Butterfly Houses
A great majority of pollination necessary for plant and flower reproduction is handled by butterflies. Not only are they essential organisms, but they also provide spectacular displays of beauty. Unfortunately, due to the presence of pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, destructive weather patterns and deforestation practices, butterfly populations are in decline.
For this reason, many amateur wildlife gardeners believe that placing a home made butterfly house, or a purchased one, like a copper roof butterfly house, in their gardens will give butterflies a safe haven. Many experts, however, claim that these “butterfly houses”, more correctly called hibernating boxes, are constructed primarily to give some butterfly species places in which to overwinter; furthermore, the consensus is that they really have no function outside their aesthetic value.
Even though most butterfly house information sources claim that there is no evidence that butterflies use these houses, another consensus is that they cause no harm and so anyone interested in trying them out should do so. Indeed, viewing a butterfly house picture can show you how visually appealing these garden accessories can be; pictures of butterfly houses or well-kept gardens with bird feeders and butterfly houses are features in many home and garden magazines. Many butterfly gardeners recommend you build a butterfly house yourself, using butterfly house plans that you can purchase or free butterfly house plans that you can find on the Internet.
sure that the box is not placed in the sunniest, most open location in your garden. For starters, placing it in constant direct sunlight will cause the inside of the box to heat up to intolerable levels. Second, butterflies are the main course of many a predator’s meal and so they like to feel protected; they would much rather a box in a wooded or in some way protected area of your garden.
Both butterflies and caterpillars depend on plants and so it would be a good idea to plant a butterfly garden and place a box next to it to increase its attractiveness. Asters, Milkweed, Snapdragons, Sunflowers, Violets, Citrus, Black-eyed Susan, Purple coneflowers, Butterfly bush, and Liatris are some good suggestions. As for the proper height at which to place the box, opinions vary. Butterflies can be found at any height that provides a safe overwintering opportunity, so you can pretty much place your box where you’d like.
More than following any specific directions, though, wildlife gardeners again just really suggest following your creative instinct. Grab some free butterfly house patterns (free wooden butterfly house patterns give great results) or really any plans to build a butterfly house and construct a butterfly house of your own; build butterfly houses with slightly different styles to go with the décor of your home and garden and you’ll be able to add wonderful accessories to your outdoor space and have fun while doing it.
