Garden Guide With James Kilkelly

Creating a wildlife haven, part three   IN LAST week's column I looked at how to increase bird numbers within your garden; make them comfortable, and provide them with shelter so that they would hang around. Now this week we will look at another form of wildlife, but unfortunately this one can tend to clash with your birds a bit. These are the butterflies. Caterpillars are the larvae or the young of the butterfly; this is the main feeding and growth stage of the insect's life. The wildlife clash occurs like this ... basically birds love to gobble up caterpillars. Numerous birds within your property will usually equal fewer caterpillars, which in turn leads to fewer butterflies.     Balance There are ways however to balance your bird and butterfly population without have to resort to madman measures of drafting in a legion of cats to reduce the bird numbers. I could see things spiralling out of control as you then call up dogs to control the now burgeoning cat population, and then what do you use to put manners on the dogs. An absurd situation, but thankfully back in the real world we can balance things out much easier through our planting choices. First up, the birds. If you want more butterflies than birds, then avoid berried shrubs. Plants produce flowers, but not all produce berries as a form of sustenance for birds. Birds will often wander away from your garden to search for food if your planting fails to provide it, and this leaves an opening for the butterflies. A simple tip when searching for non-fruiting plants is to check the label in the garden centre before purchasing. If there is no mention of noteworthy fruits, berries or seed heads on the label (all selling points usually boasted about), then you are good to go. You can also include some dioecious plants into your planting mix. Dioecious plants are ones that have either male-only or female-only flowers from plant to plant. So this allows you to select male-only plants that will never go on to produce berries. Ask at your garden centre about the male only varieties of Japanese skimmia (Skimmia japonica), Spotted laurel (Aucuba japonica), and English holly (Ilex altaclerensis). Enticement Butterfly enticement requires a two-pronged approach; the feeding of the adults and the hosting of their young. Now most gardeners know that the aptly named butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is a good source of summer nectar for butterflies, so this addition should be top of your planting list. Add to this by planting any or all of the following from my list of top butterfly attractants... 1. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea) 2. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida â€ËœGoldsturm') 3. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) 4. Purple top (Verbena bonariensis) 5. Ice plant (Sedum spectabile). Don't forget to add in a few spring-flowering heathers, as these are particularly important food sources for early emerging butterflies. Erica carnea â€ËœMarch Seedling' and Erica carnea â€ËœSpringwood White' are ideal for this purpose when planted in clusters of fives and sevens. It's worth noting that butterflies generally prefer to alight in calm sunny locations, so bear that in mind when positioning your plants.   Host plants Butterflies all fed, now let's see about hosting their young. The adults will only lay their eggs on the leaves of plants that the emerging caterpillars can eat; otherwise these young would not survive long outside the egg. As most vegetable growers know, caterpillars are very hungry and a small handful can turn a head of cabbage into a skeleton within a day or two. So it helps to leave a wild area or clusters of sacrificial plants somewhere out of the way within your site and let the butterflies and caterpillars have at it. This can be an area of cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, or cauliflower that you will leave to the cabbage white's caterpillars, but better still it should include a few selections from my list of top caterpillar hosts: 1. Nettles and brambles 2. Gorse/furze 3. Blackthorn and birch 4. Birdsfoot trefoil and wild carrot (Daucus carota) 5. Wild unmown grasses. Being lazy and leaving this bunch of wild growth untouched, you can expect caterpillars from such glorious looking butterflies as the Red Admiral, Ringlet, Wood White, and Dingy Skipper. Until next week, happy gardening.