Tag Archives: Nice

Creating A Really Nice Backyard Garden

For every home, a garden is not just an extension of one’s home, but a place to relax, unwind and soak up the nature. A beautifully contoured landscape, blooming flowers and just spending restful hours in the midst of beauty is what every homeowner yearns for. Gardening can definitely become a passion; when you get to pick your very own fresh vegetables and fruits. Although there are landscaping firms who can take care of your backyard just as well; but you could end up paying thousands of dollars just to recarpet a lawn and perhaps a little more to maintain it. It is especially important for the beginner gardener to choose the right types of plants, determine the spot in the backyard where the garden needs to be designed; select the right garden space, adopt appropriate techniques to take care of one’s plants in the backyard and much more. Pre-plan each and every step before setting up your backyard garden, so it becomes a fun filed adventure rather than a nightmarish ritual.

Research and Analyze

The first step is to evaluate the maintenance needs of your garden and pre-determine the space that needs to be allocated to the garden in your backyard. Design your garden with a practical approach and pre-set a budget for yourself. If you face a paucity of time; try and find solutions to high-maintenance issues. A systematic approach will lead you to decide on the right tools required for the development and maintenance of your backyard garden. Alternatively; opt for a weekend backyard garden that needs little to moderate maintenance. Also, take into consideration the current condition of your backyard. In case your backyard has a few existing plants; you would need to decide on which plants you require and the ones that you need to get rid of.

Keep it simple and uncluttered

The focus should be on having a breathable garden rather than a cluttered one. Make sure that your garden is not overcrowded with plants; or it will lend it a cluttered look. Besides that; having too many plants will just attract insects and mosquitoes. Best approach is to draw a rough sketch of the garden lay-out and take into account every minute detail.

Selecting the Right Kinds of Plants

If the homeowner wants that their garden should attract butterflies; they should opt for plants that butterflies are strongly attracted to. These plants include aspen, dill, aster, lilac, pansy, milkweed, marigold, clover, chokecherry, aster and dill among others.

Identifying the right spot

The direction of the sun in your backyard is the deciding factor when identifying the right spot for your garden. North corners are ideal for ferns. The southern direction gives constant sun exposure all day long and each side gets balanced warmth from the sun. The rows should be aligned north and south; so the plants get the sun rays during morning and afternoon hours. If the garden is facing towards the southeast; it may be subjected to little or moderate western sun. In this case; run the rows northwest and southeast for an even sunlight distribution. The northern exposure is definitely not a very good idea; as it would not receive any sunlight. For north-eastern and south-western directions; the plants may be subjected to an uneven distribution of sunlight. The idea therefore; is to plan it in a way that the garden plants receive an evenly distributed sunlight for the longest time period.

The Garden Soil

A new garden spot is most likely covered either with turf or rubbish. For a larger garden area; the ploughing of the ground is done whereas with smaller gardens; the sod is removed. In order to remove the sod; stake out the garden path. The line will help you with an accurate course to be followed. Then you would need to cut the edges along the marked line with the help of a spade. The sod can be put to good use as it makes a good fertilizer. Here you have two options to choose from:
1. You could turn the sod over after having dug holes in your garden. The sod can then be put in the hole and then cover it with soil.
2. Identify a spot where the sod grass can be packed together. Leave it to rot. Over a period of time; it can be used as fertilizer.

Make sure that the ground where the planting needs to take place is fine so that the seeds get finely packed into the soil particles. Avoid large lumps as these create larger spaces and the tiny hair root of the plant will not be able to penetrate though.

Make sure that you do a fair amount of research beforehand and lap up on as much gardening tips and information as possible.

How To Have A Nice Butterfly Garden

Imagine the next time you join a discussion about butterfly garden. When you start sharing the fascinating butterfly garden facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.


What is butterfly gardening? Simply put butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract these colorful and magnificent creatures to our own gardens. A properly planned butterfly garden offers great joy to visitors of the garden by attracting these lovely flitting creatures for our amusement and delight. It also ensures a safe habitat for the butterflies.


Deciding upon how to design your butterfly garden is just a matter of personal preference on your part. In reality, butterflies simply do not care about the style of your garden, only the plants that attract them. Typical points to consider for choosing your butterfly gardening plan are the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you and ensure it contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.


It is important to do thorough research on exactly which plants and flowers will attract certain species of butterflies. Speaking of butterfly species, do you have an idea of what kinds you want to attract to your garden? Do you know which ones live in your area? Once you work out this decision and decide which types of butterflies you want flying around and visiting your home, then simply create your butterfly gardening plan around those species.


When building your butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flower beds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, it’s better to plan ahead. You want to avoid having your butterfly garden looking like a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures that could create confusion to you and maybe even the butterflies.


Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly gardening plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.


Lastly, here is a brief list of plants and flowers that you can look into when designing your butterfly gardening plan. They are the honeysuckle, sunflower, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies and lavender.


Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it reinforce what you already know about butterfly garden? Or was there something completely new? What about the remaining paragraphs?


When creating a butterfly garden, the possibilities of what to include in your butterfly garden design are endless. Below are some suggestions to help get you started when designing your butterfly garden plan. They are designed to spark the creative process of your mind and get you started on your way to creating a lovely and well-suited butterfly garden.


– First, before you even begin your butterfly garden, find out which species of butterflies are in your area. Consider taking an exploratory hike around your location with a butterfly identification book to find the butterflies that dwell close to your property. This may take a little extra time and some research on your part but the results will be worth the effort. After you have compiled your list of local butterfly species, be sure to write down in your butterfly garden plan what these particular species of butterflies use for nectar and food plants.


– Be sure that your butterfly garden plan includes a location that provides at least six hours of sunlight per day. Butterflies are cold-blooded creatures and therefore, do better where they are warm and sheltered.


– Wind can be a butterfly’s worst enemy so be sure to have plenty of wind protection in your butterfly garden design. You can plant tall shrubs and other plants in order to create a wind break. Know the direction of your area’s prevailing winds. The first choice, however, is a nice ‘tucked away’ location that avoids heavy winds.


– Keeping the above points in mind, choose a suitable location to have your butterfly garden. The best of all worlds would be a butterfly garden placed on the south side of your home with windbreaks on both the west and east sides. You may also wish to be sure that you are able to view you butterfly garden from inside your home as well as provide seating outside from which to observe the antics of the butterflies.


– If your area permits, a possible suggestion for location of a butterfly garden is provided by Barbara Damrosch in her book Theme Gardens. She suggests the use of an old basement or home foundation if such is available around your home or the place you wish to have your butterfly garden. As an alternative, you can excavate an area and build a stone wall around the excavation to simulate an old construction foundation. Remember to covered the bottom of the excavation with several inches of gravel where you do not intend to plant your nectar and food plants for the butterflies. This will save you from a muddy walk through your butterfly garden after a rain.


There are many creative ways for constructing a butterfly garden. Take your time to design a garden that you will enjoy and be proud of later when all is said and done.


That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.

Michael Hehn writes articles about various topics.
Find out what he has to say about butterfly gardens at Your Butterfly Garden