Flower Gardening

Flower gardens are becoming more popular every year.

Which Plants are Best for Your Garden?

Before buying plants carefully examine your garden to see how much sun and shade it gets, whether the soil is well drained or water logged and whether your land is sheltered or windswept. Once you have done this you’ll be better able to find the best plants for your situation; shade-loving plants for the sheltered areas, sun-lovers for the warm spots, drought-resistant plants for the parched areas which may be either sunny or shaded, and swamp plants for the poorly-drained parts.

Test your soil first, to determine the pH level of your soil and what kind of nutrients you need to add, if any. Is the soil acid or alkaline? Most plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic, but there are some that must have alkaline soil to grow.

Growing a Butterfly Garden

Butterfly gardens are not only beautiful from a flower standpoint, but the fact that they attract butterflies is a major bonus! Delight your family and visitors with beautiful butterflies, but be sure to create a safe habitat for them. If you own cats you might want to rethink your plans, because it would be a shame to attract these lovely insects to their death.

How you 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.

You can actually find ready made seeds for planting a butterfly garden, but if you prefer to pick and choose yourself, there are a few things you will want to consider. What types of butterflies live in your area. This information can be found at the local library, you’ll also want 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.

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.

Planning a color a layout for your butterfly garden is the best way to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors 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.