…kind of! One of my projects for this year was to create a butterfly garden, meaning I wanted to dedicate an area of our garden to butterflies.
So, last weekend I got started. The sun was out, we had a gorgeous blue sky and we had plants already bought & waiting to be planted.
We decided the butterfly garden (although pollinator would be a better description as I’m also planting bee friendly flowers) would be 4 raised beds on our small lawn.
So, first I had to dig them out… with a little help from Xena (our rescue dog 🙂 )
And of course the gardener’s friend was never far away, waiting for worms…
That was enough for me for one day… my back was killing! So the next day was the day for planting 🙂
I’ve done a bit of research with regards to planning a butterfly garden – flowers they are attracted to etc. and realised that in order to have a lot of butterflies, we also needed to have host plants i.e. plants for the caterpillars.
So, along with the Buddleia, Lavender and Foxgloves that we already have, we also bought a few herbs… Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Mint, Oregano – all of which will be left to flower and not used for cooking (much to my other half’s dismay!)
I also moved a few of the Primulas and Bellis from the window boxes to the first raised bed. This was just so the garden had a few flowers already in bloom to help any early pollinators. It’s important to have plants that flower at different times of the year, so nectar is available from early spring through to late autumn.
I remember last year the Snapdragons attracted so many bees, and they haven’t actually died off (due to our winter being really mild this year) so I also moved them from the containers into the raised beds.
Unfortunately we only had enough plants for one of the beds. A few of the plants I want to buy, Verbena, Phlox, Scabious, Black-eyed Susans, Globe Thistle, Phacelia still aren’t in stock, and with the lockdown happening in both the UK and here in Ireland now, it might be a while before I can buy any more. But at least one of the beds is kind of done!
The good news is, 4 days after planting this bed we had a Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock butterfly land on the Primulas.
I was so excited & can’t wait for the warmer, sunnier weather now 🙂
This is lovely and great to see you’ve attracted the Butterflies already! I’ve only seen a couple just flying over the garden so far. I did manage to get some Verbana plants earlier in the year, they’re still in pots on my window sill at the moment though! I’m looking forward to seeing what else your plants bring during the year 🙂
Thanks Pam 🙂 That’s great you got some Verbena, I can’t get any yet… Weather has turned really cold too so I don’t think I’ll be seeing any more butterflies just yet. Can’t wait for the warmer months now.