Bringing butterflies to your garden 

With Monarch butterflies nearing the endangered species list it’s so important to help these valuable pollinators find a safe haven. Besides their obvious beauty butterflies hold an important place in our ecosystem so let’s discuss some great ways to bring these babies home!

1. No more pesticides.  Malathion, Sevin, and diazinon, are all deadly to butterflies.There a many natural pest control methods available – talk to a Ridgeview representative about your options.

2. Grow native plants. This is easy and an aesthetic winner, with many of our native plants being as beautiful as they are functional. Native plants are most often the easiest to care for and they will support pollinators and other local fauna that have evolved with these regionally specific plants.

3. Sunny Sunny Days. Butterflies prefer to feed in full sun and love bright colors. Choose plants in stunning colours and plant them in locations with as many daylight hours as possible.

4. Create butterfly spas. A nice snack and a nice soak – sounds pretty good right? Well butterflies think so too, and love to get in a little R&R after a meal. No hot tubs required, simply place some nice flat rocks, a table or plant stand in a sunny location. Add small dishes filled with sand and water to complement these little sun stops. Butterflies do something called puddling which is basically sitting in wet sand or mud to drink a little mineralized water.

Do you have any methods you use to help our winged pals? We’d love to hear about them.