House & Home
complete life cycle. What plants do they love? Ideally you need to keep them well fed from March through November. The butterfly bush, buddleja, would definitely be their favourite dish. They also like lavender, escallonia, caryopteris, hawthorn, blackberries, heathers and hebes.
But you don’t need to have heaps of space either – the balcony gardener or courtyard dweller can plant perennials and colourful annuals that will tickle their r taste buds.
There are many scrumptious flowers such as cornflowers, single- flowered dahlias, heliotrope, verbena, solidago, alyssum, echinacea, sedums, aubretia, calendulas, asters, zinnias and dianthus that will provide nectar. And they love to sink their proboscises into n native flowers, s so loosestrife, va valerian, teasel, d a n d e l i o n s , butter buttercups, angelica and cloverclo will signal your garden as a wildlife- friendly zone. You will also need to provide food for caterpillars. Cabbage growers and readers of the children’s classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar know all too well how much grub they require to fuel their metamorphosis. But you can redirect them to nasturtiums, nettles, thistles, meadow grasses, docks, sorrel, and even holly and ivy.
As with all gardening where we are concerned with the creatures that surround us which enable a healthy environment, lay off the chemicals.
If we garden with nature, using the aids that it provides, it’ll make the butterflies – and us – happier gardeners.