Feeding Butterflies

I would like to take you on a walk around our yard.

 Here are the pretty yellow Marigold's The Short Chic planted on my birthday.  All that is left are brown, dried up, dead stems.

 Oh Yes! And the pretty pinkish/purple flowers that The Husband gave me for my birthday. We planted them on Easter in my new topsy turvey planter that he made for me.  It looks the same. Brown. Dead.

Here are a little bit of green. Fighting to hang on. I am not even sure what this plant is. It is 80% gone. This is the worst my flower garden has looked in years. It is bone dry. Even The Husbands prized yard looks brown. 

Not even The Short Chic can make the yard look good. This brown oasis is suppose to be a habitat for living things. We love to go outside and explore. We love seeing hummingbirds flutter around. Chase a butterfly around. Find a caterpillar and rub our fingers up and down its furry body. Try and catch a lightening bug as it flies around the yard. But not this year. 

Last night on the evening news they reported that our drought has been over 80 days in length.  I honestly have no idea how long it has been. I just know that everything here is brown and drying up due to lack of rain. 

This photo were taken last summer at my BFF's home.

The flowers and grass are not the only thing suffering. The critters that rely on them are suffering as well.  If I understand this correctly, the butterfly population is already down. This drought is now threatening their life source. Butterflies need flowering plants. Flowing plants need butterflies. Butterflies make me happy. Flowering plants make me happy. They remind me of my Grandma. Both of my Grandma's. Who does not like butterflies?

Yesterday, The Short Chic pointed out to me that we had "yucky" black banana's in our fruit bowl. She told me, "We do not eat them when they are like this!" I knew those bananas where there, I was just waiting until it was time  to put them on a plate and set up a butterfly feeding station.  I guess it was time.

We got a plate. Took a fork and really mashed up the banana. Added some water and made it soupy. Then we took a peach we also had too long (it was starting to mold). We cut it in half and mashed it up. I added some berries. I even tried adding an apple. 

We took the plate outside where we thought butterflies might find it. {the real criteria was that we could see the plate from our back sliding glass door!}

This photo was take last year at my BFF's home. 

I am not sure if we ever had any butterflies but we did have lots of bees. {Bees also drink nectar from flowers and pollinate the flowers in return.}

                                                     

We have since made two plates. One for the back yard and one for the front. I did some research. Apples are not high in nectar, so I am no longer using them. Fruit that is good to leave out: peaches, grapes, mango's, pineapple. The juicer the better.

Of course, I should warn you, the squirrels are also forging. They stole my morning plate of food. I am still waiting to catch a butterfly eating.  So, hey, will you give it a try? Put a plate of fruit outside for the butterflies. Or the bees.

This photo was taken last summer at my BFF's home.