Tag Archives: Butterfly

Butterfly Garden Basics

You can design a garden that will attract butterflies. The flowering plants and peaceful butterflies will help ensure a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere in your garden. Put your butterfly garden in a place where you can sit and enjoy it. Many people like to place them around a gazebo, beside a walking path or near their porches where they can spend some time adoring these mysterious creatures.

Butterflies love the sun and require the heat from the sun to move. You may want to place dark colored stones around the area so that the butterflies can absorb the warmth whenever they need it. Concrete benches make nice warm landing areas and offer a great place to sit observe the butterflies up close. Choose a sunny location for your butterfly garden. Thankfully, the plants that attract butterflies also thrive in direct sun.

The types of plants you will need will depend on where you live. Find out which butterflies are native to your area, then find out which types of plants they are attracted to. You will need to plant the ones that provide nectar for the adult butterflies and the correct types of leaves for the offspring to eat. Remember not to use pesticides near your butterfly garden or you will kill the butterflies, defeating the purpose.

Butterflies are very lightweight and have very large wings when compared to their body mass. Therefore, they do not like the wind very much and have difficulty getting around when it is windy. This is why you should choose an area protected from the wind when you select a location for your butterfly garden. If you do not have a good place, simply build small fence or place prefabricated fence sections near your butterfly garden. They should provide enough protection to keep the butterflies happy.

Butterflies need a moist area to survive. They cannot drink from standing water, so they need dew and moist soil to collect moisture. The plants that attract butterflies will make some shade on the ground which will help keep the soil moist.

Some people choose to place a large shallow container filled with dirt or sand underneath their butterfly attracting bushes. The container should not drain and will hold more moisture than the ground. You can even mix in some table salt to provide extra minerals for your butterflies. Water it two or three times a week to ensure that it stays fairly wet, but do not leave standing water on the top. If the weather is particularly hot or dry, you may want to water more often. Keep a garden hose reel nearby for easy access and watering. Relax and enjoy the butterflies as they live their lives in your beautiful butterfly garden.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Live Butterfly Garden: Teaching Children About Nature

Science and nature are a very big part of our lives. Children are like sponges and they love to learn through action. You can easily teach your child about nature and science by going on outings to parks and ponds. Show your child how the birds are collecting twigs for their nest or how the tadpoles are going to transform to frogs. The more interesting and exciting you make learning the more they will retain.

The live butterfly garden is one of my favorite ways to teach children about nature and science. Children love the live butterfly garden because they get to experience nature first hand. With it they are able to see the life of a caterpillar and more importantly let the butterfly go after a few days.

I have a friend who every year in the early spring she buys her nieces a butterfly garden so they can watch them grow. About three days after the butterflies emerge, they all get together and all set the butterflies free.

The girls have not only learned about nature but they have also learned that sometimes it is necessary to let go of the things you love. Plus the memories will last a lifetime.My son’s preschool had a live butterfly garden and he liked it so much that that was all I heard about for weeks.

So what does a live butterfly garden entail?

A live butterfly garden comes with a mesh cage and 5-6 larvae that will turn into caterpillars and then into butterflies. All of the food that will be needed is provided.

Then what?

The children get to watch the whole process of how caterpillars turn into butterflies. It is truly amazing to kids how a caterpillar can change from something that crawls around to something beautiful that can fly. This really gets kids imaginations going.

The butterfly garden offers children a close up of the entire process but it is not the only way to teach your child. Teaching your child about nature should be fun and exciting but it does not have to cost a thing.

Would your child love to have a live butterfly garden kit?

Children of all ages love to watch the caterpillars turn into butterflies with the live butterfly garden kit. If you want a live butterfly garden for your child click http://www.best-online-deals.net to get the best deal.