Gardening for butterflies

So Spring is here and its time to start gardening again. Why not do your bit for our spectacular wildlife in this country and provide homes and food for the little creatures that could live happily in your garden. Some of the nicest things to have in your garden are butterflies, and gardening for butterflies is fun, easy and very rewarding.

 

Lets start with the basics. The first thing you should do when gardening for wildlife is to GET RID OF THOSE PESTICIDES! Pesticides will destroy the food chain in your garden by killing all the bugs, and despite what the label says - pesticides are not healthy for your or your family either. Now don't worry about what the bugs do to your plants - the birds will love you for letting them be there - birds need food too you know. And some of those caterpillars will turn in to spectacular butterflies - one lady once told me "caterpillars are Gods way of making flowers fly". Caterpillar droppings also make very good compost - turning all the old leaves into nutrients for your plants.

 

One of the easiest butterfly foodplants to grow is Creeping Foxglove (Asystasia) which is indigenous to South Africa. This plant often grows as a "weed" in the garden or in lawns which are not cut short. It is a herbaceous ground-cover that produces small white flowers with purple patterns on the lip of the flower. These plants are food for the caterpillars of several very nice butterflies, including the Blue Pansy, Yellow Pansy, Soldier Pansy, Brown Pansy and Common Diadem. The flowers also provide nectar and pollen for bees, and nectar for butterflies such as the tiny Gaika Blue. Asystasia can be grown in sun or shade, and needs little maintenance. Cuttings can be made from adult plants and placed in water to grow roots. Clumps of these plants can also be divided so that each new plant has some of the original roots, and replanted directly into the soil.

 

 

 

 

Article by:  Michael Purves michaelmozzie@hotmail.com