Caledon Enterprise
Creating a habitat for bees and butterflies in your backyard is easier than you think. Not only will you be helping our tiny insect friends as they go about their essential business of pollination, but your children will love learning about all the different types of butterflies that make their home in Canada. Here are some ideas:
Native bees and butterflies will be attracted to native plants. Think coneflowers and columbine, black-eyed Susan, phlox, asters, and daisies. Monarda—also known as bee balm—is a particular favourite, and you can’t go wrong with a wildflower garden featuring Queen Anne’s lace, milkweed, goldenrod, and thistle.
Pick plants with flowers in bees’ favourite shades. Bees love flowers in blues, purples, yellows and white. They’re happy with purple coneflowers and hydrangeas, but will also sample from your herb and vegetable garden—from lavender and oregano and even tomatillo plants once they start flowering.
Support butterflies at every stage of their development: Here, you’ll need two types of plants—host plants for butterfly larvae and nectar plants for food. Different types of butterflies prefer different types of plants. For example, Monarchs will feed from nectar plants including lilac and milkweed, and prefer plants in the milkweed and cosmos families for laying eggs. Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, on the other hand, lay their eggs in willow, alder or apple trees and choose lilacs and bee balm as nectar plants.
Be sure to visit Greenside Gardens ’n More for all your landscaping needs. In addition to a garden centre stocked with a huge variety of perennials, trees and shrubs, Greenside Gardens ’n More offers mulch, soil, stone and aggregates, as well as lawn maintenance and landscaping services. Contact them today at 905-794-1140 or visit www.greensidegardensnmore.com for more information.
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