View the Life Cycle of the Butterfly
There are many reasons to start a butterfly garden. The four main goals of a butterfly garden are:
| 1. Planting gardens is environmentally sound and helps bring plants and flowers back into populated, urban areas. |
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2. Bringing native plants back into your local area, as these are often driven out by commercial and foreign varieties in many homes and gardens |
| 3. Helping to preserve many species of butterflies that are threatened by the ongoing destruction of their habitat. |
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4. Enjoying some of nature's most beautiful creatures by attracting them and nurturing them around your home. |
Attracting butterflies into your garden is not difficult. Butterflies
are equipped with a finely tuned and highly sensitive sense of smell. If you plant the
right flowers they will come and make your garden their home. 
Butterflies can identify their favorite plants from miles away and travel for
hours to taste the nectar of the flowers. They will lay eggs and remain nearby as long as
you tend to your garden, keeping it healthy and blooming. In fact, you will be surprised
to learn that the butterflies will probably arrive within only a few hours of the season's
first flowers! It isn't difficult to make your backyard home to dozens at a time, giving
you hours of enjoyment and helping the environment at the same time.
Each different butterfly species has its own favorite flower, so it is even
possible to plan your garden to attract your favorite varieties. The selection of the right plants is the
key to the success of your butterfly garden. Primarily, flowering nectar bushes and clumps
of impatiens and the like are favorite haunts for these colorful creatures. The
butterflies suck out the nectar as food, travelling from flower to flower, carrying pollen
with them. This close relationship is one of nature's finest natural cycles. With careful
plant selection, you can be assured of attracting butterflies for much of the year.
Not only are butterflies attracted to
specific flowers, but they also seem to favor specific colors, another factor which should
be considered as you select your plants. For instance, yellow Sulphur butterflies prefer
yellow cassia, which affords them excellent camoflage among the flowers. This relationship
is two-fold, in that the yellow cassia is also the Sulphur caterpillars' favored food.
You should also consider the needs of the caterpillars as you sketch out
your plan. Adult butterflies that frequent your garden will make it their lifelong home if
they have a ready place to lay their eggs. Caterpillars are fussy eaters, so you will have
to include the specific types of leafy green vines, shrubs, and trees that will like. Many
species depend on a single plant type for their caterpillar food source. As a result, an
adult butterfly will spend hours carefully selecting a specific leaf on the plant that
will be best for the newborn caterpillars. Include the right caterpillar plant in your
garden and you have the perfect invitation for long term residency. It's as easy as that!
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