Lepidopteran Landscaping

Living in the arid climate of Tucson, Arizona has lots of advantages. The Sonora Desert that is home to Tucson is a beautiful place. The weather is great all year long, and the mountains around the city are not only visually compelling, but also offer a plethora of outdoor activity opportunities for hikers, bikers, snow skiers, and more.

But some Tucsonans prefer a slightly less rigorous outdoor hobby than mountain hiking. Some like to work in their garden, or create Xeriscapes or landscapes. It's an often overlooked hobby opportunity because many people think the desert is too hostile to properly host plants. And some think that the muted desert colors are too hard to work with. Well, thanks to massive water transport systems, you can grow practically anything in the Tucson desert. And as for the muted desert colors, well, colors just jump out more clearly!

Butterflies don't just add color, they also add a new dynamic to shape.

When you layout your landscaping design, you can drop colors into any area where you want color. The colors can be quite striking in the desert milieu of faint earth tones, and you don't need a lot of color to make a very noticeable difference. But of course, even in the best landscaping design, one thing stays the same: the colors remain in their groups - static. A plant that blooms red, always blooms red, and is always in the same place. Wouldn't it be nice if you could constantly shift the colors around in your landscape or garden? Guess what – you can!

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Lepidopteran Landscaping! The full color, fully portable, garden and landscaping coloring system made to order for outdoor desert designs. Please, read on…

Lepidoptera is the second largest order of insects, and includes the butterflies and moths. As we all know, many butterflies are quite colorful, and when you get fifteen or twenty of them milling about a plant, it is delightfully colorful, and the chaotic flight of the small animals adds an element of motion to the color that is unmatched by static gardens and landscapes. These insects are quite specialized, and live in and visit only specific types of plants, trees, and bushes. The same way that Koala Bears only eat Eucalyptus leaves.

Lepidopteran Landscaping takes advantage of the preferences of butterflies and moths. By the way, there are some incredibly colorful, beautiful moths – some of which are quite large. Briefly, if you plant certain species of flora, certain species of butterflies and moths will frequent your garden, bringing a magical, animated color scheme that will surely be the envy of your 'static' gardening friends.

Laying out and designing your Lepidopteran Landscape is easy, and is solely a matter of personal preference. Fortunately, the butterflies won't care about the design, they only care about the right plant being present. Go through the same design processes that you would for a typical static garden color scheme, paying particular attention to the shape and size of the garden, and where the Lepidopteran Landscaping plants will be placed for maximum effect. 'Maximum effect' includes where your winged color consorts will be most often seen and enjoyed by visitors to the garden.

The velvety colors of butterflies are rich and deep, and make any garden or landscape look better.

Do your research! It's critical to know which plants will attract the species of butterflies you desire to have in your garden. This is research that is easily done on the Internet. During the research you will doubtless learn a great deal about butterflies that will help you enjoy them even more. They live all over the country, so you can create a Lepidopteran Landscape wherever you want. Just ascertain the indigenous species, and plant what they like to visit. It's really that simple. If you plant them, they will come.

The only real rule is to have the proper plants present. There are no design rules, other than those you self-impose. Some people like all of their colors neatly grouped, while others prefer a more random pattern to the color scheme. Textures are also important in landscaping design. And again, some people group like textures and sizes, while others put a splash of rough here, and a dash of smooth there. Myself, I prefer sort of a hodgepodge of color and texture. I think this gives it a more natural look. I also like that most people are not accustomed to seeing such chaos in something that was so obviously designed. It's a nice touch of juxtaposition that keeps viewers and visitors intrigued.

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End Notes:
Xeriscapes: A type of landscaping that uses drought-resistant shrubs and plants to conserve natural resources – particularly water. Back to Article
Order of insects: Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Arthropoda, Class: Insecta, Order: Lepidoptera. Back to Article

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