‘Gossamer Garden’ By Nicholas Walker

Nicholas-Walker-JardinA Gossamer Garden 

Bella Petite Lifetsyle Expert Nicholas Walker of Jardin is here to bring you a world of beauty through butterfly eyes.

We know everybody enjoys watching beautiful butterflies fluttering by them! Right now it’s a good time to plant flowers that attract these gossamer creatures in your home garden.

Butterflies are extremely important creatures to our ecosystem, they are not just simply lightweight beauties that decorate our world. They are an indicator of the quality of their ecological surroundings and are powerful pollinators; where there are butterflies, there will be abundant plants and flower life.

As our planet loses more of its forests, meadows and gardens and uses more chemical pesticides butterfly populations are threatened.Kathy-Ireland-Nicholas-Walker-Jardin-1

In your own back yard you can help save a species and create living beauty for you to enjoy.  To create a butterfly world in your outdoor space you must plan a garden that will attract and sustain butterflies.

Butterflies love nectar, they survive upon it, so by planting many different nectar-producing plants you will ensure that butterflies will come to your house for dinner.

Here’s how to invite fluttering friends into your home’s backyard:

1. Firstly, butterflies like sunshine, so chose a sunny spot for their garden. Grouping flowers of similar color together in clusters is a definite call of the wild to the butterfly and the fact that it looks stunning is as an added bonus for you. Flowers with many smaller blossoms in clusters are butterfly favorites, like the aptly named Butterfly bush (Buddleia or Morning Glory.)

2. When choosing plants that will attract butterflies, think locally, you will need to research what larval food plants would be the preferred choice of your local specimens, basically even butterflies have neighborhood preferences and you can find out what those are by looking on the internet or going to your local nursery.

3. Like all things in the garden an adequate supply of sunshine and water will make your butterfly garden successful. Butterflies drink from shallow pools and a bowl of water with sand added to it are perfect butterfly watering holes.

4. Butterflies are light and therefore do not like to battle the wind they prefer sheltered corners, so plant flowers away from an open and windy area. You can create windbreaks by planting some bushes, or trees around the butterfly garden like a shield that allow the butterflies to get to their nectar without a struggle. Some good choices would be berry bushes, hydrangeas, purple smoke tree or cypress.

5. Annuals are perfect plants for your butterfly garden because they keep blooming through the Spring and Summer seasons and  they are a regular source of food.

6. Finally, here is a list of some great flowers to plant in your butterfly haven: Peony, Petunia, Dill, Mint, Queen Anne’s lace, Nasturtium, Marigolds, Shasta Daisies, Aster, Hollyhock, Goldenrod, Butterfly Bush, and Lantana. Don’t forget to research what your local butterflies like the best as they do have regional favorites.

Now that the work is done sit back, relax, or take a walk through your garden and enjoy watching these heavenly creatures as they gather their nectar making all of your hard work to attract them pay off beautifully!

Written By: Nicholas Walker

ANN LAUREN LIVECAST: Kathy Ireland Worldwide Design Ambassadors celebrity chef Andre Carthen and designer/builder Nicholas Walker join us for a ‘Summer-Palooza!’

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