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Mia Jenkins
Mia Jenkins is the Director of Marketing and Communications for Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, located in the Museums on the River District at 701 Amidon. Botanica was opened to the public in 1987 to generate enthusiasm for horticulture and enlighten people through educational, artistic, and cultural experiences. With this mission, Botanica’s gardens and programs expand public awareness of horticulture, educate Kansans about how nature can improve their daily lives, and assist in the promotion of community development.Feel free to contact Botanica for information on volunteering, special events or for what’s in bloom at 316-264-0448.
Flowers & Plants
2007-05-01 16:21:00
Attracting butterflies
Butterfly gardens, like butterflies, are not limited to botanical gardens and arboreta. Whether in a few containers, or a large plot, you can create a garden retreat to attract butterflies to your yard. Regardless of where you live, the general requirements for butterfly gardening are the same: full sun, a puddling place, nectar source plants, larval host plants, a pesticide-free environment, and knowledge of local butterfly species. A Place To Catch Some Rays: Both butterflies, and the plants they prefer, like bright sunny areas protected from high winds. On cool mornings, butterflies need to warm their bodies before they can become active. As you begin to plan your butterfly garden, look for areas around your yard that have at least six hours of sun each day and provide windbreaks through the use of shrubs, fences or other barriers. A Watering Hole: Groups of butterflies often gather in wet sand or mud to obtain the minerals and moisture that are found in the soil. This activity is called puddling. You can create a puddling place in your garden by placing a shallow pan in the soil, filling it with coarse sand, and keeping it moist. A sweet spot: Nectar plants produce the sweet fluid that many insects, including butterflies, use as food. Many of our native butterflies are attracted to plants that are brilliant in color and have either clusters of short tubular flowers, or flowers with large, flat petals. Because butterflies are active from early spring through frost, include a mix of plants in your garden that will bloom throughout this entire time to attract butterflies all season. Baby Food: Nectar-producing plants will attract butterflies to your garden, but in order to support a full lifecycle, host plants must also be present. Because caterpillars are unable to travel far to find their own food, the female locates and lays her eggs on the only type of plant that the caterpillar can use as food. If you do not like plants in your garden that have been eaten by insects, you may want to locate host plants in areas with low visibility but in fairly close proximity to the nectar plants. Butterflies Are Insects: The use of insecticides will kill many butterflies and their caterpillars. If a pest problem develops in your butterfly garden, try using biological controls, such as ladybugs, lacewings and preying mantis as a first line of defense. Know Your Butterflies: Many butterfly species are very selective about their nectar and host plants and in many cases, they will only use one species of plant. In order to attract butterflies and raise caterpillars, you must know the plant preferences of the butterflies native to your area. Although this is a bit commercial, since we are a non-profit organization, the good people at The Q & A Times let us get by with it. If you want to see different species of butterflies or view plant combinations that attract butterflies, visit Botanica’s Butterfly Garden and Butterfly House. Throughout the spring and summer, plants will be attracting butterflies for your viewing pleasure from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. From our garden to yours- best of luck in all of your gardening endeavors!
 
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