On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 07:52:48 +0000 (UTC), mbb wrote:

My young sons' school has an (almost) surrounded quadrangle garden, a simple
lawned area with 3 or 4 mature buddlejas, a neglected pond, and some other
herbaceous beds.

I'm told that it's a pleasant area, but "the bushes don't encourage
butterflies". I know it's a subjective opinion, but might it be true? Are
there situations where the buddleja doesn't attract butterflies? Or is it
the local geography, perhaps?

Only adult butterflies feed on buddleias. They must have other
vegetation around. And they like a source of water. Remember that
butterfly larvae often have quite narrow food preferences -- our
black swallowtails, for example, are limited to various
Compositae (Asteraceae).

Fill up those herbaceous beds with a wide variety of material,
make sure the pond has a splash of water in it, and you might be
surprised.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada