-
3. A Planting Plan
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
3 A Planting Plan l One objective of a butterfly garden is that it be properly established and, therefore, easily maintained with little disturbance to the butterflies. A gardener should be able to enjoy the butterflies in the garden and derive pleasure from the efforts to attract them, not overwhelmed and discouraged by a lot of constant work. With this thought in mind, plan your garden correctly in the beginning, choosing plants specifically used by butterflies, and do the planting properly. The following pages are intended to help both in the planning and planting of such a garden and in maintaining it with a minimum of effort. Know Your Area There are a few things you should do before ever picking up a shovel or visiting a nursery. First, give some thought to the area and region in which you live (see the end sheet map of regions of Texas). Make notes in a sturdy notebook about the amount of rainfall, general soil type, and first and last freeze dates for your area (a local nursery or state extension office can help). Also study the hardiness zone map for Texas, and note in which of the Texas zones you live. Such ecological factors are going to determine to a great extent the general species of flowers that will thrive best in your garden. After jotting down the general physiographic features of your locality, describe your immediate habitat—is it rural, suburban, or urban? Getting even more specific, define the minihabitat of your existing garden or property . Is it an open yard or lawn with practically no trees or shrubs, an area with straight borders along the property lines, a large and formally landscaped garden with shrubs, or 48 l chapter 3 an area of well-landscaped but informal beds? Briefly describe your present garden in the notebook. This information will provide an understanding of where you already stand in regard to the possibilities of attracting butter- flies, and it will be a great help in formulating future plans. To begin the actual plans for planting, draw in your property boundaries on a fairly large sheet of graph paper. Make the outside boundaries as large on the paper as possible but in as nearly correct proportions as you can make them. The easiest and most accurate way of doing this is to refer to the original land plat and house plans. Make a note on the graph sheet of the scale being used. This drawing will be referred to frequently, and knowing the scale is important. Sketch in the house, including porches, patios, garage, or any other attached structures. All that is needed here is an outline of the outside dimensions. Make heavier lines in the house outline to indicate placement of all doors and windows. The next step is to take the sheet of graph paper, a couple of pencils, a good eraser, a long tape measure, and a buddy to hold one end of the tape, and go out into the yard to continue this base model. An on-site drawing of these features is most important, for it is amazing how much can be forgotten when sitting inside the house. Walking about the yard, and using the tape measure at all times to keep things to scale, begin sketching in any existing structures, such as a tool shed, A butterfly garden can be landscaped in any number of attractive ways. [3.17.150.163] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 21:11 GMT) 49 l a planting plan swimming pool, fountain, gazebo, benches, birdbath, play equipment, walkways, walls, fences, and hedges. Sketch in all outside water faucets or outlets, and include overhead (or underground) power lines, poles, or utility structures. Continue to draw in all flower beds or borders, vegetable garden, areas of ground cover, and the like. If there are objects on neighboring properties affecting your property , such as buildings, trees, or water runoff, locate these on the drawing. Now make a second tour of the yard, and draw in all specimen trees or shrubs. On an extra sheet of paper or in the notebook, make notes about these plants. Such notes will be important when planning for the addition of butterfly-attracting plants. If some plants are not performing well where planted, perhaps they can be moved to a more desirable location or given to a neighbor, to be replaced with special butterfly plants; mark any...