Butterfly Theme Garden
Image by S.L. Sagan via Flickr
A butterfly garden is basically a garden of specific plants which not only yield you some of the most beautiful and fragrant flowers, they also return an array of some of the beautiful butterflies you’ll see.
Watching a butterfly flitting gracefully from one flower to another can be one of the most beautiful and delightful experiences that nature can offer you and your loved ones. And, if you so choose, you can have a myriad of such ‘nature’s colorful angels’, cavorting in your garden patch, right in front of your window or porch. That’s precisely what a butterfly garden can give you.
A good butterfly garden is meticulously planned to accommodate plants whose flowers are rich in nectar as well as those specific plants that female adult butterflies look for, to lay their eggs on. Such a garden will have not just one or two plants bearing a type of flower but rather, clusters of plants of the same flower. In a good butterfly garden you’ll see various colors especially red, yellow, purple and orange. You’ll see flowers that allow the butterfly to sit on their petals; you’ll see the taller plants arranged behind shorter ones, you’ll see rocks and stones for butterflies to bask on and little puddles of water and patches of moist mud that butterflies so often frequent.
And it’s not difficult to make a butterfly garden. There are scores of sites on the internet and books and periodicals that’ll inform you about the various but simple considerations you’d need to make in order to experience the delight of watching butterflies up close in your own butterfly garden.
Did you know that butterflies do not pay as much attention to humans as birds do, (birds are always flighty and nervous) which means you can sit up close and observe them… like that equally calming experience of watching goldfish in a bowl. And don’t be surprised if a butterfly or two mistakes the bright T-shirt you’re wearing to be a source of nectar and visit you up close.
With so-called urbanization and development, many of the butterfly’s natural habitats have been sacrificed, when all they need are those flowers they can feed on and those plants they can lay their eggs on. Butterflies feed on nectar – the sweet honeydew that many flowers produce. And they look for those plants to lay their eggs on that provide the leaves that the newly-hatched caterpillars can chew on and grow. Do they ask for much? No! But somehow man in his self-important ways seems to have denied even such a simple convenience for one of nature’s most beautiful creatures. But then, you don’t have to be like that. Perhaps you could create your own butterfly garden and invite these ‘flying rainbows’ to your doorstep.
A good butterfly garden teaches you that life is about all of nature’s creations, not just of our own selves. It’s a treat for the eyes and the soul. You don’t need more.
Tags: Butterfly, butterfly gardening, butterfly theme garden