit flowers in search of nectar; a sugary fluid, to
eat.
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John Stuart Leslie is creator and founder of
Virtual Garden Designer. Now you can work with an experienced landscape desiger
online to have your garden or landscape designed professionally with ease and
convenience. He holds a Master's degree in Landscape Architecture and has
been a landscape designer and contractor for over 20 years.
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