Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds and Butterflies

[Mockingbird]

Now I know this is a weed but the butterflies love it and it really does smell quite nice. I had some Milkweed start in the yard, probably from birds, and since it was in a clear area I decided to let it stay. Mine grows about 3-4 feet high and usually smells lovely when the flower opens, the plant can become very profuse very fast so never feel like you can't pull it out. It does not transplant well so start from seeds. Monarch butterflies and all sorts other butterflies love this plant, unfortunatily so do the bee's and the wasps so be careful. One year in minutes I got stung on my head and my leg. That was not nice, so if you let it grow make sure it is away from where you frequent

 

[ChanellG]

I grow milkweed and I have never had trouble transplanting it. Maybe it's the variety in your yard? Mine came from the nursery and I've had some come up from self-seeding. I've also started it from stem cuttings. In fact, I just recently cut mine back and put the stem tops in the soil with their parent plants. I still have one that needs to move up to a larger pot, though I am debating whether or not to put some in a raised bed.

 

[ChanellG]

Butterfly guide for those interested in identifying butterflies in their yard. I'm hoping to see more variety of these in my garden next year. Can't wait to see if my butterfly bush cuttings take. They make such beautiful flowers!

 

[Mockingbird]

I grow milkweed and I have never had trouble transplanting it

You just replant it at the stem? i tried just to dig it up root and all and move it to an area not as full. It seemed like it was taking at first but then it just never grew. Now this was later in the season and even though i watered it might not have been enough. To me it seems like Milkweed likes the soil that is a bit more clay like, not the loose loamy type in the beds what kind of soil are you using?

 

[Cereus]

Indiana has a lot of gorgeous butterflies, it's a shame that nobody grows anything for them here. The first year I moved to Indiana I was living in a location where I could do some gardening, created a huge raised flower bed since the soil was too clay like to grow plants in and just went wild with mint, lavender, sunflowers, carnations and just about any other flower I could grow. All summer-autumn long that box was filled to the brim with butterflies of all sorts. It even attracted golden finches as well. I wasn't really aiming to grow things that would attract butterflies, but I guess since the neighbors weren't growing anything, that the butterflies were willing to take anything they could get.

 

[ChanellG]

You just replant it at the stem? i tried just to dig it up root and all and move it to an area not as full. It seemed like it was taking at first but then it just never grew. Now this was later in the season and even though i watered it might not have been enough. To me it seems like Milkweed likes the soil that is a bit more clay like, not the loose loamy type in the beds what kind of soil are you using?

Last year I was using compost mixed with this moisture control all purpose stuff that I've since decided I do not like. Now I am using purchased compost with basic potting soil. I mix them to the consistency I want to have sort of loose soil with good drainage and the transplant whatever needs transplanting.

I also give the plants epsom salt from time to time and place banana peels on top the soil, so those nutrients are there when needed, but the stems root easily enough under the right conditions. It's been surprisingly warm for this time of year, but because I have had success rooting a cutting before, I just stuck the pieces I trimmed into the same pot of the plant I trimmed them from.

Thinking of transplanting some of them to the ground for spring. I still need to hold some plants in reserve for when the butterflies start laying eggs. One caterpillar can eat 20 leaves before pupating!

 

[helagumamela]

Thank you for starting this thread! We do not have hummingbirds here in the Philippines. In fact, the only birds that visit our gardens are sparrows. Anyway, I am really interested in making a butterfly feeder. Maybe, making one will prevent them from laying eggs all over my garden!

 

[ChanellG]

Thank you for starting this thread! We do not have hummingbirds here in the Philippines. In fact, the only birds that visit our gardens are sparrows. Anyway, I am really interested in making a butterfly feeder. Maybe, making one will prevent them from laying eggs all over my garden!

I hate to say it, but no, the feeder won't prevent that. In fact it may encourage it more since you would have created a very hospitable home for butterflies. You can control how much the caterpillars eat in your garden by growing additional plants for them in another area. I started growing fennel and dill for the swallowtails in order to save my parsley.

I also made a butterfly habitat by covering my small greenhouse - a glorified rack - with tulle. i put the plants for them to eat inside and whenever new caterpillars hatched I moved them there. Because my plants are in pots it also makes it easy to rotate the plants so the caterpillars don't chomp away at them too much.

 

[IcyBC]

@claudine, you might want to create a butterfly feeder like this one:

You just put some overripe food in a pan for them, with or without a syrup. Here's the link for the pin:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/321796335844937387/[/QUOTE]

A butterfly dish is what I will create this summer. I have seen different kind of butterflies in my yard, from monarch, skippers of all kinds, question mark butterfly, to black swallowtail butterfly.

Going to check out pinterest now

 

[LIcenter]

@claudine, you might want to create a butterfly feeder like this one:

You just put some overripe food in a pan for them, with or without a syrup. Here's the link for the pin:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/321796335844937387/

A butterfly dish is what I will create this summer. I have seen different kind of butterflies in my yard, from monarch, skippers of all kinds, question mark butterfly, to black swallowtail butterfly.

Going to check out pinterest now [/QUOTE]
I would love to put something like this in my yard, but alas, so would all the bees! I have a hard enough time just keeping them at bey from my hummer feeders. Went thru four different types before I found one where the bees couldn't reach the juice. Now the trick is to remember where I bought them, so I can get a few more.

 

[ChanellG]

I would love to put something like this in my yard, but alas, so would all the bees! I have a hard enough time just keeping them at bey from my hummer feeders. Went thru four different types before I found one where the bees couldn't reach the juice. Now the trick is to remember where I bought them, so I can get a few more.

Bees are important so I'd suggest you make another area someplace in the garden where they can have their own feeder. You'll be doing them, the environment and yourself a favor in the process. The reason the bees are attracted to the feeders is that it gives them a much needed glycemic boost to keep flying and pollinating.

 

[LIcenter]

Bees are important so I'd suggest you make another area someplace in the garden where they can have their own feeder. You'll be doing them, the environment and yourself a favor in the process. The reason the bees are attracted to the feeders is that it gives them a much needed glycemic boost to keep flying and pollinating.

I appreciate what you are saying Chanell. I should have been a little more specific. I am inundated with Yellow Jackets, and Bald face hornets here. In the beginning of the season they are not too bad, as they are more in the meat eating mode, but when it gets to the end of the summer they switch to sugars in a frenzy to keep their nest alive. This is the time of year they become VERY hostile. If they were pollinators, I would say live and let live, but they are not, so this spring the wasp and hornet traps will go out extra early.

 

[hummingbird]

I feed with 1cup sugar and 4cup water ratio. I have videos of massive swarms at my home. They accepted me as one of their own and would fly regularly an inch from my eyes to say hi Sadly, the California drought has nearly wiped all of them out. I went from 10 feeders to one. I miss them. The ones left, though, have taken well to my orange climbing honeysuckle.

 

[ChanellG]

I appreciate what you are saying Chanell. I should have been a little more specific. I am inundated with Yellow Jackets, and Bald face hornets here. In the beginning of the season they are not too bad, as they are more in the meat eating mode, but when it gets to the end of the summer they switch to sugars in a frenzy to keep their nest alive. This is the time of year they become VERY hostile. If they were pollinators, I would say live and let live, but they are not, so this spring the wasp and hornet traps will go out extra early.

They must be nesting in your yard or right next to it. This is the time of year for queens to emerge and start nests so you should be on the lookout for protected areas that would be hospitable. Why they are a pain, they are pollinators. Crawling into a flower to drink nectar means they are coming in contact with pollen and spreading it to other flowers.

Parasitic wasps are also garden sentries that help control unwanted garden bugs like hornworms. If you have that many, you must have a very hospitable garden. You'll have to start hunting out the nests so that you can get to them before the queens overwinter. That way you can control the size of the population. Unless you're allergic though, I wouldn't eradicate them.

 

[ChanellG]

I feed with 1cup sugar and 4cup water ratio. I have videos of massive swarms at my home. They accepted me as one of their own and would fly regularly an inch from my eyes to say hi Sadly, the California drought has nearly wiped all of them out. I went from 10 feeders to one. I miss them. The ones left, though, have taken well to my orange climbing honeysuckle.

I assume we are talking about the hummingbirds and not butterflies. I'd love to see one of your videos. Those swarms must be an amazing site to behold! I don't think I have ever seen more than one hummingbird at a time, even in California. I know it doesn't rain much in CA, but maybe if you collect the water when it does, you could help offset the drought a bit?