butterflies

...Today I am showing you pictures of my butterfly garden. I have seen a couple of butterflies here and there and hopefully, later in the summer there will be even more. I also hope it will look even better then.

Butterflies are considered pollinators, although they aren't as efficient as bees. Alas, there population is also declining because of pesticide use, diseases and changing land uses. The US Forest Service International Program is planning on doing something about this, if they haven't already. Parterning with 4-H, Future Farmers of America and Farms Bureaus, they want to restore milkweek and prairie plants around ditches, fields and roads. They are also helping communities in Mexico and helping the younger generation learn conservation practices for pollinators, such as the Monarch Butterfly.

There are all sorts of places that you could buy your own butterfly culture to start your own butterfly habitat, but I don't know if I agree with that. I think just by planting flowers that produce a lot of nectar and not using harmful pesticides will be a way to help, don't you? Butterflies have a way of finding the flowers they need. I also tell the neighbor kids not to catch the butterflies with their fingers (rubs off their magic dust!) and not to pick the flowers.

I plan on taking the boys to the botanical gardens this week and also the blackberry farm, but because of the heat, it may have to wait. (Rhett's heat rash=no fun outside)

Oh and I did find a site where I could buy milkweek seeds. Of course, I couldn't plant them until November, but that is okay. I also found a site where there is a picture of the common milkweed: