Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 18, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Theyr'e also on the other side of the house. I also planted sage, porterweed, and blanket flowers (not blooming right now) underneath. In the basket I'm growing Neoregelia "Fireball" (bromeliads are my first love). Dad said he saw a butterfly go in one of them and we think he might have been drinking the water out of it. I do see them land on the bromeliads; I wonder if the bright colors attract them? Bromeliads do flower, but I don't think they actually have nectar in them. Also, I set one of those dishes you put under pots in the yard (lower left in the pic). I filled it with leftover lava rocks and I let it collect rain water (or I fill it from the rain barrel). I read that it's good to have a puddling area, but I worried about mosquitos. Then I read that mosquitos like to lay eggs on water with a flat surface, so they'll avoid the rocks. But since bfs have long proboscis, they can get the water from in between the rocks. Neat!