“Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder," -Henry David Thoreau
Building a butterfly house for your garden can be a fun project. Papa Rick, grandfather of a fellow girl scout, helped each of our girls to build a bird house as part of our "Girl Scouts Give Back" program.
Do they work?
We have researched a lot of pages and the advice is contradictory. Put your butterfly house in a sunny spot, put it in a shady woody spot. The best advice we found is to put it where it fits in your garden. Most butterfly houses will go unused. If you get a special visitor overwintering, or using your box to excape the wind or preditors, then consider yourself one of the lucky ones.
To make your butterfly house more likely to attract butterflies follow these steps from https://www.hunker.com/12169327/how-to-attract-butterflies-to-a-butterfly-house
Paint your house using bright colors such as purple, yellow, red, and pink
Plant flowers that butterflies like such as asters, purple cone flowers, zinneas and daisys
Plant your garden in a sunny area
Place your butterfly house near a water source
Plant host plants for butterflies to lay eggs on, with leaves for caterpillars to eat
Find link to host plants https://www.applewoodseed.com/host-plants-for-butterfly-gardens/
Build it anyway
Regardless if your butterfly house is bustling with activity, a butterfly house is a fun way to ad interest to your garden. The chances that you will get a visitor are greatly increased the more butterfies you have spending time in your garden. Visit our Butterfly S.O.S. post for how to make a butterfuly puddle and what flowers will help attract butterflies to your garden.
Here are links to some great DIY butterfly house sites
Picture from the Family Handyman
Get Inspired
Once you get rolling on establishing a sustainable habitat for butterflies, take the next step and certify your butterfly garden with the North Amerian Butterfly Association. To certify your butterfly garden you will need to identify:
Type of program (individual or institution)
Setting (urban, suburban, rural)
Approximate size of your garden
Location (home, school, park, etc.)
Name you want on your certificate and garden signs
Name of 3 of the nectar plants you grow in your garden
Name of 3 host plants you grow in your garen
The cost is $15 for an individual and $25 for an institution, and $25 for each sign you would like to order to display in your garden.
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