Monthly Archives: October 2010

Butterfly Gardening

Butterfly Bush: Loved by People and Butterflies Alike

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Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush

The beautiful flowering butterfly bush is so named because it attracts butterflies, making it a striking conversation piece in any yard.  Butterfly bushes get very large, so keep that in mind when choosing a place to plant one.  They usually get at least six feet tall and can get much taller in good growing conditions.  The flowers are in large spiked clusters of pink, purple, red or white with orange throats.  Butterfly bush should not be confused with the orange wildflower known as butterfly.

The butterfly bush is hardy in zones 5 to 10, which is most of the southern half of the US.  The butterfly bush was originally found in the Orient, then was taken to France for cultivation.  In Europe it was called “summer lilac” because of the large fragrant flower clusters that resemble lilac. The plant attracts hummingbirds as well as butterflies.

Butterfly bushes are easy to grow as long as they have normal garden soil and at least six hours of daylight per day.  Of course, you also need to remember to give them plenty of room.  Some people like to prune them back to half their size in the late summer so that they will have new growth and lots of blooms when the butterflies migrate in September and October.  They also stay in bloom better when you remove dead flowers.  An established bush is somewhat tolerant of drought conditions.

There is one drawback with butterfly bushes, according to some experts.  Since the bush is not native to North America, and since it is so easy to grow, it is considered an invasive species in some places.  They also argue that it doesn’t really help the butterflies that come to it because it is not a suitable host plant for them.  That is, it is not a plant where they can lay eggs, and which will feed the caterpillars.

If you already have a butterfly bush that you enjoy every year, you can make it more environmentally friendly by removing the dead heads before they go to seed and trimming the plant back each year.  If you use a heavy mulch around the bottom, you won’t have to worry as much about new seedlings coming up.  Make your butterfly garden even more useful to butterflies by planting some milkweed relatives, such as the butterfly weed

Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Gardening

Photographing Butterflies

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Although photography is not really part of gardening I was asked the other day about photographing birds and butterflies and so I thought this post may be of interest to those of you who are interested in capturing special moments in your garden.

Photographing butterflies requires patience while waiting for that right opportunity to come along; have your camera ready to go, kick back and enjoy the beautiful flowers until it does. Having your own flower garden to attract butterflies is the best place, in my opinion, to capture your pictures. It’s convenient, away from crowds and, I believe, butterflies feel at ease with your presence after a short time when they know you mean no harm thus allowing you to stand just inches away from them. Nature parks are also places to get good shots of butterflies and so are butterfly gardens which usually have a large variety of species from around the world.

The only equipment I use is a digital camera. The two most important features of a camera for photographing a butterfly, your subject, is a high optical zoom (don’t confuse this with digital zoom – in my opinion, digital zoom produces a poor quality picture) and macro mode (with macro mode you can focus in clearly with your lense just inches away from your subject). Both features allow you to close in on your subject sharply and will blur the background, eliminating distractions, thus drawing one’s attention to the butterfly’s eye-catching designs and colors.

When photographing butterflies, be creative and bring your pictures to life. Use different angles. Shoot from the front, sides and back of your subject. Shoot at eye level or try an upward shot. Catch the butterflies in different poses. Shoot when they are in flight or flapping their wings. Experiment. If your camera offers manual controls, use a slow shutter speed to blur the movement and a fast shutter speed to freeze it. If you can’t adjust your shutter speed, the more light in your picture the faster your speed will be. If the opportunity allows, look at your subject and background closely through the view finder before clicking. Sometimes just moving your lens a tad bit will make a big difference in how your picture turns out.

Lighting is another way of bringing your pictures to life. The best time of the day to shoot is when the sun is not harsh, such as in the early morning and in the evening but don’t let this stop you from shooting on a sunny afternoon though. Try taking a picture with the sun behind your subject. This will give a wonderful silhouette look to your picture. Flashes can have a benefit or two, but I don’t use one. I feel nature’s light is the best!

Practice makes perfect. Take a lot of pictures. More than half of mine are deleted (great thing about digital cameras). When you spot a butterfly in the distance, I suggest taking a picture where you are, step a little closer (slowly and quietly), take another picture and so on until you get that perfect close-up or the butterfly flies away. A lot of times the first picture you take may be good enough to crop. It won’t be a large size but it will always be a memory to hold onto.