Hey there, Margarita here with a special request from one of readers.

Charmaine wants to know - 'How to best attract Butterflies into her garden'.

Well Charmaine, do you know, one particular plant that is a close and very dear companion to roses is Lavender and, yes, yes, yes...you guessed it, Lavender is one of the many great Butterfly attractors.

I am not sure if you are also growing roses as you did not say. There are some who may advise against growing roses and at the same time doing all you can to attract Butterflies (caterpillar factor).

After reading your email I recalled that I had somewhere on my hard drive an article on just this subject of attracting butterflies and exactly what the essential elements are for doing so.

Butterflies are just plain wonderful to watch as they flit and float all over the place, seemingly without a care in the world.

Butterfly gardens range in size from small to large. When setting out to create your butterfly garden it is essential to first establish exactly which butterflies are native to your area and then concentrate on attracting them.

You will also need to find out which particular plants or flowers are native to your area. When you have both these areas sorted you will be in an excellent position to start to successfully attract the butterflies.

When creating a butterfly garden, these are some important things to consider doing.

1) You must have the right type of plants in your garden to attract butterflies. Some of the most popular plants are, milkweed, a butterfly bush (planted where it will get plenty of sunshine), lavender, thistle, buddleia, wildflowers and herbs such as chives. Remember, butterflies feed on the nectar of  plants, so the more nectar a flower produces, the more butterflies that flower will attract.

2) You must have the right type of plants that can provide food for caterpillars. Butterflies will stay longer if plants are handy for them to lay their eggs on. Caterpillars then emerge from the eggs - of course when this happens they  will need to have a food source nearby. After a short period, the caterpillars  form cocoons and then amazingly emerge as new butterflies.

The most popular plants for caterpillars are alfalfa, clover, milkweed and peas.

3) You will need to provide a sunny spot. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need the sun in order to warm themselves up. Plus, butterflies prefer to visit flowers that are in the sun, since they are able to keep warm and obtain nourishment at the same time.

4) You will need to create shelter. Butterflies need a calm place to rest, a place without a lot of wind or breeze. Shrubs or small bushes suit this need well.

5) You must avoid pesticides. Pesticides affect butterflies - first, as caterpillars, and if the caterpillars can't survive, then they are unable to turn into butterflies. Then secondly as butterflies also eat insects, if the insects have ingested pesticides then so will the butterflies when they eat those insects.

6) You must have a source of water handy, such as a birdbath or even sand that is soaked with water.

7) You really should create rest spots for the butterflies – they get tired too! Rocks are just perfect for this and, if the rocks are in the sun, they provide somewhere for the butterflies to warm up on cool mornings.

So there you go, I certainly hope that this has been of some help to you.

Also you may want to keep an eye out for our special report titled 'How To Start a Butterfly Garden' with Sherry n Margarita which is coming out soon.

In the meantime....

We wish you every blooming success  in attracting those gorgeous butterflies into your garden!

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