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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2003-05-14, Page 19THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2003. PAGE 19. weed, mints, and purple succession of that flower all Planting Winged jewels of the air ... flutterbys ... no matter what you call butterflies, they entrance everyone. Planting a garden to attract them is one of the best ways to get children of all ages interested in gardening and nature, while introducing them to a bit of science at the same time. To attract the most butterflies, design a garden that provides a long season of flowers (nectar plants). Perennials, such as chives, dianthus, beebalm, butterfly black-eyed Susan, coneflower, offer a blooms. Add annuals season, such as cosmos, petunias, and zinnias, to fill out the border banquet. Select flowers with many small tubular flowers or florets - liatris, goldenrod, and verbena, for example - or those with single flowers, such as French marigolds, Shasta daisy, and sunflower. In addition to planting for those beauties on wings, you also need to offer food plants for their larvae. Caterpillars may not be your favourite life form - although your kids might disagree with you - but you will have only a fleeting glimpse of butterflies passing through unless you provide some nourishment for their juvenile (larval) stage. Many of those sources are trees and shrubs, at least a few of which probably already grow in your yard - willows, poplars, cherry trees, and spicebush, for example - but they also include herbs, such as dill, fennel, angelica, and parsley, and weedy plants like common milkweed and thistles. One of the best-known butterflies, the Monarch, lays its eggs only on milkweed, and its larvae feed on the plant. The weediness of some host plants makes them less than desirable for a space within your more attractive garden beds, but they serve the same function if you place them away in a comer of the yard. To keep them from becoming invasive, remember to remove their spent blooms before they go to seed. Planning a Child’s Garden Combine butterfly plants with your other perennials, annuals and herbs in existing beds, or create a separate garden area especially for the kids. a butterfly garden for children The size of the garden should suit the age of your children; even a space as small as three feet by six feet will hold enough flowers to attract a few butterflies. If the kids lose interest partway through the season and the garden gets weedy, don’t worry: neatness counts for very little to a butterfly. Colour, however, is important. Butterflies are attracted to flowers first by their colour, and a swath of bright orange butterfly weed or red salvia is easier for them to see than individual or isolated plants. After colour, fragrance follows in significance; butterflies have a keen sense of smell. Site: Find the sunniest spot in the yard for the garden. Butterflies need the heat of the sun to raise their body temperatures, which helps them fly. Plants: Ideally, plan a garden your children can grow from seeds they sow outdoors, some perennials germinate well in the outdoor garden: chives, butterfly weed, coneflowers, meadow rue (Thalictrum), liatris, and yarrow (Achillea), to name a few. They may not, however, bloom the first year from seed, so include annuals in the More Plants for Butterflies Caterpillars feed on these plants (Many lay their eggs on them) Borage Dill Fennel Milkweed Mints Parsley Passion vine Pearly Everlasting Snapdragon Many trees and shrubs Butterflies like these plants for nectar Agastache Asters Butterfly Bush Coreopsis Goldenrod Lantana Lavender Mistflower Tithonia Pentas Salvias - Eleanore Lewis plan. For younger children, ages three to seven or eight, use annuals with large seeds, such as marigolds and zinnias, which are easy for small hands to sow. Sow seeds in colour groups, rather than sprinkling them through the bed. Accessories: Incorporate a few rocks in the design. Butterflies often rest on rocks, which reflect the heat of the sun. Edge the garden with rounded rocks, put a small pile towards one side, or make a path through the flowers with flat stepping stones. Create a place where water can collect with a concave rock or a pot saucer filled with wet sand (Moisten the sand periodically if it doesn’t rain). Butterflies “puddle” in such spots - the perfect opportunity for kids to watch them up close. Life Stages of a Butterfly EGG LARVA = CATERPILLAR PUPA = CHRYSALIS ADULT = BUTTERFLY Painted Lady Question Mark Skipper Sulphur Swallowtail Viceroy A Dozen Widespread Butterflies Admiral Azures Comma Frittilary Monarch Mourning Cloak Most of these butterflies include a variety of different species and names, depending on the region of the country you live in. Pick up a regional field guide to get to know those that frequent your area. Look on the web sites of The Butterfly Guide (www.butterflies.com), which lists butterflies by state, and the North American Butterfly Association (www.naba.org) for more information. - Eleanore Lewis Pot Up a Butterfly Garden Create a haven for butterflies without a lot of space by planting flowers and herbs in containers. • Choose a window box or other rectangular planter; fill it to overflowing with upright and trailing plants. • Group three or four large containers together in the comer of a patio or deck and plant one flower variety in each. • Plant trailing annuals, such as petunia and verbena, in hanging baskets overhead. • The warmth of reflected sun on a wood deck or flagstone patio is just what butterflies need. Include a saucer of wet sand to provide welcome puddling spot. The Garden Science Lab Hold a few “field trips” in the backyard during the spring and in your own home satellite systems & installations Catch all the B£xpness\/u * Bell GROVES 10 Huron Street TV and Appliance CentreSales • Service 482-9414 Serving Clinton & Area Since 1935 large summer. • See if the kids can spot eggs the butterflies have laid on the undersides of leaves or on flower buds. They may find one to a leaf or a mass of tiny eggs. • Let them hold caterpillars in their hands; light as air, caterpillars tickle a little as they crawl. • Search for chrysalises attached to twigs or blades of grassC The hard shell of a chrysalis encases the pupa, which becomes a butterfly, usually over a period of two to three weeks. You can discover chrysalises any time of year; some butterflies, in fact, spend winter in the pupa stage and emerge in spring. • With a field guide in hand, try to identify the various butterflies that come to the garden to sip nectar. - Eleanore Lewis FJ 0 FJ 0 fj 0 fj 0 FJ 0 fj E 0 fj 0 fj w FJ 0 FJ 0 FJ 0 FJ 0 9 Services provided include: * Total Lawn Care * Granular, Slow Release Fertilization * Broadleaf Weed & "H Crabgrass Control "Rb-.. ’ Chinch Bug and Grub Control ' * Lawn Aeration Annuals Hanging Baskets Mixed Planters Expanded Selection of Perennials Vegetables & Herbs Container Mix, Mulches, Moss, etc. yy leches Open: Mon. - Wed. 9-6 Thurs. - Sat. 9-8; Closed Sunday Wingharr winneiA uieie: Joann MacDonald, Nancy Good & Jeannette Wynjd Walton | Goderich Jack & Sylvia Nonkes RR#1 Auburn located just west of Blyth, watch for the blue sign on the Blyth Road • 523-9456 •