The Beginning of a Butterfly Bounty
Let's take a look at the plants in my butterfly garden...
Mōrena e hoa, good morning my friend💛
Last month I FINALLY managed to photograph one of the kahukōwhai (yellow admiral butterflies; Vanessa itea) who have visited our garden recently. As usual, the kahukura (New Zealand red admiral; Vanessa gonerilla) emerge from their over-wintering sites first, and the kahukōwhai follow suit a few weeks later.
At the start of spring, most of the putiputi (flowers) available for our pūrerehua (butterflies) are cherry blossoms and dandelions. There are a few others - dwarf lupin, daffodils, primroses, and tulips - but they don’t seem to be highly favoured.
So to celebrate my garden pūrerehua I thought I’d share what my butterfly garden looks like now, a year after its inception. It’s a garden of two halves: one half I weeded and sowed with a Butterfly Field seed mix last year; the other was overgrown so I weeded it this winter, and sowed a new packet of seed mix. I’ve also moved some “volunteer” nettle, wallflower, and groundsel plants into this bed.
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