There are many, many people who love to watch butterflies as they flit through the air slowly and gracefully. If you never have, you certainly should! Butterflies provide beauty in an often ugly world. They give us insight into the world of nature and how wonderful and complex it is. But the butterfly is much more than that. Butterflies are some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures on Earth. A butterfly garden is an easy way to see more butterflies and to help them, since many natural butterfly habitats have been lost to human activities like building homes, roads and farms. It is easy to increase the number and variety of butterflies in your yard. Creating a butterfly garden should start with some serious research to learn which kinds of butterflies are native to your area. You can learn that from this book âÂÂAttract Butterflies To Your GardenâÂÂ. Here are some points you should focus: Make a list of all of the different kinds of butterflies you would like to attract, and then learn which flowers and plants they both feed on and lay eggs on. Plant the âÂÂButterfly Host Plantsâ to lay their eggs on. You can add some butterfly garden accessories like a Butterfly House, which has slots the ideal size for keeping birds out while giving butterflies protection from the wind and weather, and are beautiful garden decorations. You could offer an additional nectar source close by to supplement your flowers. Once you have designed and started your butterfly garden, you can be proud that you have made a habitat for butterflies in your own yard, which helps with the conservation of the many species of quickly disappearing butterflies today. You will certainly want to place your favorite outdoor furniture near so that you can enjoy all of your visitors day after day. Here is a link that might be useful: Attract Butterflies To Your Garden

Butterflyman, 1. Thanks for telling me about it needing support. I'll either plant it in the middle of my other plants or buy something to support it. I think that first will be my choice because I sure have enough plants going in the garden this year. 2. Um, because I can? :) I wasn't really sure if the clover in people's yards, being that it's mowed, would be sufficient. I guess I have it in my head that since it gets mowed, the caterpillars wouldn't be able to be on it without being chopped up. So I was going to plant the bush clover in an unmown area. 3. I wasn't sure when the Polemonium blooms, but that's a good point. If it blooms that early, the butterflies would mostly not be around anyway. I know the tiger swallowtails are here when our lilacs are blooming, which is about the first two weeks of May. 4. Uh oh, I think I'll cross the Hh off my list! Your saying that it can be invasive is a good enough reason for me not to plant it. 5. I'm trying Sweet Peas this year, so I'll see if I have any luck with them. I started them inside because of them liking a cool climate. I am hoping that they will have their "day in the sun" before it gets too hot here. I think that they are a lovely looking flower so thought I'd at least try them. They have tendrils on already but I'm not sure if I should plant them out this soon, as it still gets below freezing at night here and will for about a month yet. Wow, you really have the butterfly plants! And here I thought I had a lot. I figure the more the better. Sherry, 1. I just ordered the gnaphalium from PM and pearly everlasting from J.L. Hudson. With those two and the Antennaria plantaginifolia that I also ordered, I'm hoping that I'll have enough bases covered that I'll get some AL cats this year. The butterflies were here last year but I didn't have anything for them to lay their eggs on except three sad looking Antennarias that I think I managed to keep alive through the drought. I think I'm going to make a bed of just that kind of plant since I'll be receiving the seed in the mail within the next week or two. I hope I don't have my plant names mixed up. I was thinking that gnaphalium is sweet everlasting. 4. I didn't realize that the PL might not be a frequent visitor in eastern gardeners but what you say makes sense. I don't know why I had been under the assumption that it would be easy for me to get them. I didn't see any last year, only the AL. I have mallow planted for them, but if I don't get them, maybe the Common Checkered Skippers will lay their eggs on it. I saw the butterflies here last year but no eggs. Anyway, after what you and Butterflyman have said, I think I'm going to skip the sunflowers. You're right about them taking up a lot of space. I had grown them years ago, long before I became interested in butterflies, and I remember thinking that they used up a lot of space. I think I'd be best to plant something...

The shipping is not as much if you're ordering a lot of plants. But, one or two will cost you. That said, a lot of companies, like Lazy S's Farm (which I highly recommend) has shipping rates that are now out the gazoo! MON is much cheaper than they are, as is Woodlanders. They usually ship bare root plants and that's probably why their rates are lower. I believe someone here on the forum orders from Missouri Wildflowers and recommends them as well. I have not personally ordered from them. Shipping has gone up this last year due to the cost of gas, which filters down to everything else. Postage has also increased, as I'm sure Fed Ex and UPS have accordingly. It's almost impossible to afford ordering from online nurseries anymore. Susan

The picture hyperlinks above have been moved to: http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09261.JPG http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09266.JPG http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09271.JPG I took some close up pictures yesterday. Both caterpillars were eating the leaves of the mystery (giant wild carrot looking) plant. I am 5'10", and I was standing on ground 1' higher than the base of the plant, and it was still taller by probably a foot. There are others nearby that are of similar size. On the other side of the bridge (neighbors side of the creek) there are plants of the same kind that look to be 8 feet tall easily. The past two years I've been cutting these down because I thought they were/are poison hemlock and I've been successful in that they haven't grown back in the area I've purged them from. Not because cutting them back, but because of all the other plants probably keeping them shaded. Here are the pictures I took yesterday, some of the stem. The surrounding vegetation was dense. I hope to take a picture of the base part of the stem of another plant that is more exposed. Caterpillar eating a leaf. http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09272.JPG Higher up stem, with bindweed climbing it. http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09273.JPG Lower part of stem, hard to see http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09276.JPG Mid stem, with branch bract http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09277.JPG Close up of foliage with little damage http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09278.JPG Different angles of stem, but not that well in focus http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09279.JPG http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09280.JPG http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09281.JPG I forgot to mention, when I got up close I saw so many aphids! It explains why the plant is crawling with lady bugs. Could the species of aphid help determine what plant it is?