No neat and tidy butterfly gardens!

Are you one of those people who feel that they have to conform to "standard" gardening practices? Do you believe that you should follow the "experts" who dictate which flower colors are "in" or "out" this year? Does a weed in your flower bed send you into cardiac arrest? Well, here's some news....if you want to attract butterflies, you can discard all those notions. Butterflies don't care if your garden is neat and tidy, if your flowers are all the same shade of pink, or if there is a thistle growing among the cosmos. In fact, leaving a few weeds in place may help attract even more species of butterflies. A prickly thistle is not only a fine nectar plant, but a host plant for Painted Ladies. A dandelion provides nectar early in the spring, when you might not have many other plants blooming. Wild violets are not only pretty, but are the host plants for Great Spangled Fritillaries, those large and colorful flutterers that appear in June. Of course, you don't want your carefully tended flower areas to begin looking sad and neglected, but it certainly won't hurt to purposely leave some Queen Anne's Lace for the black swallowtails or clover as another nectar source. A weed is only a plant for which a use has yet to be discovered. If you want more butterflies this year, research information about weeds and wildflowers before assaulting them with hoes, rakes or herbicides.