Butterfly Gardening

Written by Jane Lake


Copyright © 2005 Jane Lake All Rights Reserved

Butterfly gardening is not only a joy, it is one way that you can help restore declining butterfly populations. Simply adding a few new plants to your backyard may attract dozens of different butterflies, according to landscape designers atrepparttar University of Guelph.

Butterflies, like honeybees, are excellent pollinators and will help increase your flower, fruit and vegetable production if you provide them with a variety of flowers and shrubs. They are also beautiful to watch, and are sometimes called "flowers onrepparttar 113323 wing."

- Begin by seeding part of your yard with a wildflower or butterfly seed mix, available through seed catalogues and garden centers. Wildflowers are a good food source for butterflies and their caterpillars.

- Choose simple flowers over double hybrids. They offer an easy-to-reach nectar source.

- Provide a broad range of flower colors. Some butterflies like oranges, reds and yellows while others are drawn toward white, purple or blue flowers.

- Arrange wildflowers and cultivated plants in clumps to make it easier for butterflies to identify them as a source of nectar.

- If caterpillars are destroying favorite plants, transfer them by hand to another food source. Avoidrepparttar 113324 use of pesticides, which can kill butterflies and other beneficial insects.

The Rare Blue Roses

Written by Ken Austin


Are you a rose lover? If so, or even if your not, Blue Roses are a variety anyone can appreciate. The Blue Rose is very rare, hard to find, and difficult to cultivate. Why is this? Are they available at all? To find out more information about Blue roses, keep reading.

Blue Roses are rare because they are difficult to cultivate. What does this mean? Well, in simple terms,repparttar rose does not have blue pigment in its DNA therefore, does not allow itself to become blue even with scientists trying to make it happen, there is no true blue rose available today. But, there are alternatives.

One such alternative is to find Blue Moon Roses. These blue roses are beautiful in their fragile state. They are delicate and, simply gorgeous. While they look blue, they are a more lavender color. They give off a lavender scent as well. It blooms all summer long in beautiful color.

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