Gardening for butterflies

A Yellow Admiral enjoys 
the nectar of Joe Pye Weed...

.... while the Red Admiral 
goes for the white buddleia.










If any butterflies are reading this article I know they will be delighted to find that some humans are creating gardens especially for them, and that there is even an on-line course on "How to Create a Butterfly Garden" created by the NZ Monarch Butterfly Trust. The next course starts on March 1st.

The course usually costs NZ$55, but the Trust is offering a free place to me or one of my followers. I'd like to offer it to the first person to email me (ecogardenernz [at] gmail.com) with the name of the only butterfly that I am NOT keen to see in my garden. 

I am always delighted to see New Zealand's endemic Red Admiral butterfly wherever it lands, and I plant lots of plants that butterflies like. Some of them, such as the very nasty (to humans) native tree nettle, pictured below, are allowed to grow in out-of-the-way-corners where they supply a banquet for the Red Admiral without harming any humans.

I have swan plants for the Monarch butterflies, but I have noticed that both they and the Admirals are fond of flowers which are made up of lots of tiny flowerets on one head.

The buddleia flowers are a perfect example of this, but the most popular similar plants in my garden are the perennials Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum) and the Goose-necked Loosestrife   (aka Lysimachia clethroides).






If you'd like to know more about butterflies and gardening for them then check out the Butterfly Conference in Auckland on the weekend of March 16 and 17. There will be speakers coming from the USA and Australia as well leading New Zealand entomologists, plus Geoff Davidson who will talk on planting native species for butterflies and moths.

Whau - a tree of the Treaty

The new spring leaves and flowers of a young whau tree

On Waitangi Day the tree I always think of is the whau (Entelea arborescens). That's because of the words spoken by the rangatira from Waima, Mohi Tawhai, at the Treaty of Waitangi signing gathering held in the Hokianga six days later, on the opposite coast of Northland from the Treaty grounds where commemorations are taking place today.

Mohi Tawhai, addressing the representatives of the British Crown who had brought the Treaty for signing, said: “Let the tongue of everyone be free to speak: but what of it. What will be the end? Our sayings will sink to the bottom like a stone, but your sayings will float light, like the wood of the whau tree, and always remain to be seen. Am I telling lies?”

For many, many years, as millions of acres of tribal lands were alienated via legalistic procedures conducted in a foreign language, it seemed that Mohi Tawhai was surely speaking the truth. However, today there are hopeful signs that his truly indigenous metaphor can be applied to Maori words as well as to those of the Crown. That includes his own words, which have now been preserved for 173 years.

The whau is a special tree in lots of ways. It is the only species in the Entelea genus, and it is endemic to New Zealand. As Mohi Tawhai's metaphor indicates, it has very light wood, as light as cork. It was therefore used as floats for nets, which are always meant to be seen. This was mainly in the northern part of the North Island, however, and always near the sea, since the whau is a very tender tree, which can not abide frost, strong winds, dry soil, or heavy shade. It is neither tall, nor long-lived, but it grows easily from seed. It is an attractive tree for coastal gardens, covered in white flowers in spring and masses of spiky seed capsules in autumn.

Our national leaf emblem, the silver fern, is also a good tree to ponder on Waitangi Day. Its leaves are green on the upper side and silver on the lower side, and the koru of new possibilities uncurl from its head.