Greenbottle flies like to try to eat defenseless sheep before their wool is sheared off.  Most moths, however, go after wool after it’s made into your favorite sweater.

Maybe these moths are just dizzy from all that circling.  What other reason could they have for eating someone else’s hair?  They’ve never told us, but keep your woolen sweaters, scarves and mittens far, far away from moths!

We get our wool from sheep.  First, the sheep gets a haircut and the sheared wool is cleaned.  Any bugs that live in the warm, dense wool must bid their home goodbye!  The, the wool is dyed and carded or brushed flat in a sliver.  The slivers are rolled into a cord, or yarn, and eventually weaved into a cloth or knitted into a sweater.  Apparently, moths think that all this work is done just so they can have a nice pretty sweater for dinner.  To protect your clothes from moths, place some cedar chips or a few mothballs in your closet. Moths, and most humans can’t stand the smell!

Going to the Moon!

Moths are known by the “circling” patterns they make as they fly, but the only time they do so is when we can see them.  Most of the time they fly in a straight line, guided by the light of the moon. 

However, when they see our lights, they get confused by these impostor moons, and try to switch course, which causes them to fly in circles.  You can try to confuse moths even further by flashing two flashlights on and off, onte at a time.  If you succeed in tricking the poor moth, you’ll see it flying back and forth from one flashlight to the other.

Why Wool is Warm

Did You Know:  Why do we make our warmest clothes out of wool?  Because it works like an insulator:  it keeps your body heat inside your cothes and does not allow it to escape.  But did you also know that wool keeps the heat out too?  The principle is the same; it does not allow heat to cross through, whether inside or out.

The potato bug, also known as the Colorado beetle, is a small beetle decorated with vertical stripes, nothing to be afraid of, right?

Well, did you know that no one can scare potato farmers as much as the potato bug?  That’s because a few of these bugs can easily ruin an entire potato crop.

This wasn’t always the case.  A long, long time ago, potatoes didn’t really grow in North America, and the potato bug was nowhere to be seen either.  The first people to cultivate potatoes were the Incas, who lived in South America.  When the Europeans arrived to the New World, they tried eating potatoes, liked them, and took them back to Europe with them, where they became very popular.  In fact, when the first immigrants came to North America, they brought the potato plants with them.  Now that’s a journey to be proud of!

And what about the potato bugs?  Well, they weren’t always known for their love of potatoes.  Originally from Mexico, these pesky bugs survived on a plant known as buffalo bur.  As the potatoes were introduced throughout North America, the potato bugs got a taste as well, and they liked them so much that they gave up the buffalo bur for good!

One of the reasons the potato bug has become such an enemy to the potato farmer is due to its ability to develop so quickly.  The eggs, which quickly change to larvae, feed for just three weeks then drop into the ground, returning ten days later as adult beetles ready to lay eggs.  The only thin slowing these beetles down is they have a few enemies of their own, such as toads, snakes, ladybird beetles, birds, wasps, flies, and stinkbugs, to name a few.

Who Am I?

I am famous for playing “follow the leader.”  A man named Jean Henri Fabre first discovered my head-to-tail trails on an everygreen tree.  If you put me on a bowl with several of my friends, we will follow each other around forever, or at least until we wear down.  Who Am I?

Answer: erbaF rallipretac

Lines and Stripes:  Draw two outlines of a beetle.  On one, add vertical stripes and on the other, make the  stripes horizontal.  Which beetle appears larger?  Now, take two more outlines and color one beetle a light color and the other one dark.  Is there any difference in how they appear? 

Now, consider this:  If you’re trying to look taller, which way should you wear your stripes?  And, if you want your room to look bigger, what shades of paint should you choose?

In fact, we have learned a lot from these creatures.  Can you guess which insect may have inspired these inventions?

• gliders
• tunnels
• helicopters
• hammocks
• flashlights
• tents
• needles
• nets
• camouflage
• straws
• apartment houses

Butterfly Wings

There is another eason why butterfly wings are special.  Whether you are looking at the smallest butterfly (a dwarf blue), which is 1/2 inch in size, or the gigantic white birdwing butterfly (over 12 inches tall), every one is different.  The patterns on the butterfly wings are as individual and unique as snowflakes, there are no two that are exactly alike. 

To examine the butterfly wings, you will need a microscope or a magnifying glass. 

Making Your Own Magnifying Tool

If you don’t have a magnifying glass, how about making your own magnifying tool?  It’s actually very easy.  What you need is a clear plastic egg or trinket holder (the kind that comes out of toy machine), or a clear plastic soft drink bottle.  If you pour a little water into the bottom of one of these and then hold it over a bug or some of the words in a book, you will see them better.

On the lookout for Butterflies?

Another place to look for butterflies is in shrubs and trees where they often will go to form their chrysalis, which is the case that holds them as a pupa.  Butterflies also like to gather near mud holds to drink and to dance.  When the weather is bad, these delicate bugs take cover in the leaves of nearby trees or flowers.

Bug Riddle:  Who Am I?

I am one of the few insects that molt or shed my skin five times.  My small size is a mere 1/4 inch and makes it very easy for me to hide inside crevices and cracks.  I hunt for food at night where you lay your head.  Who Am I?

Answer:  gub deb (backwards)

Flower gardeners also like to have ladybugs in their gardens.  Why?

Because these pretty bugs will eat aphids, which are a menace to the flowers.  Another bug that can protect the flowers from pests is the praying mantis.  Gardners can order them too, through a nursery, seed catalog, or over the Internet. 

Praying mantises will eat most of the crop-damaging insects and keep your garden fairly bug-free.  As a matter of fact, if a praying mantis gets hungry enough, it will also eat its own babies and spouse!  Female praying mantises have been known to eat the head right off their men! 

Curiously, this doesn’t kill the unlucky bug.  Because of the way insect bodies work, they can survive without heads for some time, the only problem is that without a mouth, they can no longer eat and eventually die of starvation.  So, when someone warns you not to lose your head, just think what it might mean for a bug like the praying mantis!

Did You Know:  Breeding – When two insects mate for the purpose of reproduction, breeding can bring change as two different parents create a new type of baby bug.

One of the most rewarding gardens you can grow is a butterfly garden, a garden that attracts butterflies to come and live there and to raise their butterfly families.  One way to make a butterfly garden is to plant dill, an herb that attracts monarch caterpillars and butterflies.

When the mother monarch butterfly finds good-tasting dill plants, she will lay her eggs there.  When the little caterpillars hatch from the egs, they’ll have plenty of food to eat as they grow to eventually become adult butterflies.  Another plant that will attract monarchs is the milkwee, which sets a good background for butterfly breeding.

Here’s a list of some other things to plant and which bugs like it:

• cabbage – cabbage butterfly
• clover – the wooly bear caterpillar; tiger moth
• parsley – black swallowtail
• dogwood – common blue butterfly
• trumpet vine – plebeian sphinx moth
• cosmos – hummingbird moth
• larkspur – all different types of butterflies

Many of the flowers that you plant for the butterflies will also attract moths.  And although they seem a lot alike, they are different in four ways.

Differences Between Moths and Butterflies

1. Butterflies hold their wings together while at rest; moths lay them falt.
2. Butterfly antennae have bumps on the ends; moth antennae are thick and feathery.
3. Butterflies prefer the daytime; moths come out at night.
4. Butterfly bodies are thin; moth bodies are usually thick.

Here’s a recipe to enjoy from the dill you planted for your butterflies!

Dilly Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon dried dill (finely diced)
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1 dash of seasoning salt

Stir and serve with crackers or chips or vegetables.

Variations:  Try adding cream cheese; olives, sandwich spread, or pineapple.

It’s not difficult to find all kinds of ready-made pots, planters and hanging baskets in various styles, colors materials and sizes.  You’ll have a choice of plastic, wood, metal, and glazed pottery or clay containers.  In addition, there are moss-lined wire baskets and heavy stone or lightweight faux planters made of polyethylene, polyurethane foam, fiberglass resin, or other materials.

The best container for your situation depends on yur climate and which plants you intend to put in it.

Lightweight Pots

Made of wicker, wire, plastic or wire mesh, lightweight pots have the advantage of being portable, allowing you to vary your landscape with the seasons.  And using ready-made, lightweight hanging baskets, generally made of plastic or wire-mesh lined with sphagnum moss or a preformed liner, is an easy way to add a vertical dimension to your wildlife habitat.  However, because most plastic pots eventually deteriorate in the sun, they aren’t the best choice for long-term use.  If what you have in mind are container plantings that will sstay in one plce indefinitely, then heavier ceraic, stone, or cast iron pots will work well for you.

But, keep in mind that without help from a strong friend or access to a sturdy hand dolly, they can be difficult to maneuver, especially when filled with moist soil.  Finally, there are clay pots.  In addition to their aesthetic appeal, clay and other porous containers offer practical advantages.  They tend to be more durable than plastic pots, and their greater breathability prevents the soil from becoming soggy or waterlogged.  On the other hand, they dry out faster and therefore need to be watered more often.  In fact, during summer’s heat, a moisture-loving plant in a small porous clay pot may need watering several times a day.

Host plants serve as incubating stations for butterflies and moths, places where the females can lay eggs. 

When butterflies, these beautifully winged wonders, move on to the next stage of metamorphosis and become larvae or caterpillars, they proceed to eat their way through their former nursery to fuel their prodicious growth, using opposable toothed mandibles that can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

As the caterpillar grows, it molts its outer layer of skin from four to six times, much like a snake.  Once the caterpillar has eaten its fill, it casts off its final skin and enters the third stage, the pupl phase, where it generally disappers into a case.  That case is known as a chrysalis in the case of butterflies and a cocoon if the pupa is a moth.

A magnificent winged adult emerges anywhere from one week to several months later, depending on the species.  Once fully emerged, the adult will hang upside-down by its legs for several hours until its soft wrinkled wings fully unfold and harden for flight.

Caterpillars Diet

While adudlt butterflies and moths generally find a variety of nectar-producing plants appealing, caterpillars typically have very specialized diets.  For instance fodder for the sleepy orange caterpillar consists mostly of senna.  Monarch caterpillars feed solely on milkweed, also known as butterfly weed, while cinnabar moth caterpillars eat ragwort.

Both these plants not only supply monarch and cinnabar caterpillars with sustenance, but they also increase their survival odds because they are poisonous to many of their predators.

Caterpillars are such picky eaters that butterflies are very particular about  where they lay their eggs.  And how do female butterflies know which plants to use as hosts for their young?  Special taste receptorslocatedin the feeet of butterflies both sense sweet liquids and allow many species to “feet taste” the leaves, ascertaining the plant’s suitability as a host. 

Moths have similar taste receptors in their antennae.  In addition, both butterflies and moths identify plants by their shapes, colors, and odors  Still, favored host plants for any given species may differ from place to place because taste preferences can vary from one region to the next.

Geraniums easily grown in containers, are a great way to lure butterflies and hummingbirds, such as the female rufous hummingbird seen here.  Place the containers on a deck or patio so you can enjoy them up close.

Container Plantings

Imagine the excitement of seeing a hummingbird by your kitchen window as it hovers in midair, sipping sweet nectar from a hanging basket brimming with colorful fuchsias, trailing lantana, or cascading geraniums.

Window box gardens filled with nectar favorites like verbena, dianthus, penstemon, and daisies are a delightful way to attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and moths to a balcony, patio, veranda, or deck

Attracting Songbirds

Use containers to grow plants that have an abundance of seeds that are attractive to birds, plants such as rudbeckia, coreopsis, globe thistle, or sedums.

Robins, waxwings, orioles, and other birds that feast on fruits and berries will also be your guests!  They will particularly enjoy the berries of roses, hollies, cotoneaster, and even junipers, all easily grown in large containers!

With few exceptions, just about any plant, shrub, vine, or small tree that attracts wildlife can be grown in a container.  Whether in the form of planters, hanging baskets, or window box gardens, container plantings are a quick and compact way to dish up a portable feast for winged wildlife.

What’s more, that feast can be prepared year-round. if you grow food sources that are available from season to season: 

• Spring Bloom:  annual phlox, calendula, and primrose 
• Summer Sensations:  gernaiums, sunflowers, and petunias  asters,
• Autumn Appeal:  salvia, and ornamental grasses
• Winter Wonder:  Forsythia, pansies, flowering kale, hollies and other evergreens

Container plants occasionally provide shelter as well.  For instance, you can transform part of your yard into a butterfly breeding station by growing host plants such as milkweed or asters in containers.  If you want to attract moths, try roses or azaleas.

Some birds, sparrows, house finches, and wrens to name a few have been known to use hanging baskets as a  place to build their nests.

In the wildlife garden, small-scale attractions can lead to large-scale delights for birds, butterflies and other creatures that fly.

There are lots of ways to attract winged wildlife with simple steps and small projects.

A brushpile is much more than discarded limbs, by taking a little care and building your pile so that it is a place where dragon flies will perch, and birds like wrens can find a natural and ready source of the insects they crave>  The pile will also attract other birds such as sparrows or juncos who will also build their nests within the brush, feeling secure and sheltered. 

Be sure and provide a container or two filled with dust so that you’ll be able to watch birds taking a dust bath.  Also, set out a few stones, and be treated to the sight of butterflies basking in the sun.  These are simple and effective projects that are explained in other blogs on this site.

Sparrows taking a dust bath.

Did You Know Tip:  While one hummingbird can visit hundreds of flowers a day, a hummer’s diet doesn’t just consist of nectar-rich flowers.  They also consume protein-packed spiders and a variety of small insects snatched from a spider’s web, from flowers or from the sky.

 

Diversity is key, whether in a small or large scale garden, it’s important to have the right mix of plants and trees, shrubs, ground covers, vines and flowers, in addition to amenities such as feeders, birdhouses and baths.

Together they provide a complete package of food, shelter, and water for wildlife. 

FlowerPot Birdbath

You’ll not only be rewarded each and every day with the chance to observe wildlife up close, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knwoing you’re helping to combat habitat loss, the leading cause of wildlife population decline. 

Once you’ve created a welcoming place for winged wildlife, you’ll find that gardening becomes more enjoyable and even easier, too!  That’s because a fascinating synergy exists bewteen the garden and nature’s winged creatures.

Synergy of Gardening and Winged Creatures

Birds, butterflies, and geneficial ugs assist in the regeneration of plants: 

• Birds disperse the seeds of everything from lowly ground covers to stately trees.
• Butterflies and beneficial bugs such as nonstinging beeds lend a hand in pollination.

Birds and beneficial bugs are among the most effective natural forms of controlling pest insects that damage or even kill plants. 

Did you know that over her lifetime, a lady beetle can eat on the order of 2,500 aphids?  Aphids can damage roses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs.

Garden Planting Strategy

As you plan your planting strategy on whatever scale you choose, always remember to think vertically as well as horizontally.

Wildlife habitats exist at variouis levels of the vertical space that exists between the canopy and the soil.

The uppermost tree branches form the canopy, or highest level.  Smaller trees, shrubs, and vines compose the understory while just below lies the lower horizon, featuring low-growing shrubs, perennials, and annuals.

Finally ground covers, which offer habitats for soil-dwelling creatures, beetles, and ground-feeding birds, blanket the floor.

So, by grouping your plants in latyers, or wildlife zones, you can cater to different species of wildlife, whether they feed or nest on the ground, in trees and bushes or in the air.

Stressed in life?  Gardening is one of the best stress busters around!!  Now, you are beginning to see why!  Once you begin transforming your yard and seeing the results unfold, you’ll have an intimate look at wildlife that’s bound to be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life! 

Happy Gardening while butterfly attracting!