Bring On the Butterflies

Author Pamela Crawford offers a novel approach to helping these beloved bugs while beautifying your yard

- BY STEVE BENDER

"OBSESSED” is a loaded word and not one to be bandied about. I certainly wouldn't want to wrongfully use it to describe the actions of anyone. So let me just say that when it comes to designing and planting containers, Pamela Crawford is extremely committed.

How so? Well, 26 of them, overflowing with flowers and foliage, accent the deck and windows of her home in Big Canoe, Georgia. And by my count, she has written seven books about planting in pots, the latest being Container Gardening for Butterflies. So, because people enjoy that kind of thing and go absolutely nuts over butterflies, we paid her a visit for tips on adding a bit of her magic to your place.

At first glance, you may not think her property is conducive to insect pollinators. It's surrounded by dense forest with no bloom-covered roadsides or meadows nearby to attract them. But many butterflies depend on trees to reproduce. Adult swallowtails, viceroys, hairstreaks, mourning cloaks, skippers, red-spotted purples, and others seek out the foliage of such hardwoods as oak, willow, sassafras, hackberry, pawpaw, black cherry, serviceberry, and tulip poplar to lay eggs that hatch into hungry caterpillars. Once they transform into adults, nectar becomes their sole nourishment. And where do they find that? In blossoms like those gracing Pamela's deck. “I'm astounded by the sheer number that come,” she admits. “They look like flying flowers.”