How to Make a Monarch Friendly Garden

This article will help you have a butterfly friendly flowerbed. It will give you hours of entertainment. Also if you have kids, will teach them the cycle of a butterfly.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Depending where you live, depends on the flowers and shrubs you should plant. Also depending on the plants that you plant will depend on the type of butterflies it will attract.

2. Monarch butterflies will only lay there eggs on Milkweed, which is a tall stalk like flower. Make sure that you plant tons of it, as the caterpillars will eat a lot. Don't worry though, the milkweed will grow it's leaves and flower back so that more caterpillars can eat them.

3. Make sure that you plant flowers that the butterflies will feed on. Types of flowers are Purple coneflower, Goldenrod, and butterfly bushes. Most of these can be found at Home Depot, Lowe's and even Walmart.

4. The brighter the flower, the better. Also red flowers will also attract hummingbirds.

5. Make sure that when you plant Milkweed, that you also have a trellis or something for the caterpillars to make chrysalis (cocoons) on.

6. After you have established your garden, all you have to do is enjoy watching the cycle of the butterfly.

Tips & Warnings

• Maybe put a bench or swing near by to watch and relax.
• Do not use pesticides on the plants as it will kill any caterpillars or butterflies.
• Try to make sure no wasp nests are around. Wasp will kill your caterpillars.

[lovelights]

on 10/3/2009 Very informative article on How to Make a Monarch Friendly Garden. 5*