Gardening with Frost:

Tips and Tricks
Creating a frost-wise garden is more than choosing the right plants.

1. Map your garden’s frost shelters in winter. (See article below) Even the coldest garden has places where the frost doesn’t form. A tiny frost-free niche is all a plant needs, to get started. You may find, with careful winter research, that your frost-free areas are really quite generous in size.

2.  Plan your spring plantings, based on making best use of existing frost shelters. You may save yourself a lot of work and cost, for an equally satisfying result, by making some small changes in just where you will put your first gardens.

3. Grow frost barriers. Get started on a frosty site by putting in tougher plants, and arrange them so that in the future they will create new areas of frost shelter. Consider creating quick canopy - even low shrubs may be enough to give you a site where trees can safely start their lives. Also consider how you can plant barriers to divert the downhill flow of frosty air away from your future planting sites. (Always consider where the diverted frost flow will end up, though.) With good planning, you will notice how your area of frost-free garden space grows every year.
(Note that temporary fences of shade-cloth can also operate as frost barriers. They are not as effective as plants, but may be just what you need.)

4. Plant as early in spring as possible, to get maximum growth happening before the next winter. Use whatever watering techniques are available, to get the plants well under way before the summer heat. Remember that intelligent use of water - using water crystals, getting the water down deep without wasting any on the top layer of soil - will produce quicker growth than merely throwing lots of water at the problem.

5. Don’t waste tree stumps. Some plants which would die if planted at ground level can thrive if placed a metre or more off the ground in a stump. Both its height, and its insulation are helpful factors. Ficus rubiginosa (of local provenance) is a good, tough species to grow this way, and will make a big, bird-attracting, frost sheltering canopy. (It’s not for a small garden, though!)

6. Go easy on the winter weeding. A layer of small weeds of a rather non-competitive type (like chickweed) conserves a warmer air layer close to the roots of your small plants.

7. Go Easy in Winter Fertilising and Watering, too.
Avoid it completely, if you can. Healthy plants survive frost better, but plants with soft new growth are more susceptible to frost. This is why a late spring frost can do so much damage, when the plants survived the same cold temperatures happily all through winter. The time for watering and fertilising - if you need it at all, is the part of the year when there is no risk of frost.

8. Consider soil moisture. 
Light, dry soils get cold more quickly. If the soil freezes, it kills some roots. This effect is greatest on shallow roots, and therefore on smaller plants. Moist soil protects from frost to some degree as it keeps a more even temperature. So how do you manage to have damp soil, without springing the plants into dangerous growth? Well this is obviously tricky, with our dry winter climate. Preventing moisture loss with mulch is an obviously sensible technique. shade and the shelter of low plants can help, too. Even a little moderate watering, when there is no sign of a warm spell is usually not enough to cause out of season growth. Planting the toughest plants in the driest sites is also something to consider. In all, there's no easy answer to the problem of having just the right soil moisture.

9 Plan for suitable mulch.
Mulch can make frost worse, or help plants survive, depending on what it is made of, how damp it is, and how thick.  Some mulching materials (stones, sand, dry organic mulch) cool down faster than others, sucking warmth out of the nearby air and the surface soil and losing it to the frosty air. They can cause unnecessary losses to frosts. Slightly damp mulch, like slightly damp soil, has a protective effect.. A thick blanket of organic mulch is better than a thin one. It may frost on its dry surface, but keep the plant roots safe below in the moister lower layers, and the soil below.

10. Consider the Sun.
Frost reaches its coldest point just before the sun begins warming the surrounding air. Depending on their species, plants can tolerate a certain amount of freezing of their tissues if they warm up gently.  This can be why one of two apparently equal plants may suffer while the other one escapes. The one with more early morning shade isn’t damaged like its sun-warmed neighbour. Placing semi-hardy plants where they are sheltered from the early morning sun can sometimes be just enough to save them. Knowing this, you may be able to extend your planting our into currently frosty sections of garden.




11. Cover your plants before frosty weather. Or not, as the case may be. Don't take it for granted that you need to do this at all.  Clever planting and garden management might mean you never need to. However, if you want to use this technique, real security comes with three good stakes supporting metre-high hessian walls, and a flap to make a roof at night. (Make the flap sloping, so the frosty air runs off. Remember that plants need sunlight, too, though not necessarily every day in this dormant time of year.)
If you are prepared to take a chance, an ordinary, inexpensive plastic tree guard, with three bamboo stakes may be all the shelter your plant needs, until it has grown out its tender baby stage. A rather floppy job, with one low stake allowing the top to lean inwards, helps keep the coldest air out.

12. Run to the Rescue.
Despite all your careful planning you are assailed by sudden doubt! The night was clearer, and colder than you thought it would be. A frost is sure to follow. Will your plants survive?  Plants be saved in the early light of a frosty morning, by being watered with cold water from the tap before the sunlight hits them. Water in the plant tissues may be frozen by the frost. Some plant species can tolerate a certain amount of this, so long as they are melted gently. Tap water brings them up above freezing point before the sun gets a chance to warm them up at a damaging speed.


13. Predict the danger of a Sudden Cold Snap.
Plants which have been subjected to a series of increasingly cold nights slow their growth rate down, and so have less soft new growth to get damaged by frost. A sudden cold change catches plants unaware, with their fresh growth all vulnerable.  Watching weather predictions can help us to predict when extra care is needed.You may want to put temporary covers on if a spring cold snap is predicted - or simply plan to be out early with the hose, giving the foliage of susceptible plants a good wetting.

14. Consider commercially Available Frost Protection Sprays. These are claimed to work, letting plants survive temperatures as much as  4°C lower than they could normally cope with. (I have have considered - and rejected - them so have no experience with them. You may choose otherwise.) They are costly, so I imagine they would be most used to nurse precious little plants through their first season or two, rather than in any general way. As with so many commercial garden products, though, you will never really know whether your money was well spent. Perhaps the plants would have survived after all, without it!

15. Surviving BLACK frosts.
Those horrible sneaky things! They don’t happen often, but when they do, they are invisible. We feel so cheated when our plants begin to die, just when we thought we had escaped the frost.
Visible frosts  are made of frozen water. That's why they are white. There is usually at least some moisture in any air. It settles on the plants as the air gets colder overnight, and then turns white as it freezes. But if the air is very dry it can reach freezing temperature with no white frost to reveal its presence. What is worse, dry air freezes more quickly than moist air, so a night of the same overall temperature has a colder bottom layer. The moisture in the plants' leaves freezes, just as it would with a white frost, but we can't run to the rescue with a hose because we don't realize that it's happened. That's a "black" frost.
All the above management techniques work, though, just as they do with white frosts.

16. Take a few Risks.When in doubt, plant it. You have nothing to lose but some plants, and you might be delighted by your unexpected successes. Our local native plant species are relatively untried in garden situations, but are proving to be hardier than it was once thought.


“Frost Hardiness” Labelling 
   Why is it often unreliable? 

Labels and lists which state that certain plants are frost hardy certainly help us choose better. However we need to keep in mind that we may lose some plants that "should have been" hardy, according to the written information.

On the other side of the coin, many plants which can really cope with our local frosts are sold with “frost tender” written on their labels. Understandably, plant sellers would rather err on the side of caution to save themselves from being accused of leading people astray. This means that we might avoid planting many lovely plants which really could have grown perfectly well in the relatively mild frosts of our own climate. 

Predicting how plants will survive all kinds of frosts, in all situations, is an impossible task.

Here are some of the Variables:
 

The meaning of “Frost Hardy”.
Some people call a plant frost tender if it might suffer “frostburn” on just a few leaf-tips. Others consider that any plant that is not actually killed is frost hardy, even if all the above-ground parts of the plant are destroyed. Many plants are designed to to exactly this, and can survive very hard frosts. Partial death is their frost survival technique.
(Typical examples are deciduous trees, and the traditional herbaceous perennials of our European gardening tradition.)

Degree of Frost.
Some places have colder frost than others. A plant that is "frost hardy" in a typical Toowoomba frost (perhaps -1½°) might not survive a -8° frost at Oakey. Lists of supposedly frost hardy plants from a coastal source will include plants that would never be put on a list made up by someone from the granite belt. Knowing where the frost advice comes from can help us decide how a plant would cope with our own conditions.

Provenance.
Some plants are frost hardier than others of the same species. Just as with people, plants vary within the species. Ones whose parents grew in frosty areas are likely to better survivors than the apparently identical plants, whose ancestors had it soft. Try to get plants of local native provenance, and be aware that the “same” plant, selling in a commercial nursery, may not be quite the same, really. Your local plant may do better than the one the nursery has chosen to label "frost tender".

Plant Height vs Freezing Air Height.
We only actually notice frost when it lies white on the ground, or on the plants, but really it’s the cold air that is the “frost”. At the end of a night, the lowest air is the coldest. Frosts occur when that lowest layer is below freezing point. The height above the soil surface of this below-freezing temperature air varies. A showy white frost can form at the bottom of a layer of freezing air that is only ankle deep. In this case, the only plants to suffer serious damage are the little ones. On the other hand, if that layer of freezing air is two metres deep, plants can be damaged to the height of those two metres. The depth of the frost can vary considerable even in a small garden. Think of it as behaving like floodwaters. There are places where the cold air will make deep pools, and others where it will flow away quickly and never reach a great depth. This means that you might lose one of two identical plants, just because that one is situated in a spot where the frosty air gets deeper. It is difficult to create labels and lists that reflect this reality.

Age of Plant. 
In nature, baby trees and shrubs in frosty areas tend to establish themselves in small, sheltered micro-environments. A clump of grass uphill can be enough to do the trick, dividing the flow of frosty air, and leaving a small warm pocket in its lee. By the time they outgrow the shelter, the young trees’ deeper roots and higher canopies keep them out of the way of that ground layer of freezing air. but of course the crucial height varies from species to species. Labels and lists have a problem being accurate about at just what age which species can survive what degree of frost.

Your own management techniques.
No label or list can hope to be exactly accurate about all plants, in all conditions. How can a stranger know how dry your soil, how well you manage watering, what kind of mulch you use etc, etc.

Think of plant labelling as a guide to managing plants, not as a guarantee that plants will perform in your garden exactly as the label and list-makers expected.

Map your Frost in Winter

The biggest frosts follow clear wind-free nights. We can expect some good ones next week, as this rainy spell clears up.

Frost reaches its peak at that magical time when dawn has achieved full daylight, but no rays of sunlight have yet touched the ground.

That is when you need to be out there in your ugg boots and beanie (and perhaps some other garments in between, if you feel the need), to see just where it lies, and where it doesn't.

People who live in areas well-known for hard frosts are often surprised to find just how many frost-free patches there really are in their own gardens, (or on their larger properties). Mapping the frosts often reveals that we can grow many more frost tender plants than we thought we could. It can also mean that the cost and work of covering tender plants might not be really necessary.

If you carry a handful of stakes and a hammer, on your morning walk in the frost, you can mark frost-free spots where little plants will thrive. Plan your spring plantings as you go.

Frost flows downhill like a river. It is diverted by obstacles in its way, and it pools in hollows and above barriers. You may find quite large frost-free areas downhill from these barriers.

As well as this, every tree and shrub has a little frost free "aura" around it. It is smaller on the uphill side and larger below.  You might choose to plant under the tree, but note that the aura is larger than the its canopy. If root competition might be a concern, take advantage of the aura's outer edges.

Structures also have frost-free auras, though to a lesser extent.

While planning this year's spring plantings, you might also look for places to create frost shelters for the future. These can be rows of the frost-hardiest species. They can be as simple as a row of those tough matrushes, Lomandra longifolia, or a taller barrier perhaps doubling as a hedge, screen or windbreak. They are particularly efficient as frost-breaks if  they are bow-shaped and placed across the direction of frost flow with the centre of the bow uphill from the ends. This diverts the flow outwards, creating a sheltered nook to be filled with tender plants in a few years' time.

Forests and shrublands tend to hold the day’s warmth overnight. In our part of the world, ground temperature in these environments is always above freezing point and frost tender plants grow in them with no trouble at all. Restoring damaged ecosystems with their full range of original species can be a problem where clearing has thrown the area open to frost. A skeleton planting of pioneer plants to fill the clearing with a frost-free aura is a sensible first step. A serendipitous result can be that longer term species from the surrounding ecosystem don’t even need us to plant them. Changing the microclimate lets nature do the job for us.

With time and careful planning, it is possible to eliminate frost over large areas.

Giant Stinging Tree

Dendrocnide excelsaFamily: URTICACEAE

Now Showing: The giant stinging trees are glamorously in fruit at the Bunya Mountains at the moment.




This wonderful tree pulls more than its own weight as a member of a rainforest community.

It is a fast-growing pioneer tree, quickly filling spaces in rainforests caused by falling trees or human interference, and making a good starter tree for revegetation work in frost free areas.

It grows to be one of the most magnificent tall trees in the forest, becoming part of its upper canopy.

It supports plenty of fruit eating in the winter, when other fruits might be harder to find, and no doubt provides them with insect protein at nesting time. You can see that insects just love the leaves!


 
These “fruits” look delicious, don’t they? Don’t EVER put any in your mouth. A few stinging hairs nestle in among them, as you can see in the photo below. I didn’t notice they were there, as I picked this small bunch for a close-up photo but can vouch for the fact that they were in good working order.  Ouch!  I found the sting much worse than the sting from a leaf. They could be very dangerous indeed if they stung the inside of your mouth or throat, so resist any temptation to sample the flavour!




Actually, these pretty things are not technically fruits at all, but the swollen stems of the little, dry pale brown seeds. The ones above are white because they are not yet ripe. They will get to be a rich, deep pink as they ripen, and the seeds will darken to biscuit brown. (double click on the photo to see a close-up) New trees can be grown from these seeds. The species is sometimes dioecious, so the plants you get from seed might be male, female, or a bit of each. Pure male trees won’t fruit, of course



The leaves look quite furry when the plants are young, but develop a shiny look when they get older. You might even wonder whether they are a different species.

Don’t be deceived! All the leaves have the stinging hairs, and do sting, even after they have fallen from the tree and look dead and dry.

Personal reactions vary.  I find that if I brush lightly against a leaf, the effect is no more than I would get from an ordinary nettle. However other adults have suffered severely with allergic reactions or anaphylactic shock, causing severe pain which recurs for years, and has had side effects such as temporary blindness. This is not a plant to mess with!




Stinging tree's timber is soft, and of no use for construction purposes. At the end of its life-span it breaks down rapidly, completing the cycle of growth, death and decay that provides food and habitat for so many species.

 

The leaves of young trees tend to be held horizontally, and are a particularly pretty part of the rainforest scene.


FIRST AID NOTES:
Stick something onto the sting. Rip it off, pulling the stinging hairs with it. Some bushwalkers always carry a bit of gaffer tape or cloth-backed duct tape, (for repairing broken boots in an emergency), and it works well on nettle stings, too. But it works best on stinging hairs that have not been touched, so try it FIRST, not last.

Mountain Katydid

Have you seen any of these?


A nice enough creature, but not really remarkable until it does this:




This is a female mountain katydid, Acripeza reticulata. The males have brown wings of a more normal kind, but the females are flightless. The only function of this lady's little wings is to cover up the pretty abdomen until she wants to frighten off a predator.

Mountain katydids used to be common in the Toowoomba district, but are not often seen nowadays, probably because of habitat destruction as our suburbs spread. They are know to feed on two local plants, the local Senecio species (yellow daisies).and the climbing Parsonsia species.

They absorb poisonous chemicals from the plants as they eat, which gives them a nasty smell - not particularly noticeable to human noses, but enough to discourage predators from eating them.


This insect's numbers have been declining and scientists would like to know where it can still be found. The best places to look are where there is plenty of the food plants. Can you please email me if you see one? (A photo would be good, and some details about exactly where it was found would be even better.)

Bailey's indigo

Indigofera baileyi
Family: FABACEAE
Here's a  pretty little plant that we don't often see.
It's rare, although not as rare as we can be led to think because it is easy to overlook when it is not in flower

It grows naturally in open woodlands, and seems to be found on every soil type from very well drained ones, to heavy black soil with river red gums. I found this one on a hilltop site near Preston Boundary Road.
Bailey's indigo is a perennial which dies back to its rootstock in hard times, as a lot of our small grassland plants do. This trick means that they can withstand drought, and hard frosts.
As you can see,  the recent rains have done it good, and now is the time to look for the little pink flowers.
It deserves to be introduced into horticulture, but at the moment the only way we can have it in our gardens would be to find a plant and wait until it makes seed. 

Native Plumbago

Plumbago zeylanica
Family: PLUMBAGINACEAE
Hasn’t this rain greened up the countryside beautifully?
Now is the time to get out and enjoy our local native plants.
Franke Scrub* is particularly beautiful, with its native plumbago in the understorey showing off how our local variety of the species has pretty blue flowers.

“Zeylanica” means “from Ceylon”, but it's not really only a Ceylonese plants. It's a genuine Australian native - one of those plants that we share with south-east Asia. Most of the species worldwide have rather boring white flowers, so you can see that our local is rather special.
In our district it grows naturally along the Range, and in hill scrubs as far west as Oakey.



It is an ideal water-efficient plant to grow among shrubs, where it wanders about, popping up where it pleases. It also grows in full sun, but never looks quite as pretty as it does in partial shade.

This plant is the native host plant for the Plumbago blue butterfly (Leptotes plinius).
 




It’s not easy to catch its blue wingtops in a photo, and the picture below doesn’t do justice to the brilliant blue flashes they make  in the bright sunlight. (On cloudy days, these butterflies tend to fly whenever the sun is out, and settle, apparently disappearing, each time it goes behind a cloud. )


Although native plumbago itself has a very diminished range here due to clearing, the butterfly is in no danger, as it is also able to use the shrubby introduced plumbago, Plumbago capensis, as a host.
Where butterfly host plants become isolated, some butterflies just don’t spread to other planting sites, as they are too far away. Your chances of attracting the butterfly by planting its native host are good because introduced plumbago is a popular garden plant, and acts as a bridge which can lead it to your garden.

*Franke Scrub, Cawdor, is on the western edge of Highfields. Carry on past the end of the bitumen of Franke Road, along a few hundred metres of good dirt road, to find it.

Local Plants for Local Butterflies

Most of us would like to have more butterflies in our gardens.


 Orchard butterflies

Now is the peak time of year for it. Have you been out to have a look, on a good sunny day, to see what is about?

Occasionally we have a big year (as two years ago) when the weather is just right, and masses of butterflies can be seen all around the district. Those years mask the general trend, which is one of decline. Some butterflies can fly a very long way, especially if they have a tailwind. Australian butterflies turn up in New Zealand every summer!
The greatest decline is in our more closely settled areas, and the reason is one that Blind Freddie can see. We are depriving them of the food their babies need. No baby food, no caterpillars. No caterpillars, no butterflies.

Some keen nature-lovers are taking affirmative action. They plant HOST PLANTS - and sure enough, the butterflies come!


 Capparis arborea with Caper White butterfly eggs

NOTE: Butterfly Host Plants are not the same thing as "butterfly attracting plants". Host plants are those special plants that caterpillars can eat. They attract a permanent population of butterflies to settle down and raise their families. Some plants sold as "butterfly attracting plants" may be FIFO jobs. Adult butterflies fly in, sip some nectar, and fly out. As our suburbs spread, they may not even do that. If our gardens are too far from the host plants, we will only get the butterflies of the strongest-flying species - and may even not get that, most years.

Which host plants are the best? There is a great deal of advice to be found, in books and on the internet, but it can be difficult to sort out the relevant from the other kind. No amount of host-planting will attract butterflies that do not occur in your area.

Choosing local native plant species.
I recommend it. There are some non-Australian plants which host local butterflies, as well as some Australian plants from other regions. However, people with an interest in our local wildlife may prefer to put in plants that are native to our local area. A butterfly garden might as well be an effective multi-purpose wildlife garden!

Some Local Native Butterfly Hosts,
and Some Local Butterflies
These plants are attractive, and suitable for gardens:
SMALL PLANTS AND GROUND COVERS
Chrysocephalum apiculatum    YELLOW BUTTONS    Painted Lady
Crotalaria mitchellii    CROTALARIA    Tailed pea-blue
Einadia species    SALTBUSHES    Saltbush blue
Plumbago zeylanica    GROUNDCOVER PLUMBAGO    Plumbago blue
Pseuderanthemum variabile    LOVE FLOWER   Varied eggfly
Scaevola species    FAN FLOWERS   Meadow Argus
Swainsona queenslandica, Swainsona brachycarpa    DARLING PEAS    Large grass yellow 
Urtica incisa NATIVE NETTLES. The only host for the Yellow Admiral. An exception to the "suitable for gardens" criterion, perhaps - but a carefully conserved nettle patch is possible on acreages and farms.
Xerochrysum bracteatum    STRAW DAISY    Painted lady


Female eggfly, photographed in a butterfly house, where there are so many butterflies they will land on your hands.

 
 Yellow admiral. This one was dead, but still beautiful. This butterfly species needs nettles, for its survival.

SHRUBS
Alchornea ilicifolia    HOLLY DOVEWOOD    Yellow albatross
Apophyllum anomalum    WARRIOR BUSH    Caper white, Caper gull
Breynia oblongifolia    BREYNIA    Large grass yellow
Carissa ovata    KUNKERBERRY    Common crow
Dodonaea triquetra  (and probably other Dodonaeas)  HOPBUSH    Fiery jewel
Indigofera australis    NATIVE INDIGO    Large grass yellow
Melodorum leichhardtii ZIGZAG VINE (grown in sun as a shrub) Fourbar swordtail,  pale green triangle.
Rhagodia species  SALTBUSHES  Saltbush blue
Senna species    NATIVE CASSIAS    Yellow migrant, Grass yellows
Swainsona galegifolia    DARLING PEA BUSH    Large grass yellow
(Note that the zigzag vine can be grown as a vine, if given trellis or higher plants to climb on, but grows as a shrub if it is out in the open with nothing to climb. It attracts butterflies best if it is grown in full sun.)

 Small grass yellow.


Yellow migrant


A pair of tailed emperors - and yes, they were kissing!

SMALL TREES
Acacia species    WATTLES     Tailed emperor, Large grass yellow, Hairstreaks
Capparis species    NATIVE CAPER TREES    Caper white, Caper gull
Cassia species    NATIVE CASSIA TREES    Lemon migrant, Yellow migrant, Tailed emperor
Citrus australis    NATIVE ROUND LIME    Orchard swallowtail, Dainty swallowtail, chequered swallowtail
Ficus coronata    SANDPAPER FIG    Common crow
Neolitsea species    BOLLYGUMS    Blue triangle
Notelaea species    MOCK OLIVES    Bronze flat
Pararchidendron pruinosum    SNOW WOOD    Tailed Emperor

Blue triangle

MEDIUM TO LARGE TREES
Acacia species    WATTLES, BRIGALOW   Hairstreaks
Alphitonia excelsa    SOAP ASH    Small green-banded blue
Brachychiton species    BOTTLE TREE, FLAME TREE, KURRAJONG    Tailed emperor,
White-banded plane
Cryptocarya species    JACKWOOD, BROWN LAUREL    Blue triangle. Bronze flat. Macleay’s swallowtail.
Drypetes deplanchei    YELLOW TULIPWOOD    Yellow albatross,
Ficus species    NATIVE FIGS    Common crow
Flindersia species    CROWS ASH, LEOPARD ASH,  LONG JACK    Orchard swallowtail
Geijera salicifolia    WILGAS    Swallowtails, all kinds

 Caper gull

Small green-banded blue 

RUSHES, GRASSES AND SEDGES
Carex species    SEDGES    Evening brown, Skippers, Darts
MOST NATIVE GRASSES    Common brown, Evening brown, Ringlets, Skippers, Darts, Xenicas
Lomandra species    MATRUSH    Splendid ochre, Skippers, Darts

Grass dart 

CLIMBERS
Hardenbergia violacea    HARDENBERGIA    Grass Blue
Hoya australis    HOYA    Common crow
Melodorum leichhardtii    ZIG ZAG VINE    Four-barred swordtail
Parsonsia species    GARGALOO, MONKEY ROPE    Common crow, Lesser wanderer.
Passiflora species    NATIVE PASSIONFRUITS    Glasswing
Secamone elliptica    CORKY MILK VINE    Blue tiger

 Blue tiger


MISTLETOES
ALL SPECIES, Jezebels, Azures.

Black Jezebel

 

 Satin azure

Where possible, fight for the survival of trees which carry mistletoes! They are always vulnerable, because of the widespread (but wrong) belief that they kill trees. Some of our most beautiful local butterflies can't live without them.

Where to get the Plants
Local native plants for the Toowoomba Region are not widely available. Some of the better local nurseries (i.e.not the big chains) may have these plants.
Otherwise, the above plants (except mistletoes and nettles) are all stocked at the Crows Nest Community Nursery. At any given time, you would find most of them in stock.
For more on how to shop at the Crows Nest Community Nursery, type its name into the white search box at top left.


Hosting a Party, but Nobody Comes?
It is frustrating to have planted a butterfly smorgasbord, and still not have no sign of your hoped-for guests.
If you are not finding your butterfly garden as successful as you had hoped, here are some handy hints:

1. Pay attention to which butterfly species you already see within a kilometre or so of your home. Target these ones first, with your host plantings. If you see only cabbage whites, you may have a lot of work to do! (Cabbage whites are not Australian natives, but are now our most common species - a sad state of affairs!)



Cabbage White. We can do better than this!

2. Butterflies can and do fly a LONG way, so you can reasonably expect to attract new butterflies to your area. Australian butterflies turn up in New Zealand with some regularity. Queensland species have spread to Victoria because of the planting of their host species down there). They are more likely to move in at your place if there is more than just one, lonely isolated host plant. Plant more if you can fit them in. Encourage your neighbours to do the same. Contribute to any going revegetion projects in your area, making sure the plant lists include butterfly hosts. Ask for suitable street and park trees.

3. Plant lots of flowers. Most adult butterflies need nectar. It's a high-sugar food, and fuels a high-energy lifestyle. It's actually the honey scent, rather than the colour, that is the big draw, so some very modest-looking white flowers are tops for butterfly-attracting. Butterflies aren't picky. Native, non-native, so long as they provide a good nectar supply, butterflies will come. And once attracted to your garden, they may stay, if they meet other butterflies and discover that there are suitable host plants nearby.

Food for the Grown-ups

 It's all about nectar, and a sweet honey scent.

 Caper White, Blue tiger, Common crow, and Lesser wanderer, on a Callistemon flower
 
Here are some good nectar plants. These are all local native species, so help to support other native wildlife as well.
Senna species NATIVE SENNAS (The yellow flowers attract yellow butterflies. For some, these are host plants as well.)
PEA FLOWERS. (Are also host plants)
Melaleucas and Callistemons. BOTTLEBRUSHES (Try Melaleuca quercina, an endangered local native species which is outstandingly attractive to butterflies.)
DAISIES - all kinds, including the ones with bright yellow centres, but no petals. (Are also host plants)
Bursaria spinosa SWEET BURSARIA Fabulously successful at attracting a multitude of insects.
Flindersia species CROWS ASH ETC.(Are also host plants)
Pavetta australiensis.BUTTERFLY BUSH
Morinda jasminoides SWEET MORINDA
Parsonsia species GARGALOO, MONKEY ROPE, ETC. (Are also host plants)
Hoya australis HOYA (Also a host plant).
Xanthorrhoea species. GRASSTREES.

 
 Painted lady on grasstree spike in spring.

Worried about Caterpillars?
 

 Laying eggfly, and caterpillar 

Some people just can't bear the thought of caterpillars  eating their precious plants, and even avoid butterfly host plants for that reason.

Do any of these thoughts help:
1. Actually, most butterfly caterpillars don't make themselves conspicuous. A casual glance won't notice any damage at all, even when a plant is actually producing plenty of beautiful butterflies. If you have an ugly caterpillar infestation, it's probably a moth, or even a non-caterpillar like a sawfly.
Two exceptions are:

• Caper butterflies, which do make a mess of native caper plants. It doesn't seem to worry the plants, which bounce back refreshed from being pruned. Like any pruned plant, however, they are temporarily ugly. 
• Orchard butterflies. Even these are not usually conspicuous, especially on their native hosts, but they have large caterpillars and sometimes do make a mess of some vulnerable, introduced citrus species.

 
 Orchard butterfly caterpillar

2.  Butterflies are beautiful, and having host plants means that you spend a lot of time noticing them, and less time noticing infinitesimal variations from perfect, in your plants.

3. Do you want a garden with soul? Some gardens are nothing but a pretty face, but most of us would like something more that that.   Gardens with soul are vibrant living communities. They can provide far greater pleasure, if you will only notice the beauty of all the garden's residents, not just the plants.
 
See also my post, “Planting for Butterflies”, December 2, 2010