INFORMATION
Attracting
Monarchs
How much
additional enjoyment would you have by attracting more butterflies to
your flower gardens?
Butterflies, and those wonderful hummingbirds, thrive on sweet nectar from a multitude of flowering plants. Consult your gardening book and local nursery for plants suited to your hardiness zone, and plant several varieties of annuals and perennials.
Use a good variety of flowers at different heights, blooming periods, and with varying bright colors. You’ll be surprised how butterfly species can vary in their preference for dining locations and menu items!
But to really attract the Monarch Butterflies you should have milkweed plants nearby. The female Monarch must have these to lay her eggs on. The eggs become little caterpillars that feed on the milkweed leaves, and then enclose themselves into cocoons attached to the plant. In a very few days the pupal caterpillar larvae is transformed into a butterfly.
Butterflies, and those wonderful hummingbirds, thrive on sweet nectar from a multitude of flowering plants. Consult your gardening book and local nursery for plants suited to your hardiness zone, and plant several varieties of annuals and perennials.
Use a good variety of flowers at different heights, blooming periods, and with varying bright colors. You’ll be surprised how butterfly species can vary in their preference for dining locations and menu items!
But to really attract the Monarch Butterflies you should have milkweed plants nearby. The female Monarch must have these to lay her eggs on. The eggs become little caterpillars that feed on the milkweed leaves, and then enclose themselves into cocoons attached to the plant. In a very few days the pupal caterpillar larvae is transformed into a butterfly.
Milkweed plants should be integrated into your flower garden. Experience has shown that the Monarchs are attracted much more to the native milkweed plants from your local area, than to fancy hybrid varieties.
With ever increasing awareness to maintain and improve our environment, just doing little things like providing more food for our butterfly friends can help. Bees are the biggest plant pollinator, but butterflies also help in the pollination process.
Have you ever watched in amazement as a Monarch caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis into a beautiful Monarch butterfly?
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2008 Jim Pratt Monarch
Butterfly Information. All rights reserved. Copyright
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