Beautiful Butterflies

Wednesday, 23 July 2014

I love butterflies (unlike my Auntie Kathleen!) They are so pretty and great for the garden too. This week we have been releasing butterflies at nursery which is great fun. In my latest blog I tell you some fluttery facts as well as three (yes three) cool butterfly related things I have been doing in my garden. Come on, join in…

Look – a butterfly!

Fluttery Facts

Now, we have all heard that butterflies are good for the garden and we should try and encourage them in. But do you know why?

Like bees, butterflies are essential for pollination. The diet of adult butterflies consists mostly of nectar from flowers. While gathering nectar, the butterflies pick up pollen on their feet and wings and transfer it to neighbouring flowers and plants, continuing the life cycle of many plants that other animals depend on for survival.
As caterpillars, some butterflies eat aphids in addition to leaves, removing the destructive aphids and helping to control their population. Some adult butterflies eat rotten fruit, helping to break it down and assisting in the composting process.
They provide great pleasure to people in the garden which is an added bonus.

Upcycle Your Own Butterfly Garden
M&D love to do a bit of upcycling and I have decided to have a go myself. Daddy recently had to replace the wheels on his trailer. He used the old tyres to make this funky container for our deck:

The tyres were turned into a funky planter

So we were left with the wheel rims and I was sure we could do something cool with them too. We turned them upside down, found a pot which fitted perfectly in the hole in the middle and then filled the pot and the ridge of the wheel with compost.

We sowed butterfly seeds in the rims!

We got a packet of butterfly seeds and sowed these and waited for the magic to happen. We didn’t have to wait long – soon our wheels were filled with pretty flowers to attract both bees and butterflies!

Kabloom – Throw a Butterfly Bomb!

The wonderfully clever people at kabloom make really cool “seedboms”. Not only do you get to throw a bomb in your garden (that doesn’t happen every fay, does it?!) it is filled with lots of lovely seeds which grow into pretty flowers which attract butterflies.

Kabloom have a great range of different types of “bombs” and they make lovely gifts too. You can even buy a catapult to sling your bomb with – cooooool! I will be telling you more about the “Catnipbom” in a future blog.

Butterfly Clothes Pegs

Anyone who knows me knows I love a good ole craft project. And what better than to take advantage of this lovely summery weather and to make it in the garden. Here’s how:

You will need:

A wooden clothes peg
Paint & brushes
Card
A pencil
Scissors
Colouring in pens, sequins or whatever you want to use for decorating your butterfly
Glue
Googly eyes
A pipe cleaner

To make:

1. Paint your clothes peg whatever colour(s) you wish and leave to dry.

2. Draw wings on your card to suit the size of your clothes peg. It’s easier to attach the wings if you draw them on one piece of card with a space in the middle which you can glue your peg onto (rather than trying to attach two separate wings.)

3. Decorate your wings using your pens, paint, accessories or whatever you wish.

4. Once dry, glue your clothes peg onto your wings.

5. Make two antenna out of the pipe cleaner and tuck it between the peg and the wings before the glue dries.

6. Add your googly eyes.There you have it, a gorgeous butterfly to cheer up the inside of your home too!