Making a Home for Butterflys

Making a Home for Butterflies

To create a home for butterflies in your yard, they need food, water, shelter, and a place to lay their eggs to live.

1. Start with a bright, sunny spot for the location of your butterfly garden, since butterflies visit flowering plants that are in full sun and in sites sheltered from wind.
2. Plant groupings of the same color of flowers.
3. Plant a variety of both nectar and host plants. A host plant is a plant where butterflies lay their eggs. Butterflies begin their life as an egg, laid on the larval food plant. A very tiny caterpillar (larva) emerges and begins feeding on its host plant. They have enormous appetites and do nothing but eat. Butterflies stay longer in a yard with host plants.
4. Plant a variety of flowers to attract the most butterflies.
5. Native plants, wildflowers, and grasses provide sources of food. Evergreen trees and shrubs, nearby, provide protection at night and on cloudy or rainy days while butterflies rest, hidden in their foliage.
6. Adults often gather in groups on wet sand or mud, and look like they are eating. This activity is called puddling, and they do it to obtain the minerals that are found in the soil. Provide a butterfly puddle by placing a shallow saucer or dish filled with moist sand or gravel and sprinkling salt on it periodically.
7. Place a flat stone near the plants so butterflies can bask in the sun.
8. Do not use insecticides in this garden. Caterpillars and butterflies are affected.
9. Caterpillars will eat your host plants, but don’t worry, the plants will recover.
10. A hanging platter of mashed fruit such as bananas, grapes, or other fruit attracts a multitude of butterflies. Be sure to keep it hung high as this mixture might also attract wasps and bees.
11. Last, but most important, teach your child to observe butterflies, but not catch them. They can be easily harmed.