Plant a Sanctuary

Mother's Day is coming, and just as we wish to honour our mothers, I suggest that it would be a good time to discuss the Mother. Spring is coming on in full swing, and she is poring out new life all around us. Even if you live in an apartment, you can help plant a sanctuary or provide a feeding station for some of her progeny, while at the same time bestowing a living floral tribute.

How? by selecting plants that attract and encourage butterflies. Did you know that many of these beautiful creatures are now endangered? In addition to losing their beauty, we face having a rapid decline in the plants that they help pollinate. If you have a section of lawn or a garden that has space, consider planting native wildflowers and plants such as butterfly weed. If you live in an apartment, consider growing these in containers. Wildflowers seeded around a specimen of butterfly weed (actually a small shrub with very pretty flowers) make a lovely planting in a tub. If you can't find these at your local plant nursery, look in the many free seed and plant catalogues available.

You will not only be providing food for these love;ly creatures, but the pollen they carry away will help propagate these all too rare plants themselves. The Mother created these in her bounty, and they are naturally beautiful, deserving of space as much as any manmade botanical crossbreed. So let's honour the Mother of us all. Plant butterfly friendly wildflowers and plants, and help the mother regain her natural beauty.

For more information on butterfly gardening with native plants, visit these websites. Especially for children, visit Easy step By Step Butterfly Gardening at http://www.butterflyhouse.org/gardening.... The Smithsonian Instution has this page set up dealing with butterfly gardening http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomolog... This site had a lot of information as well http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/horticultur... . For those of you in Florida, or other hot, sandy areas, check out the NSiS: Florida Butterfly Gardening with Native Plants at http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly....

And for all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day, every day!

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