A Live Butterfly Garden is a Great Way to Teach Your Child About Science

Science is something that happens all around us whether we realize that are not. The best way to teach children about science is by showing them. This can be done by going on nature walks and watching the birds build nests or by looking at tadpoles and exploring how they will grow up to become frogs.

Children love to learn and the more interesting you make it the more they will soak up. Nature as a wonderful way to teach your child about science and the live butterfly garden will do just that.

A live butterfly garden can open up a whole new world to children. They can watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly and then set it free.

I have a friend who buys her nieces a butterfly garden every year in the early spring so they can watch them grow. About three days after the butterflies emerge, they all get together and all set the butterflies free.

Her nieces are not only learning about the nature of butterflies but they are learning a wonderful lesson about letting go of the things they love. Plus they will have the happy memories for a lifetime.

They also had a live butterfly garden at my son's preschool he was so excited about watching the caterpillars turn into butterflies that that was all he talked about for weeks.

What exactly is a live butterfly garden?

A live butterfly garden is a kit you can buy that includes five to six caterpillar larvae surrounded by the food that they will need to grow and it comes with a mesh net.

What happens?

The larvae turn into caterpillar's and the children can watch as they build their cocoon and emerge into butterflies. The whole process takes two to three weeks so make sure you don't buy it in the winter because after about three days you'll need to set the butterflies free so that they can get food.

There are many free methods to teach a child about science and nature, so please do not feel that it is necessary to buy products to teach a child the wonders of nature.

If you know someone who would love to learn about butterflies make sure you visit http://www.best-online-deals.net to ensure you get the best deal on a live butterfly garden

Adding A Butterfly Garden To Your Yard

Butterflies are very interesting creatures and a great addition to any backyard garden. Providing a welcoming environment for butterflies will attract them and provide you with an opportunity to observe these beautiful parts of nature right in your own yard. By building a butterfly garden not only will you have a yard full of beautiful visitors you will be helping to preserve these interesting insects for future generations by helping to replace natural habitat that is increasingly being destroyed by development.

Planning A Butterfly Garden

Before you can build a butterfly garden there are a few things you will need to know but with a little research you will be able to come up with a garden that will attract huge amounts of butterflies to your back yard.

What types of butterflies are in your part of the country?
What types of nectar? plants are they most attracted to?
What types of plants are host plants do their caterpillars feed off of?

To attract the most butterflies you will need to know what types live in your area. Once yo have found this out you will be able to choose the right nectar plants to attract the adult butterflies to your garden. Nectar plants are what adult butterflies feed on. To encourage as many butterflies as possible? you will also want host plants these are plants that butterflies lay their eggs on and that will feed the caterpillars. Most large universities in your state will have an entomology department and can provide you with this information.

Now that you have your information decide which types of butterflies you want to attract. Then check your plant list to determine the best plants for the type of butterflies you want in your garden. Now that you know what plants to use you will need to find out about each ones growth habits are they tall or short, annuals or perennials, and what do they look like. Armed with this information you can layout a garden plan.

The garden can be laid out in what ever way most suits your taste. You may make your garden as large or as small as you want. You do not need to make a special garden if you don't want to. Butterfly nectar plants and butterfly host plants can be added to your existing garden to encourage these visitors. A good tip is if using perennials and annuals it would be advisable to place the annuals in the front as they will need replacing every year.

Once your plans are set visit your local garden center or nursery to get the plants you need for your new butterfly garden. If you can not find the plants locally you may need to order them from a catalog or online. Be sure and check the plants requirements so that you will be able to place them into your garden and give them the proper care to encourage good growth.

When your garden is completed you can feel proud that you have done something that will help preserve these wonderful creatures many of which are rapidly disappearing. You may also want to place a garden bench or a favorite lawn chair close to the garden so you can observe and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Glenn Bronner is a professional grounds keeper with over 35 years of experience. Come join him as he tends the Urban Garden and The Woodland Garden and shares gardening tips and knowledge at his site, Glenns Garden - http://glenns-garden.com

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Creating a Butterfly Garden

We're going to look at the basics of creating a garden that is perfect for butterflies. You need to plan a garden with the purpose of attracting butterflies, keeping them in your garden, and making the environment friendly for them to breed.

The first thing you need to do is choose several plants that produce nectar for the butterflies and will hopefully provide continuous blooms through the summer. The most important time to have blooms is mid to late summer. This is when most butterflies are most active. Flowers that produce multiple blooms on a single plant and contain a lot of nectar are best.

You probably want to choose a variety of annuals for your garden, because annuals bloom all though the season. This provides butterflies with a continuous supply of nectar, and will keep the butterflies coming to your yard all season.

Some perennials are very good for attracting butterflies. Lilac and asters are favorites for butterfly gardens. Coneflowers are a lovely wildflower that butterflies adore. Herbs such as parley, dill, and mint provide good nectar for butterflies.

You can make homemade butterfly feeders from small jars, such as baby food jars. You just drill a hole in the middle of the lid and stuff it with cotton. Then you fill the jar with a mixture of 1:9 sugar and water. (1 part sugar and 9 parts water.)

Then you can decorate the jar with brightly colored bits of felt to attract the butterflies to it. Hang it somewhere in your garden and the butterflies will come suck the "nectar" out through the cotton in the lid.

In addition to providing plants that will feed the butterflies and their larva, you'll need to be sure your yard is hospitable in other ways. Butterflies need a bit of shelter for their eggs. You'll need to provide some sort of windbreak around your butterfly garden, so the butterflies can lay their eggs in an area where wind won't harm them.

They also need a mud puddle at which to congregate. Butterflies like to gather at the edges of puddles, so you'll need to provide at least one for them. You should also be sure not to use too many pesticides around your garden.

These poisons can kill butterfly larva, and they can also harm the butterflies themselves. It doesn't take a lot of insecticide to kill these delicate creatures. Insecticides can kill delicate caterpillars before they have a chance to grow into butterflies.

They can also kill adult butterflies when they light onto the plants to rest, or when they consume nectar that has been tainted with poison. Before you spray any of your plants, be sure the creatures you're trying to kill are actually damaging pests.

Some butterfly larva can look remarkably similar to common garden pests, and although butterfly larvae do feed on plants, they don't typically eat enough to do any real damage. So be sure your identification is correct before you spray.

Most flowers that are brightly-colored and sweet-smelling should attract butterflies to your garden. You should plant a wide variety of flowers, mostly annuals, if you want to attract the most different types of butterflies. Since different species are attracted to different types of flowers, having a good variety will ensure that you get the most different types of butterflies visiting your garden.

Butterfly Garden Essentials

Butterfly gardening can be a terrific way to supply food for butterflies, pollinate plants, and delight in observing them fly around. The fulfillment which gardeners get through watching butterflies and various wildlife within their gardens is an outstanding reward for their gardening endeavours. Butterfly gardening is the skill of employing flowers and plants which bring butterflies to your house. The gorgeous insects will flutter around the backyard, amusing and thrilling you. Butterfly gardening is swiftly growing increasingly more popular. Its considered to be one of the quickest growing and most widespread pastimes today.

Butterfly gardening is the skill of growing flowers and plants which will bring these vibrant and graceful creatures to the garden while improving your landscape. Put smiles on the faces of your loved ones and guests with gorgeous butterflies, however make sure you build a protected environment for them. Butterfly gardening can be a means for folks to change their gardens into sanctuaries for butterflies. Simply by growing nectar plants and host plants (for the caterpillar to grow on) folks will begin to save the butterfly population.

Plants

Growing a sufficient source of host plants provides butterflies an area to lay their eggs, that will successfully hatch and lead to butterflies which will keep visiting the garden. Grow the proper host plant for the proper butterfly and they will come into your backyard. Grow nectar plants and they will remain inside your backyard. Plants having clustered flowers likewise provide butterflies access to more nectar sources in one stop as compared to plants having small, single flowers. Color likewise plays a considerable part in organizing nectar sources inside your butterfly garden. Blooming plants require sunlight to grow in order to create nectar for butterflies.

Growing a successful butterfly garden is easy, nonetheless it will call for proper planning plus a bit of preliminary research. Plant the garden alongside a natural or man-made windbreak. Hedgerows, edges of forests, walls of houses, as well as footings of forgotten buildings protect butterflies from the wind. Place some fruit trees or leave bowls of fruit outdoors to catch the attention of and feed the butterflies. Many butterflies get so full of fruit they might remain still long enough for you to approach them.

Flowers

Flowers in the daisy family as well as flowers within clusters such as milkweed and viburnum are excellent selections. Make an effort to plant various wildflowers in groups of 3 to 5 plants. Plants which are proven to entice butterflies are cone flowers, daisies, sunflowers, lilies and marigolds. You can begin growing a few of these from seed inside your backyard or greenhouse. With regards to gardeners that wish to attract monarch butterflies, milkweed flowers are a must seeing as their caterpillars feast solely on milkweed.

Nectar

Nectar is their principal food supply, and the majority of common butterflies are fairly indiscriminate about where they obtain it. However the adult butterfly is merely one generation within the life-cycle of its species. Nectar plants supply nutrition for the adult butterflies. Although it is feasible to create a butterfly garden with only nectar plants, the variety of butterflies traveling to these gardens is going to be less than those gardens which include larval food plants.

Caterpillars

Caterpillars, which transform into butterflies, need particular types of plants to feed on. They are referred to as host plants. Caterpillar food plants in many cases are commonplace "weeds" therefore host plants usually are not obligatory particularly if you reside in a rural community, however if your garden includes at least a handful of caterpillar plants the variety and number of butterflies will increase. Adults lay eggs on plants which their young can eat. Caterpillars feast on leaves of trees and shrubs, blossoms, vegetables, and weeds. Certain types of caterpillars tend to be discriminating eaters which will feed on just one type of plant.

Designing gardens which mirror our tastes and choices in plants can be a fulfilling enterprise. You can easily bring an additional dimension to your endeavours by building an environment which attracts and nurtures butterflies.

Charles Allen has been interested in home improvement for years. His latest interest is in table saws. Visit his website at http://www.tablesawreport.com for his most recent articles on Hitachi Table Saws

Create a Butterfly Garden That Will Be the Envy of the Neighborhood!

Many people would like to have a butterfly garden that is the envy of the neighborhood. However, they may not have any idea of where to start. A butterfly garden should provide the basics of survival for butterflies. Then the task of creating a butterfly garden becomes a simple matter.

The things that butterflies need are these, shelter, food, water and a place to lay their eggs and reproduce. If you supply them with these requirements, then you should have no problem in creating the perfect butterfly garden.

Butterflies are cold blooded, which means that they need the warmth of the sun to help them regulate their body temperature. With that in mind, you need to plan on making your butterfly garden in a full-sun location that gets at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Butterflies have very delicate wings, a strong wind can tear their wings apart. So you need to keep that in mind, as you are planning your butterfly garden. Try to find a location that is sheltered from the prevailing winds. You can also put up a fence or a hedge of shrubs to provide shelter for your butterfly garden from the wind.

All butterflies are near-sighted, so they are attracted by large groups of brightly colored butterfly flowers that will provide them with abundant amounts of nectar through the spring, summer, and fall. If you plant single flowers the butterflies may not be able to see them.

Butterflies mainly visit daisy-like flowers and the flat topped type of flowers. Flowers that produce large amounts of nectar are most suitable for your butterfly garden, because they will provide plenty of food for your butterflies.

Some other things that butterflies need to stay healthy, are water and minerals; so you should plan on including either a muddy spot, or devise a "permanent mud puddle" in your butterfly garden. By doing this, you will supply a place for the butterflies to get the water and minerals that they need.

The butterflies that visit your garden will also be seeking host plants to lay their eggs on, so that they may continue their life cycle. Most butterflies have a specific plant that they use as a host plant. For instance the Monarch butterfly only uses plants that are in the Milkweed family to lay their eggs on. So, it would most likely be advisable to do a little research to find which plants are most suitable for you and the butterflies you want to attract.

Butterflies are everywhere, and they are very easy to attract to your garden. By providing for their basic needs; you will create a place that makes butterflies feel welcome, and a place where they will also want to stay around for awhile.

Butterfly Garden Plants

Creating a butterfly habitat is not as difficult as many people might believe. Following a few simple steps and growing the right butterfly garden plants will bring a mass of butterflies to your backyard for years to come. Having the most desirable plants available to butterflies goes a long way in drawing the most with the least amount of effort. Let's begin with identifying which plants attract butterflies, by their nectar, and then move on to the butterfly host plants.

Butterfly Nectar Plants - Most Common


Butterfly Bush

Butterfly Weed

Common Milkweed

Wild Bergamot

Purple Coneflower

Autumn Joy Sedum

Marigolds

Black-Eyed Susan

Garlic Chives

Red Clover

Lilacs

The butterfly host plants are used mainly by the butterflies for laying eggs and as a source of nutrition for the caterpillars.

Butterfly Host Plants - Most Common

Most of the Milkweed family

Pawpaw Tree

Alfalfa

Herbs (such as Parsley & Dill)

Clover family

Mustard family

Willows

By planting these commonly available garden plants you can attract the most wide array of butterflies to your garden. You'll want to also plant an assortment of other perennials and grasses to provide a cover for your butterflies to retreat to. Your butterfly garden wouldn't be complete without a place for the butterflies to drink from. While you may find a desperate butterfly taking a sip at the edge of a bird bath, you would do well to give them a more natural watering hole. If you don't have a naturally wet spot in your garden you can easily make your own by filling a shallow container with some sand and then keeping the water level right below the surface of the sand. That way the butterflies can actually land on the damp surface and take a drink.

While there are many more garden plants that you could grow to draw specific types of butterflies, these tips will draw a host of butterflies to your garden in a hurry. Don't forget that once you create your butterfly habitat, you should be responsible in the maintenance of it.

Copyright © 2009 - Brian French - All rights reserved

Learn more about garden trees & plants at the author's gardening information website, where you'll find many more how to gardening articles.

Enjoying a Live Butterfly Garden Kit in the Home

If you are looking for a way to bring science and nature lessons into the home, you'll want to invest in a live butterfly garden kit. Children enjoy observing animals and insects in their natural habitats. Butterflies are particularly captivating for young ones. Butterflies garden have become popular zoo exhibits, and now, you can enjoy a butterfly garden in your own home.

A butterfly garden kit provides many teaching opportunities. Parents can use the live butterfly garden kit to teach youngsters about the many stages insects go through in their development. Children can observe these stages within the butterfly gardens. Furthermore, parents or teachers can use the kit to explain vital life lessons to young ones as well. Enjoying insect lore's live butterfly kit in the home is an opportunity for all parents to explore.

First, one particular butterfly kits on the market is the Live Butterfly Garden by Insect Lore. The kit comes with a habitat for the development of the butterflies from larvae to painted ladies. The reusable mesh habitat is collapsible, so it can easily be stored when not in use. The kit also comes with detailed, easy-to-follow instructions, along with a feeder and mail-in coupon for five caterpillar larvae and food. Parents must provide sugar and water for the larvae. Children can enjoy the three-week process of watching their little larvae grow, form chrysalides, and emerge into beautiful painted ladies. After observing their butterflies for a few days, it is advised the children let their butterflies free into the world, back to nature.

A live butterfly kit provides powerful lessons for young children. First, children learn about the different stages of development for butterflies, along with all life forms. They learn that they, themselves, have grown and developed through different stages. Children learn to care for the butterflies in their various stages, and they learn to let their butterflies go out into the world. Children will love the real-life, hands-on approach they can take to learning all of these lessons. Parents and caregivers will enjoy the togetherness the activity provides. Parents love to teach to a captive audience, after all, and a live butterfly kit will have children energized and enthusiastic about all the lessons they can learn.

If you are looking for an ideal way to bring nature and science into the home, you must explore a live butterfly garden kit. By incorporating the developmental stages of a butterfly, you can teach your children valuable life lessons about nurturing life, watching growth and development, and then allowing life to enjoy freedom.

Children will gain a sense of pride as they care for their larvae, and they will be intrigued by the changes happening right before their eyes. Finally, they will learn to let go of their charges, as they release their butterflies back into nature. Of course, with a reusable habitat included in the kit, the process can be repeated again and again, or the habitat could be used for observing other insects or natural elements. A live butterfly garden kit provides a bonding and learning experience for the entire family to enjoy.