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As long as you are aware of their basic needs, butterflies can be enticed to visit your gardens, no matter how small your garden space is.
As we create gardens for butterflies, we realize the essential importance of all insects. We extend the welcome mat to the insect eaters (reptiles, amphibians, birds) and even small mammals rejoin this naturally occurring food chain.
We at 'Niche' feel great pride that our gardens have been registered as official Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. If you would like to encourage wildlife to nest and feed where you live, work, or go to school, call the Wildlife folks at 1-800-822-9919 for an information packet. Our designers will be glad to consult and assist you with this project.
The earliest butterflies passing through our NC gardens depend on the very early blooms of Verbena 'Homestead' for nectar...a great reason to include this plant in your garden.
There are a growing number of voices in the gardening world urging us all to incorporate wildlife habitat into our garden plans. Awareness is building that we can help provide food sources, water, shelter, and corridors for movement for the wildlife in our areas. We can become involved in many different ways: increasing our use of native plants, creating a school butterfly or meadow garden, neighbors cooperating in creating wildlife corridors, and landowners mowing less and creating "wild" areas and hedgerows. As we create gardens for butterflies, we realize the essential importance of all insects. We extend the welcome mat to the insect eaters (reptiles, amphibians, and birds) and even small mammals rejoin this naturally occurring food chain. We hope some of the following literature and conferences will encourage you to study native plants and create wildlife habitat in your garden.
A Note from Bill Cullina on Organic Pest Control at Niche :
“After years of working amidst pesticides at other nurseries, it is such a relief to finally be rid of them completely. Having been educated in the "War on Bugs" mindset that is the legacy of this century, I admit I harbored a certain skepticism about the viability of what has been termed "organic pest control." So I find it almost miraculous that, with only occasional spraying with Insecticidal Soap and Horticultural Oil, we have what I consider very minor pest problems at Niche. Besides selecting plants that are naturally disease and insect resistant, we rely on careful observation and cleanliness and foremost on the encouragement of natural predators to control problem insects and mollusks (the fungi and bacteria also take care of themselves). Without pesticides, this nursery is truly alive with all sorts of frogs, insects and lizards to a degree I could never have imagined for a commercial operation of our size. It is these organisms that keep the pests in balance. One of the fundamental principles of this approach is allowing a constant low level of target species for predators to feed on. Thus, we try to maintain pest levels at what Integrated Pest Management texts call acceptable levels. We hope you understand that in trade for a few chewed or discolored leaves, we offer you a plant free from the chemical soup so routinely applied to most horticultural crops. Of course, we do not knowingly ship plants with active pest colonies and continue to strive for the highest level of quality to be found in the industry. We are very interested in hearing from you about both our approach and our plants and encourage you to try natural pest control in your own gardens.”
Bill Cullina
It has been several years since Bill was here at Niche, but we still adhere to the practice and principles of IPM, or integrated pest management. Bill is now with The New England Wild Flower Society and has a great book on propagating wildflowers, as well as his new book on native plants.
Books / Articles
Native Trees, Shrubs, & Vines Bill Cullina, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002
Growing and Propagating Wildflowers Bill Cullina, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000
Noah's Garden by Sara Stein, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993
The Backyard Naturalist, by Craig Tufts, National Wildlife Federation, 1400 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20036
Hedgerows and Other Corners of Natural Diversity in Our Countryside and Gardens Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society, PO Box 336, The Plains, VA 22171
A Sand County Almanac, by Aldo Leopold