A better butterfly garden
Go easy on the broad-spectrum insecticides to enjoy a healthy, pollinator-friendly landscape this summer.
Photo by L.A. Jackson
In the pursuit of perfect gardens, backyard growers often resort to insecticides in order to defend their plants against real or imaginary invasions from harmful insects. While this is an effective way to combat bad bugs, collateral damage can occur. Harmless insects like butterflies often get caught in the chemical crosshairs.
Broad-spectrum insecticides, those commercial concoctions that usually list on their labels a ton of plant-damaging bugs they can eliminate, are also dangerous to butterflies. When these chemicals are sprayed indiscriminately in a garden, just about all insect activity, both bad and good, ceases. Many gardeners also forget that systemic insecticides make all plant parts poisonous to insects, meaning they can put both leaf-munching butterfly caterpillars and nectar-sipping adults at risk.
Years ago, I used the nuclear option of broad-spectrum insecticides when faced with insect plagues of biblical proportions. I have since found that if I pay attention to my garden—in other words, go on patrol every day or two—I can stop most potential problems early with well-aimed sprays of commercial insecticidal soap. This direct contact killer leaves no harmful residue once it has dried, allowing gardeners to selectively dispatch such common six-legged nuisances as leafhoppers, aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, thrips and spider mites. For bigger bugs like hornworms and Japanese beetles, I usually just pick the pests off plants and toss them in a bucket of soapy water.
An easy way to deter bad bugs in your garden and lessen the need for insecticides in the first place is to make plants more insect-resistant. How do you do that? Simple—keep ’em healthy. Plants in prime condition are less attractive to hungry insects, and even if they are attacked, can weather damage better than plants that are weak or stressed.
Another natural way to fortify your landscape against insect invasions is to use store-bought native plants. By their evolved nature, such indigenous creations have survived and thrived in the wild against bad bugs without pesticides, so including some natives in your landscape is another easy step toward a butterfly-friendly garden.
Creating a more favorable environment for butterflies also benefits bees and other flower pollinators, not to mention bug predators such as lady beetles, fireflies, lacewings and parasitic wasps, so, long column short: A better butterfly garden is simply a better garden.
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May in the Garden
• Spring is in full swing, so begin gussying up flower beds with colorful, heat-seeking annuals such as portulaca, celosia, sun coleus, petunias, salvias, marigolds and zinnias.
• Not thrilled with the chore of deadheading blossoms to stimulate more flower production? Consider growing continuous blooming plants such as alyssum, impatiens, ageratum, cleome, scabiosa, lobelia and vinca that don’t need constant visits from the “spent flower police.”
• Worried about indoor pollutants? Spider plant, aloe vera, philodendron and golden pothos are all very efficient at helping to clear the air in offices and homes.
• Before the summer begins to sizzle, mulch around new and established plantings to help reduce wide fluctuations in soil temperature and ground moisture content.
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Tip of the Month
Now that the soil has warmed up, it is time to get gladiolus corms in the ground. Pick a well-draining site in full sun and, for more flower power this summer, mix in a time-release bulb fertilizer at planting time. The corms should be set about 3 to 5 inches deep and 3 to 6 inches apart. Glads don’t perform well during dry times, so add a 3-inch layer of organic mulch to help conserve moisture and water weekly, if necessary. Cultivars over 3 feet tall can be toppled by strong winds, so as a precaution, add support stakes into each planting hole.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.