Bugs and Butterflies Our gardens are home not just to flowers, fruit and veges, they provide a habitat for wildlife - bugs and birds as well.
There are many different bugs to be found even in the smallest garden. You can learn to tell the difference between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' - almost as easily as we can tell the carton characters in our favourite TV show.
You can plant flowers like daisies, marigolds, herbs and lavender in your garden to attract more good insects.
And if you want to attract bugs and butterflies, then remember that there are lots more to be found in gardens where sprays and pesticides are sparsely or never used. For pesticides don't choose between the good guys and the bad guys - they kill them all!
Ladybirds One 'bug' anyone with a garden enjoys seeing are the ladybirds.
There are a number of different ladybirds - either red or orange and with different numbers of spots.
All ladybirds are 'predators' (or bugs that eats other bugs) and eat small aphids and other nasties that eat your plants. These guys really are the good guys in the garden.
Butterflies Butterflies we all love.
White (cabbage) butterflies are pretty but they lay their green eggs on cabbages and the bright green caterpillars then eat their way through the leaves - and your dinner.
White Butterfly
Magpie moths are black butterflies with white dots on the wings. Their caterpillars a black with a little bit of orange and lots of black fuzz, sometimes we call them' woolly bears'. They love to eat a green plant with yellow flowers called 'ragwort', a terrible weed found through out New Zealand.
It can be fun to raise these woolly caterpillars but it is far more fun to raise Monarchs or Red admirals. If you want gorgeous Monarch butterflies in your garden then planting a swan plant is a great way to start.
If you want gorgeous monarch butterflies in your garden then planting a Swan plant is a great way to start.
Monarch Butterfly
The Red Admiral butterfly's favourite food is a native stinging nettle known as 'Onga Onga'. It stings terribly, causes swelling and a rash, and for days. We don't recommend it for Kids' Gardens, but for a fenced, safe space that can be left as a wilderness!
Praying Mantis The praying mantis is another predator. It is less common and really a bit weird looking. This bug is interesting because it can turn its head, and most insects can't do that. It turns its eyes to watch its prey (or lunch) arriving. Its large front legs are armed with hooks and spines that help it grab hold of its prey.
The praying mantis merges into the background colour of the plant they are sitting on, becoming more green, yellow or brown or reddish depending on the plant colour. And, no, they can't turn bright red.
Praying Mantis
The praying mantis sits really still or sometimes rocks back and forward, waiting for a bug to come along. Then they pounce and eat up the other guy. The praying mantis is also a 'good guy' as they eat smaller bugs that eat your plants, such as aphids.
Honey Bee
More Great Projects for You to Try!
Insect Facts
There are more than 500 million different insects on earth. That's more than any other life form. Insects appeared 300 million years ago and were the first 'animals' to fly.
All insects have - six legs
- their skeleton outside their body
Most insects also have two pairs of wings and a pair of feelers (or 'antennae') which help them to explore around them.
Advanced insects hatch from eggs into 'larvae' (grubs or caterpillars); these larvae then have a cocoon stage before the adult insect emerges.
The larvae are expert feeders (just like human kids!), while the adults' role is to produce the eggs for the next generation.
Less advanced insects like termites, cockroaches and dragonflies transform themselves gradually, and become more and more like adults.
When a growing insect gets too big for its skeleton, it splits and a new, soft skeleton appears underneath the old one.
A Bug Count is one way of finding out just how many bugs live in your garden or local park. It will also tell you how many different bugs are there, and you can begin to see how they live together in this special habitat.
You will need
a tape measure
4 to 5 metres of string
4 short bamboo canes
4 corks
a magnifying glass
notebook or paper
a pencil
Go out into the garden or go with you parents to the local park, find an area with a mixture of plants, flowers and grass that your parents will let you sit on (not your Dad's special flower border!).
Measure an area one-metre square with the bamboo canes, that is each side should measure one metre and there should be one metre and they should make a square. Push a cork onto each bamboo cane to protect your eyes- it is really easy to bash yourself on these and it hurts! Tie the string around the outside of the square.
Next, take your magnifying glass and carefully search your patch to see what you can find. Write down the number of spiders, butterflies, beetles, ants, slaters or woodlice, worms and so on that are living in your patch. If you are not sure what a bug is, try to draw it and then look it up at the local library.
It is fun to search the same patch in spring, summer, autumn and winter and see the difference in the types and numbers of bugs you will find. Keep your records and compare them.
If you want to you can send a copy in to us at 'Kids Pages, PO Box 31-293 Christchurch 8004, NZ'. You never know, we might put your work up on the web!
Growing Swan Plants
Swan plants are easy to grow in full sun in any soil that doesn't get all wet and soggy. You can buy seeds or plants from most plant nurseries and garden centres.
Swan plants can be kept from year to year in your garden but plant them where you won't mind that they get a bit ratty looking after the caterpillars have eaten all the leaves!
Be careful: If you break off a stem be very careful not to get the sap, the gooey white stuff inside, on your hands or skin - it is poisonous and can cause skin rashes.
As the monarch caterpillars eat this poisonous food they in turn become poisonous to birds, and that is a great defence.
Bees and Wasps Bees are important in the garden as they pollinate flowers and help fruit to form. Bees need a steady supply of nectar rich flowers and they turn this into honey.
Bumblebees are the big fuzzy looking black and yellow bees. Honeybees are smaller and yellow with a golden-brown stripe. Both will give you a nasty sting, so stay clear and let them get on with their work, and then they won't be worried and sting you.
Wasps look a lot like bees but are not friendly and they steal the honeybees' food. They are more aggressive and often can be found swarming around rubbish bins at the beach or park, or near a nest site. It is best to tell a grown-up if you find a wasp nest and then they can have it removed. Wasps are not the good guys!
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Our gardens are home not just to flowers, fruit and veges, they provide a habitat for wildlife - bugs and birds as well.
There are a number of different ladybirds - either red or orange and with different numbers of spots.
As the monarch caterpillars eat this poisonous food they in turn become poisonous to birds, and that is a great defence.
Bees are important in the garden as they pollinate flowers and help fruit to form. Bees need a steady supply of nectar rich flowers and they turn this into honey.