How to Create a Wildlife-Friendly Garden (National Wildlife Federation)
Butterfly and Bee Gardening
Butterfly gardening is a great way to provide food for butterflies, pollinate plants, and enjoy watching them fly about. The satisfaction that gardeners receive from observing
butterflies and other wildlife in their gardens is
a great reward for their gardening efforts. A
butterfly-friendly garden is attractive not only to butterflies
but also to bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators.
The destruction of natural habitats has encouraged avid gardeners to grow native plants that are particularly attractive to butterflies. To support butterfly populations, you need to provide plants that are good sources of the nectar that butterflies sip. The garden also needs adequate sunlight, shelter, and mud puddles, which butterflies often visit.
Plant
selection is the most important part of any garden. Butterflies
see a broad range of colors including shades of red, yellow,
orange, pink, purple, and lavender. They also see ultraviolet
light and use flower petal patterns as guides to the nectar
source. They prefer clusters of tubular shaped flowers or
larger flat flowers that can support their weight while feeding
on nectar.
Plants such as Aster,
Echinacea (Purple Coneflower), Milkweed, Joe-Pye Weed, New
York Ironweed, Goldenrod, Dogbane, and Agastache
are all great native butterfly plants. Using native plants
is important because cultivars are bred for attractive features,
but lack the nectar desired by butterflies.
At the Zoo
The Zoo has several gardens to attract wildlife: the Pollinarium/
Butterfly Garden, located behind
the Invertebrate
Exhibit, the Bee Garden, across from Lemur Island, and the Red
Bed for attracting hummingbirds, outside of the
Great Ape House.
