A garden flutters to life just for the butterflies

SCRIPPS HOWARD

Appearances matter, even when it comes to critters.

Take squirrels and rats.

Both are rodents.

One has a cute, furry tail and hangs out in trees.

When a squirrel runs onto a road, you'll just about wreck the car trying to avoid it.

Rats, however, are beneath such consideration.

The butterfly certainly benefits from this double standard.

In trying to differentiate between moths and butterflies, scientists determined they're basically the same bug.

Both originate as caterpillars.

One creates a cocoon and comes out a moth.

The other creates a chrysalis and comes out a butterfly.

Ultimately, what matters is that butterflies are pretty; most moths aren't.

Nobody has ever lovingly laid out a garden to attract moths.

Butterflies, on the other hand, get lots of special attention from amateur and professional gardeners alike.

Just about every botanical garden boasts a butterfly habitat.

If you've considered taking up butterfly gardening to lure the critters to your yard, beware: Those who try out the pastime quickly become passionate, says Pamela Traas, author of "Gardening for Florida's Butterflies" (Great Outdoors Publishing, $16.95, paperback).

"Back 15 years ago, when my daughter was in kindergarten, her teacher asked if I would put in a butterfly garden," says Traas, of Safety Harbor, Fla.

"You can't help but get hooked.

It's a bridge back to the natural world of which we are all a part." By establishing a butterfly garden at home, Traas says, people "can experience the incredible magic of metamorphosis up close.

It touches that magic place in all of us." Butterflies aren't impressively colored just for aesthetics, Traas says.

The coloration helps them find mates and keeps them out of predators' tummies.

"The wild world is all about staying alive," she says.

Tim Adams is vice president of the North American Butterfly Association's Pinellas County, Fla., chapter.

The Dunedin, Fla., resident has been active in butterfly photography and doing butterfly counts since 1998.

He has a small garden, and he often takes field trips to wildlife areas to examine butterflies.

Adams has found the study of butterflies enriching and therapeutic.

"It's a hobby.

I like to get out, get away from all the normal daily activities," he says.

"I think what is most fascinating is their life cycle, and all their colors, how beautiful they are.

Adams says that by adding several types of inexpensive host plants to a garden, "You should be able to get 20 to 25 (butterfly) species in your yard.

Not all at once, but over time, you should be able to see at least that." What's the main reason to start a butterfly garden? "I would say just go out and get a couple plants and rear a butterfly itself," he says.

"To watch them go from egg all the way to an adult, that intrigues anybody, from kids to people up in their 80s."