Butterfly garden

I would like to take my youngest daughter to Magic Wings in MA this summer. This 8,000-square foot conservatory is home to nearly 4,000 free-flying butterflies from all over the world!

The thought however, of potentially hundreds of butterflies landing on me at one time freaks me out a bit.

I read an article recently that said that the number one reason that homeowners plant a nature friendly garden is to attract butterflies, so I may just plant a butterfly garden of my own instead.

To get butterflies to come to you garden and support the caterpillars that become butterflies plant these in your garden ~ yarrow (Achillea) butterfly weed (Asclepias), aster, coreopsis and parsley.

Butterfly Myths

1. If you touch a butterfly, it will die. According to The Family Butterfly Book, by Rick Mikula, that myth about killing butterflies when you touch them because the powder gets rubbed off their wings is a myth, probably circulated to keep people from harming them.

2. If a butterfly gets a drop of water on its wings, it will die. Nope. While you want to be sure not to hit them with the garden hose, they can–and do–survive getting wet.

3. Butterflies all migrate to Mexico. Actually, butterflies are found everywhere in the world except Antarctica–and they migrate all over, too. Although they look so fragile, butterflies are evolved to survive in extreme conditions, and some of them travel thousands of miles.

4. If a butterfly wing gets torn or ripped off, it will grow back. While we wish this was true, it’s not. So be kind to butterflies.