![]() (Image credit: Getty Images) What can you put out to attract butterflies?Īlthough summer sees the highest number of insect pollinators, they are around through most of the year, so need reliable food sources each season. ![]() Learn how to plant a wildflower meadow and consider not pulling out all the nettles you spot until after the caterpillars will have moved on. 'Without nettles the peacock, red admiral, and comma butterflies would only be occasional visitors in our gardens both in the UK and US,' explains experts at the Northumberland National Park. While many of us might view nettles as an unwanted and potentially dangerous weed, it is in fact a lifeline for many butterflies and moths. If you have space for a mixed grass meadow or a large patch of nettles in a sunny position you may be lucky and some species of butterfly may lay eggs,' recommends Dr Andrew Salisbury, Principal Entomologist with the RHS. 'Many adult moths and some butterflies can be catered for in gardens by providing plenty of plants for pollinators, while their caterpillars have more specific requirements. Having favourable habitats in your garden is a great way to attract butterflies. When it comes to spring, butterflies start to hunt for the perfect place to lay their eggs. ![]() 'Butterfly borders can provide lots of food for other types of insects, like bees and hoverflies, too, so they will go a long way to helping local populations of other pollinators,' he adds. It is a good idea to plant a range of plants with different shapes that flower through the year,' explains Anthony McCluskey, project officer from Butterfly Conservation. 'There are some flowers which are so deep that they are much more accessible to butterflies and moths with longer tongues, such as phlox and dianthus. When considering how to attract butterflies, it is important to ensure that you have lots of different flowers available for our winged friends. Like bees, butterflies like to stick their long tongue into tubular flowers and take nectar from a variety of colorful blooms, both native and non-native. You should also consider flowers that attract bees as there is a lot of overlap between the favorite plants of each species. 'Years of selection for increasingly showy blooms has resulted in flowers losing their attraction to pollinators, but there are plenty of traditional, cottage garden plants which are tip-top as far as these insects are concerned,' explains plantswoman Sarah Raven. ![]() Pollinators don't like double, multi-petalled and highly hybridized flowers as they may lack pollen and nectar and be difficult to access. In general, however, the best plants for a butterfly garden tend to be single, open flowers, such as old-fashioned cottage garden plants, are best to give easy access, and ideally planted in drifts and placed in a sunny, sheltered spot. When designing a garden for pollinators it is important to remember that different pollinators require different shapes of flowers and some will only visits to feed on particular blooms and plants.
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