http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-attract-butterflies.html
How To Attract Butterflies
Butterflies, with their gorgeous colors and lilting flight, are such a joy to watch. They add so much beauty to our summers, like seeing flowers flying.
It’s easy to invite more butterflies to make a seasonal stop in your yard. Find out which plants they just can’t resist—and learn a few fun facts about butterflies that you may not know.
Here are 20 plants that will invite butterflies to your yard!
Asters: Late summer to fall.
Bee balm (bergamot): Summer through fall.
Butterfly weed: Summer through fall.
Clover (white or red): Summer to fall.
Coreopsis: Summer to fall.
Dianthus: Spring to fall.
Lavender: Summer.
Lupine: Late spring to early summer.
Mints: All summer.
Passionflower: Summer to fall.
Phlox: Summer to fall.
Purple coneflower: Summer to fall.
Sage: Summer to fall.
Salvia: Summer to fall.
Scabiosa “Butterfly blue”: Summer through fall.
Shasta daisy: Summer.
Thistle: Late spring through fall.
Violet: Spring.
Yarrow: Summer.
Butterfly Mythbusters
Have you ever heard that if you touch a butterfly, you’ll rub off the powder from its wings, and it will die? Or that if a butterfly gets a drop of water on it, it will drown? Ever hear that a torn or broken butterfly wing will grow back? And everyone knows that all butterflies go to Mexico for the winter, right?
Actually, none of these statements is true! A lot of myths like these were probably started with the best intentions, so that people wouldn’t harm butterflies.
The truth is that butterflies have evolved to survive and thrive in extreme conditions. They exist everywhere in the world except for Antarctica. Butterflies are definitely stronger than they look: Many species migrate thousands of miles every year, and not just to Mexico!
Adapted from The Family Butterfly Book, by Rick Mikula.
Go to the Source
The Family Butterfly Book
Projects, activities, and a field guide to 40 favorite North American species. By Rick Mikula.buy nowrelated stories
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add your comment »Butterflies are so beautiful, and it is nice to know they are not as delicate as they look, I have heard most of those mythes.
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Budleia is a bush with usually long purple flowers that is also called the Butterfly tree or bush in Europe. It grows wild along train tracks in Britain, and even between the cracks of walls along the lines in London. Sometimes the flowers are white too. All butterflies are attracted to it. But in the past two decades I sadly have noticed a dramatic reduction of their numbers caused by pollution, the overuse of insecticides in agriculture and global warming. The numbers of butterflies we see nowadays is nothing compared to what we used to witness in our childhood in the 60s. Very sad.
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thanks for this :-) are there any similar articles concerning helping bees??
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I live in Ft.Lauderdale and don't even have squirrels in my area! I wanted self-sufficient wildlife and came across a foundation for Monarch butterflies that offers FREE milkseed and literature. I had no idea that the Monarch is being threatened by lose of habitat and other environmental factors. I bought some milkweed plants and planted the seeds and within a week there were Monarchs in my yard. I was told to bring the caterpillars indoors to protect them from predators so I bought a small butterfly house ($12). It has netting around it and a clear top. I have the caterpillars and milkweed on the bottom and about 9 chrysalis above. I love coming home from work and seeing a new butterfly and releasing it outside, watching its happiness as it takes flight. I released about 30 Monarchs this month. Please check out the Live Monarch Foundation at www.LiveMonarch.com
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I just love butterflies so much I moved to Mariposa, CA named for the abundance of butterflies here. This weekend is the Butterfly Festival and it is always fun. My granddaughter was excited to bring home a painted lady on an orange to release into our garden. So far a small clouded and a big yellow swallowtail have landed on my heart here and I am always in awe when I see them in my garden.
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Our old silver maple was a stop over site for Monarch butterflies on their fall migration a few years ago -- there were so many they looked like orange and black leaves fluttering in the gentle breeze! It was an awesome site!
There's also a bright orange relative of the milkweed plant that local people call butterfly weed, but I'm sure it has another more formal name.
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Our old silver maple was a stop over site for Monarch butterflies on their fall migration a few years ago -- there were so many they looked like orange and black leaves fluttering in the gentle breeze! It was an awesome site!
There's also a bright orange relative of the milkweed plant that local people call butterfly weed, but I'm sure it has another more formal name.
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Butterflies are also part of a spritual meaning... Aren't they like angels around?
Nicole M.S
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I have been tagging butterflies for the Monarch butterfly trust all summer and so many people have asked how we can do that without damaging their wings. We put little stickers on their wings and their wings are actually quite strong and it does no harm to touch them carefully.
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Well I have 9 of the flowers listed- so am well on the way to attracting the butterlies- Must get some of the others too- to ensure they will be happy to return.
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