Green Finger Gardening

Vines are a wonderful addition to almost any garden, because they are fairly low maintenance, and look great growing on top of just about everything. Whatever structure you have, such as a fence, arbor, or large blank wall, vines growing on them is a beautiful solution for covering them. Whether you want to grow vines along the ground, up the side of your house or over an arbor or gazebo, you should be able to find a vine to do the job.

The different varieties of ground vines are great to grow right in your garden, where you can weave them in and out, between the other plants, either on top of, or even in place of mulch. Many of these vines are fairly hardy, and can take a bit of foot traffic from kids and pets. Ground type vines are a wonderful and leafy addition to your garden.

The twining type vines will need some kind of latticework or other support to climb on. This type of vine climbs by using little tendrils to wrap around things as the climb, and this is what holds them in place. Twining vines will need a little bit of guidance when they first begin to grow. Once they are established, they can find their way pretty much on their own. I have purple trumpet vine, which is a twining vine, covering my gazebo and two arbors.

Besides growing vines on the ground or latticework, they can be blended with the architecture of your home. Vines, like Ivy and Virginia Creeper, put out small tendrils, which have sticky little tips that grab and hold onto any surface. This type of vine can be planted next to your house, and will be covering an unsightly wall in no time.

When dealing with vines, I do have a couple of words of caution. Some vines can get out of control, and will attempt to take over the entire house. Ivy is famous for this, on top of which, when ivy has been removed from the sides of homes, it’s been found, there is frequently damage caused by the ivy. The other downside I’ve found is that ivy is a cherished home for every snail and slug in town. Snails and slugs can cause incredible damage to the rest of your garden.

Whatever type of vine you choose to grow, you should first do a bit of research to learn about the growing habits, as well as the pros and cons of using the different kinds of vines.

When creating a butterfly garden, the possibilities of what to include in your butterfly garden design are endless. Below are some suggestions to help get you started. They are designed to spark the creative process of your mind and get you started on your way to creating a lovely butterfly garden.

Before you even begin your butterfly garden, find out which species of butterflies are in your area. Consider taking an exploratory hike around your location with a butterfly identification book. This may take a little extra time and effort, but the results will be worth it. After you have compiled your list of local butterfly species, be sure to write down in your butterfly garden plan what these particular species of butterflies use for nectar and food plants.

Be sure that your garden is in a location that provides at least six hours of sunlight per day. Butterflies are cold-blooded creatures and therefore do better where they are warm and sheltered.

Wind can be a butterfly’s worst enemy so be sure to have plenty of wind protection in your design. You can plant tall shrubs and other plants in order to create a wind break, but a location that avoids heavy winds is even better.

The best of all would be a butterfly garden placed on the sunny side of your home with windbreaks on both the west and east sides, or wherever the prevailing wonds come from in your area. Try and locate your garden close to a window so you can view the butterflies from indoors. Provide seating outside too.

If possible, you could excavate an area and build a stone wall around it. This would create the ideal windbreak for your butterflies. Mmake gravel pathways around your garden to save walking in mud.

There are many creative ways for constructing a butterfly garden. Take your time to design a garden that you will enjoy and be proud of.

What is butterfly gardening? Simply put butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract these colorful and dainty creatures to your garden. Delight your family and visitors with beautiful butterflies, but be sure to create a safe habitat for them. If you own cats rethink your plans, because it would be a shame to attract these lovely insects to their death.

The design your butterfly garden is a matter of personal preference. Typical points to consider are the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you, but ensure it also contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.

It is important to find out which plants and flowers will attract the species of butterflies. that live in your area. This information can be found at the local library
To create the kind of environment that they find attractive, you will also need water of some kind. A birdbath will look attractive and keep the butterflies up off the ground, away from stray cats or mischievous puppies. A shallow dish on a post or hung in a tree will do just as well.

When planting your butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flowerbeds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, you don’t want your garden to be a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures. Butterflies are attracted to those flowers that have nectar rather than pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies and lavender.

Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly gardening plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.