How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden

Butterfly Garden

Photo by Tony Alter

What Plants Attract Butterflies

Certain plants are better at attracting butterflies than others. Did you know that butterflies are dwindling in numbers? Particularly since 1980 due to deforestation, improper landscaping, and environmental changes are affecting many ecosystems. To keep a healthy garden butterflies of all types are our allies.

Create a Butterfly Friendly and Happier Garden.

Butterfly gardens, for example, are carefully planned plots that contain butterfly-attracting sprouts and plants to diversify and introduce butterflies to a particular area. By attracting butterflies, a plot can also attract other insects that assist in healthy growth and development of crops and blossoms.

The collection of plants for attracting butterflies is extensive and easily available to you if you interested in encouraging butterflies to visit your beautiful garden or plot. Whether you own an entire acre of land or just a mound of soil in your yard, plants for attracting butterflies not only add color to your garden, they encourage a healthier planet, too.

How do I begin the process?

It’s simple. Butterflies love sunny open spaces, little or no wind, and fresh water. Next, look for the best plants that will integrate into your current plot while keeping the area aesthetically pleasing. This depends entirely on your taste and your preferences. In addition, would you prefer to attract butterflies and not bees, or butterflies and bees but not hummingbirds? Each plant can attract multiple types of visitors, so take care in your decision making before you dig in to the process.

Do not be afraid of color! Butterflies are drawn to bright, lively colors in their flowers. This is a sure sign of a healthy spot to stop at. It’s most effective to plant clusters of these plants for attracting butterflies so they can easily find their particular favorite blossom.

In addition, the location of your butterfly garden party must receive plenty of sun and warmth. Butterflies may find a flower attractive, but if it’s not in the sun, you may detract more butterflies than you had hoped to.  Live in a colder climate? Drop in some large stones to absorb day time heat and provide an easy rest stop for tired butterfly wings.

What are my best plant options for attracting butterflies?

If you’re looking to attract all types of butterflies, along with their nectar loving friends, here are the easiest plants to start with:

  • Milkweed: This wildflower choice will attract butterfly larvae, encouraging healthy growth and survival of pupas into butterflies. It is a relatively common and hearty flower that’s often seen growing near streets.
  • Honeysuckle: Most people associate honeysuckle with the scent of Summer. So do butterflies! This gorgeously scented petite flower attracts a wide variety of butterflies very easily, and adopts into new gardens without much trouble.
  • Lilacs: Butterflies have good taste in their flower choices. Plant elegant lilacs in your garden to provide a spacious place for butterflies to browse at. This flower attracts over 6 different types of butterflies.
  • Goldenrod: Attract a narrower range of butterflies with this voluminous flower, but attract the most voluptuous of butterflies as well.

Many brightly colored flowers will attract butterflies because of their rich diversity and appearance in a plot. It is best to research your options for any area, especially if you are hoping to only have plants for attracting butterflies in your garden.

Learn more with this handy Farmer’s Almanac table that goes over all flowers and plants for attracting butterflies.

Call us for our a FREE 42 Point Lawn and Garden Evaluation.

Photo: Tony Alter

Santa Barbara Landscaping Company Designing Enchanting Aroma Gardens

Santa Barbara Aroma Garden - Thyme

Thyme

Santa Barbara Landscaping Company offering Enchanting Aroma Gardens for Santa Barbara Residents

Santa Barbara, Ca. (PR.COM) April 19, 2013 . One of the foremost Santa Barbara Landscaping Companies offering innovative landscaping services in Santa Barbara is Down to Earth Landscapes. They have just announced a new addition to their suite of creative landscaping services. They now offer Santa Barbara and Ventura area residents the opportunity to have their very own backyard or front yard aroma garden. These aroma gardens are designed to enhance outdoor environments with pleasant aromas that are unique for each season.

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It is springtime and many homeowners in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties are now looking to improve the outdoor environments of their homes or business in time for the summer enjoyment. There are many popular and proven methods for upgrading garden landscapes, but aroma gardens represent one of the latest and most innovative trends within the landscaping industry. And now, through the team at the Santa Barbara landscaping  company, Down to Earth Landscapes, Inc., custom-designed aroma gardens are now available to residents across the Santa Barbara, Montecito, Santa Ynez, Ojai and Oxnard and Ventura communities.

Down to Earth Landscapes, Inc. knows how to design and plant beautiful and healthy landscapes and their knowledge and experience will ensure that the client’s aroma garden will offer a backyard environment in which to entertain party guests or simple relax with family. The company utilizes best-in-class methods in creating the ideal aroma garden for their clientele.

The company’s experience landscaping design staff often use gravel, flagstone or un-mortared brick to create a footpath or patio area. This ensures that there is crevices and cracks in which to plant fresh, aromatic herbs and plant material so that fragrances can be experienced wherever one wonders through the aroma garden. Aromatic plants used by Down to Earth Landscapes, in building aroma gardens include pennyroyal, Roman chamomile, and caraway thyme, with each offering their own distinctive bouquet of scents.

Property owners across Santa Barbara can now get a free estimate on the cost of installing their very own aroma garden by contacting the team at Down to Earth Landscapes, Inc. today. To learn more about this locally-owned Santa Barbara landscaping company and its full range of services, please visit www.downtoearthlandscapesinc.com.

Planting a Herb & Spice Garden in Santa Barbara

Grow Herbs and Spices All Year Long in Santa Barbara.

Last week our blog was unusually quiet because my wife and I went on a trip to Milwaukee to attend a conference. While we were there, we discovered an amazing store called The Spice House. Check out their website— The Spice House. They ship!

Herb Garden  - Rosemary

Rosemary

Although we relished the cool days and beautiful autumn leaves, the realization that fall would quickly turn to snow there made us realize how lucky we are to be designing and installing landscapes in  Santa Barbara. Reflecting on this special boon of the Santa Barbara climate causes us to decide that a blog on Santa Barbara herb gardens was in order.
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