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4. An Instant Butterfly Garden
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
If you are really excited about the prospect of attracting butterflies, but it is too late in the season to dig beds or set out trees and shrubbery, there is a way you can still make a butterfly garden almost instantly—use plants in containers. Site Possibilities Before heading for the nearest plant dealer, take a few minutes to give some thought to the possibilities that your yard may offer. Next, following some of the same steps used in creating a new garden, make a plan of how much space you have and the amount of time and money you want to spend. Start by walking around your house and yard, noting areas where pots, containers, or hanging baskets can be used. There are many ways to make a small space become a haven for butterflies, so give every nook and cranny a good, long look. Because the choice of location for a container grouping is as important as for planting beds or borders, consider only open, protected locations in full sun. An area close to a water faucet or the end of a watering hose would be really handy, as potted plants need watering more often than bedded plants. Following are a few site possibilities to keep in mind as you walk about, but do not be limited by these. No yard is exactly like another or used in the same way, so let your imagination soar. Choose what will work for your yard while providing the butterflies what they need. 1. A sunny wall of the house, garage, or tool shed where half baskets could be attached or full baskets hung from the roof edge 4 An Instant Butterfly Garden l 94 l chapter 4 2. A strip of trellis fastened to a sunny wall for climbing larval food plants and a grouping of pots or other containers on the ground beneath 3. One corner of the yard, or an area where a corner can be “made” with lengths of bamboo fencing and a grouping of containers arranged in staggered heights 4. Outermost edges of uncovered porches , decks, or patios 5. Wooden or metal railings of stairways, balconies, or porches where pots or baskets can be attached 6. The immediate area around a mailbox post 7. Wooden fences, pillars, or posts where hanging baskets can be fastened in a staggered arrangement 8. Old wrought-iron or metal tables, benches, or chairs or wooden picnic tables that are no longer used and where pots can be arranged 9. The edge of a driveway or walk or on steps or stairways where containers can be placed in a pleasing arrangement yet still allow passage 10. Window boxes on the sunny sides of the house with baskets hanging above Containers Now that some garden sites have been selected where containers would work well, next consider the containers themselves. Gather all the hanging baskets, pots, or planting containers you possess, and set them out where they are easy to see and work with. Old wash pots, battered buckets, and bushel baskets add character to the planting. Sturdy baskets from the house can be used. They will last only one season but are lovely when a potted plant is placed inside . Look around for such objects as concrete blocks or short square or round tiles, such as those used for drainage or chimney flues, that can be stood on end and filled with soil. Picturesque old stumps or pieces of driftwood can be incorporated into the grouping, not only as effective focal points but as convenient basking areas for the butterflies. If the arrangement of pots is to be on or near the ground, a salt or puddling area can be added. Make plans for this in one of the groupings. In making container selections, keep in mind that metal or plastic containers have a tendency to become exceptionally hot when placed in the sun; plant roots may be burned from the overheated soil. Wooden or clay pots keep the roots much cooler, although clay is very porous, with rapid loss of soil moisture. Plants in clay pots will most likely need more frequent watering. One way around this problem is to set one clay pot inside a larger clay pot, filling the area between the two pots with sphagnum moss or sand. If this filler is kept moist, it not only reduces evaporation but helps keep the plant roots several degrees cooler. Plants in plastic pots...