How To Design A Butterfly Garden In Florida
To attract these delicate creatures your butterfly garden must provide food for both the adult butterflies and their caterpillars.
How to design a butterfly garden in florida. It should have some shade but mostly sun. Stick to nectar rich flowers like pentas cosmos lantana petunias and zinnias instead of sterile hybrid flowers to ensure a steady supply of nectar. Non native species.
How to start a butterfly garden. It should be an area where no insecticides such as malathion sevin and diazinon will be used. Florida has over 200 species of butterflies some of which cannot be found anywhere else on earth.
Then plant a variety of nectar plants that those kinds of butterflies like to feed on which will attract them to your garden. And consider placing a comfortable place for you to sit and enjoy the beauty of your garden and its inhabitants. Swallowtails key for larval and adult foods.
The location of your garden is important. To create a butterfly garden start by researching the kinds of butterflies that are native to your region. Also add a rock or log in a sunny spot where butterflies can rest and sun themselves.
Butterfly gardening in florida 6 table 1. Use a combination of window boxes patio containers and hanging baskets to help create staggered blooming heights in the butterfly garden. Non native species not recommended for planting because of its tendency to spread and adversely affect natural communities.
Butterflies feed in the sun. Sally scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the university of florida s institute of food and agriculture sciences. Swallowtails zebras fritillaries and monarchs are just a few of the majestic little garden dwellers that you have the opportunity to encounter in your very own yard.