Butterfly fun

Quick post :)

One butterfly garden open-ended math project ready to go!

I have to say I've had a lot of fun with this one - taking photos, researching in garden centers (always a great way to spend a sunny afternoon! :) ), playing with squares and area - it brought back all sorts of memories of when I was in college doing a degree in horticulture and designing gardens. Loved it.

Now I desperately want to plant a garden of my own again. I used to have a butterfly garden when my children were little. One year we counted 79 Monarch chrysalids - and had a whole section of the lawn devoted to milkweed in a vain attempt to keep the caterpillars supplied with food. (It never works with Monarchs - the more you plant, the more they eat!)

Bermuda only has 5 species of butterfly but even so, our garden was beautiful. Now, in Scotland, however, there are lots of butterflies!! And bees. Lots of lovely fat, furry bumblebees - and apparently, as I discovered while researching, TONS of varieties. Who knew there were so many types of bumblebees around?!!

White-tailed, red-tailed, buff-tailed... the list seems endless. I took a couple of photos of these bumbles but I'm not exactly sure what type they are. :) They are, however, sitting on a hybrid variety of globe thistle which is a great plant for a butterfly and bee garden.

 

Here are some more good "bee" plants :)

Helenium

Lysimachium

Lavender

So... if anyone would like to try planting a "virtual" butterfly and bee garden with their kiddies this year please feel free to check out this resource.  Enjoy!

Available here :)