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What is butterfly gardening? Simply put butterfly
gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants
that will attract these colourful and dainty creatures
to your garden. Delight your family and visitors with
beautiful butterflies, but be sure to create a safe
habitat for them. If you own cats rethink your plans,
because it would be a shame to attract these lovely
insects to their death.
The design your butterfly garden is a matter of personal
preference. Typical points to consider are the size
of your garden and the types of flowers and plants
you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals
to you, but ensure it also contains the plants and
flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to
attract.
It is important to find out which plants and flowers
will attract the species of butterflies. That lives
in your area. This information can be found at the
local library
To create the kind of environment that they find attractive,
you will also need water of some kind. A birdbath
will look attractive and keep the butterflies up off
the ground, away from stray cats or mischievous puppies.
A shallow dish on a post or hung in a tree will do
just as well.
When planting your butterfly garden is careful how
you coordinate the colours you choose for your flowerbeds.
Although butterflies do not care about your choice
of colour, you don't want your garden to be a hodgepodge
of unrelated colours and textures. Butterflies are
attracted to those flowers that have nectar rather
than pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer lilac,
Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage,
day lilies and lavender.
Some people find it helpful to draw and colour a layout
of their butterfly gardening plan to see what the
finished product would look like. Keep in mind that
warm colours like red and orange are flashy and showy.
These colours have a greater impact against a strong
green background. Cool colours such as blue and purple
are soothing and toned down and would work better
with a white contrast to create the look of freshness
and brightness.
Benefits of Gardening for Kids
Apparently, we can see how nature is treated these
days. It is a sad thing to know that people do not
pay attention so much anymore to the environmental
problems. What can we do about this? It's as simple
as starting with the children. It is good to see the
children's involvement with environment-friendly activities.
One such nature-loving activity that children could
easily get their hands on is gardening. Why should
you consider gardening for your children?
Here are the benefits that gardening could easily
provide the children with:
1. Science
In planting, children are indirectly taught the wonders
of science like the plant's life cycle and how human's
intervention can break or make the environment. They
can have a first hand experience on the miracle of
life through a seed. This would definitely be a new
and enjoyable experience for the kids.
2. Life
Watching a seed grow into a tree is just as wondrous
as the conception to birth and growth of a child.
In time, kids will learn to love their plants and
appreciate the life in them. Gardening could actually
help simulate how life should be treated -- it should
be with care. The necessities to live will be emphasized
to kids with the help of gardening - water, sunlight,
air, soil. Those necessities could easily be corresponded
to human necessities, i.e., water, shelter, air, food.
By simply weeding out, one could educate how bad influences
should be avoided to be able to live life smoothly.
3. Relaxation
Studies show that gardening can reduce stress because
of its calming effect. This is applicable to any age
group. More so, it stimulates all the five senses.
Believe it or not, gardening may be used as therapy
to children who have been abused or those who are
members of broken homes. It helps build one's self-esteem.
4. Quality Time with the Family
You can forget about your stressful work life for
a while be soothed by the lovely ambience in the garden.
You can play and spend quality time with your children.
You can talk while watering the plants or you can
work quietly beside each other. The bottom line is,
always do what you have to do, together with your
kids. You might discover a lot of new things about
your child while mingling with them in your garden.
Let kids become aware of their environment's needs.
And one way to jumpstart that environmental education
may be through gardening. It's hitting two birds with
one stone -- teach them to respect life while you
bond with them.
About the Author
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor
and co founder of Free
Affiliate Programs
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