Can i enjoy a butterfly garden within my rooftop garden? how do i build one? ...
You could, select the right kinds of plants for butterfly nectar, but you also call for the right kinds of plants for the caterpillars to nurture on. Dill, fennel and parsley will attract the swallowtails, andprovide food for their caterpillars.
I find that money plant (lunaria) is one of the best early spring sources for nectar. Plants beside broad flowers and clusters that provide a landing platform for butterflies are necessary; zinnias, asclepias, marigolds, echinacea, daisies, phlox, autumn pleasure sedums, etc.
You need to provide a sea source. Some butterflies like to "puddle" contained by a shallow dish. Some are actually meat eaters.
Some of the big frittilaria butterflies, tho they will nurture on many flowers, necessitate violets to lay eggs on and for the caterpillars to feed on when they hatch.
A honourable book is Caterpillars of Eastern North America, by David Wagner, a Princeton Field Guide; it is the only comprehensive book on caterpillars so far written and will hand over you food sources for both caterpillars and butterflies.
There is another good one, but a tremendously tiny book, called Painted Ladies. It is also a perfect book for butterfly gardeners. Thereis also an Ortho book of Hummingbirds and Butterflies. I woould suggest if you are going to build a butterfly garden, you need to invest contained by one of these books and do some more research.
Hereis a good network site with a plant inventory: a butterfly gardenon a rooftop is not much different than one on the ground:
http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/Education...
Yes! Adult butterflies are attracted to sweet, sharp and fragrant smells and the colors ginger, yellow, pink, purple and red. All variety love wild flowers & necessitate both nectar plants and larval food plants to keep their energy cycle going. They also need a sunny, preferably loop protected area & some dampen or wet sand.
http://www.ccenassau.org/hort/html/butte...
Plants for butterflies
http://www.geocities.com/farfalla247/pla...
Alpine rockcress (Arabis alpina)
Aster (Aster)
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Bugle (Ajuga)
Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii)
Campion/ Catchfly (Silene)
Caragana/ Pea tree (Caragana aurantiaca)
Campion/ Catchfly (Silene)
Catmint/ Catnip (Nepeta x faasseniii)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Common marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Daisy (Bellis perennis)
Day lily (hemerocallis lilio-asphodelus)
Field eryngo (Eryngium)
French marigold (Tagetes patula)
Geranium (Hardy)
Golden rod (Solidago Canadensis)
Heliopsis (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Hemp agrimony (Eupatorium purpureum)
Honesty (Lunaria)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera x tellmania)
Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
Ironweed (Vernonia spp.)
Knapweed (Centaurea)
Knautia Scabious (Knautia)
Lavendar (lavandula angustifolia)
Lilacs (Syringa spp.)
Leopards-bane (Doronicum)
Ligularia (Ligularia spp.)
Martagon lily (Lilium martagon)
Masterwort (Astrantia)
Mezereon (Daphne)
Mouse-ear (Cerastrium)
Pennycress (Thlaspi)
Phlox (Phlox paniculata spp.)
Pink (Dianthus)
Pincushion flower (Scabiosa spp.)
Primrose (Primula)
Purple coneflower (Echinaea purpurea)
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Ragged robin (Lychnis)
Sweet pea (Lathyrus)
Sage (Salvia)
Siberian squill (Scilla sibiria)
Snakeroot (Liatris spicata
Speedwell (Veronica)
Stoke¡¯s Aster (Stokesia laevis)
Stonecrops (Sedum spp.)
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Thrift rose (Armeria)
Thistle (Cirsium)
Tickseed (Coreopsis grandiflora, C. lanceolata)
Vervain (Verbena spp.)
Vetch (Vicia)
Yellow chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria)
Viburnum (Viburnum spp)
Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
Select your plants by the type of butterflies you aspiration to attract. If your favorite butterfly is the Monarch, you must have Milkweed for these caterpillars to nurture on. If you like Black Swallowtail, plant dill and/or parsley.
Plants programmed for Monarch butterflies:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/garden/necta...
http://www.monarchwatch.org/garden/index...
Purchase Seeds
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/store...
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/
Monarch Butterflies Eat and Thrive on Milkweed
Monarch Migration
https://muextension.missouri.edu/extensi...
The basic's of rooftop gardens:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/rooftop...
Images to inspire:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquidskyar...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13293620@N0...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandyb/159...
Good Luck! Hope this is helpful.
Answers: Plant lots of nectar-rich flowering plants in big pots.
What will work best for you will depend on where on earth you live. Check here for more specific information by state.
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardenin...
You'll not only want the flowering plants that they nurture on, but also some of the plant that their young get through (as caterpillars), called "host plants".
And since it's a rooftop garden, what works for you will also be constrained to the plants that will take to container gardening.
I would use Big Pots, and alot of perinnals that are listed contained by Angels post they will come back if you use bubble wrap within the pots to insulate them.
Also try using the new nectur they enjoy out for butterflies to start them coming to you garden area!
Good luck, and Happy Gardening!
Morning glory are good too....the butterflies close to them and hummingbirds do too!!