Attracting butterflies to your garden is as easy as planting indigenous, flowering plants in your garden. The first step you will need to take in creating a butterfly friendly garden is to conduct research on the endemic species of butterflies in your region. From there you will be able to determine which plants you will have to incorporate into your garden design, which will provide food and shelter for the butterflies that you wish to attract.

Some common plants that are inviting to butterflies include wild irises (dietes grandiflora and dietes bicolour), Blue Freylinia (freylinia tropica), Honeybells (freylinia lanceolata), Cape Honeysuckle (tecomaria capensis) and Cape leadwort (plumbago auriculata). Adult butterflies feed on nectar and their larvae – caterpillars – feed on the leaves of larval host plants.

Butterflies are attracted to colour, so make sure that you plant flowering plants, which are on your endemic butterflies’ menu. Your lay-out should be carefully thought through, as these dainty and pretty insects love sunny areas. Therefore, you will have to plant your butterfly-attracting plants in sunny areas. Naturally, you will have to research the needs of the plants, to ensure they will thrive in the sun. Butterflies also need water, so it would be a good idea to create an area for them to drink from.

Finally, it is important to avoid pesticides as much as possible, as this will harm not only the butterflies, but also their offspring – caterpillars. Not only will attracting butterflies to your garden add life and beauty to your garden, but you will also be contributing to conservation, as you will be restoring the balance of the ecology in your garden. And, sadly most of our indigenous butterflies are endangered. Butterflies are essential role players in pollination.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping can design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature. We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service. We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Linda Poultney ©

Spring is the season of regeneration.  You can get the best out of your garden by doing the following during this invigorating time of year.

First of all you should prune all the plants in your garden that have suffered frost damage.  This will promote new growth.

Remove dead leaves and branches from your plants and trees to stimulate growth.

You should divide your perennial plants in order to multiply them and fill your garden beds with more lush growth.

Apply mulch to your plant beds and feed your plants and lawn with fertilizer and compost.

Have your irrigation system checked out and maintained.

You can start to water your lawn and garden more regularly again – two or three times per week.

You can also plant bulbs, which flower in summer, such as arum lilies (zantedeschia species), sword lilies (gladiolus species), and dahlias.  Sow flower seeds and plant seedlings to add vibrant splashes of colour to your garden.

Once your spring flowering plants have finished blooming, you can prune them back to ensure strong growth during the next spring period.

Finally, you should check all of your plants for diseases and treat them accordingly.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Spring time is a good time to prepare your lawn for summer. Mowing, watering and feeding are all important aspects to lawn care during spring. Your lawn has probably started turning green again, after being dormant during winter.

You can mow your lawn at a height of between 2cm and 2½cm. You should mow your lawn once a week to stimulate blade growth. After the first mow of the season, you should feed your lawn. Lawn dressing or organic compost is ideal lawn food. Cover your entire lawn with either lawn dressing or organic compost, and make sure to water the lawn properly afterwards, to ensure that the compost goes down all the way to the roots and soil.

Lastly, you should water your lawn two to three times a week. Do not water it more often than that, as the lawn is likely to rot or attract weeds and diseases. Irrigation is the best option for watering your lawn, and the rest of your garden. Irrigation saves water and time.

Kingfisher Landscaping has been installing state of the art irrigation systems for many satisfied customers over the years. An irrigation system takes away the need to water your garden the old fashioned way with a hosepipe and sprinkler, which is time consuming and wastes water. It is a much more convenient and effective approach to ensure your garden stays alive and healthy.

You can choose between a manual or computerized system. The former being less expensive, with the latter being automatic and, therefore more convenient. Our irrigation specialists can install a watering system which would perfectly suit the spread of your garden, as well as, the varying water requirements of all the plants in your garden. Kingfisher Landscaping will take into account the amount of watering stations you would need on your irrigation system. Each station will cover a specific area in your overall garden layout. Should you prefer a computerized system, our irrigation experts can set the times of your watering according to the length of the watering period, as well as, the intervals between watering, depending on the water requirements of the plants in any specific area. This feature gives you peace of mind that your garden will be watered often enough, while you are away on holiday.

With a manual system, you will need to operate the system by hand. It is still, however, much more effective than watering your garden with a hosepipe and sprinkler, which needs to be moved continuously. Furthermore, you can choose between rotary and pop-up sprinklers. Pop-up sprinklers are the better choice, as they are concealed in your lawn or plant beds, and only “pop up”, when the watering period commences. Both types of sprinklers can be set to cover only a specific area, preventing water being wasted by having a sprinkler spray against a wall or onto a paved area. This element adds to the water saving benefit of an irrigation system.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner and can provide the home owner with any exterior decorative feature. We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service. We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.

Dead leaves do not have to be an irritation during autumn and winter.  You can utilize dead leaves and other decaying plant materials in your garden by creating a compost heap.  By doing this, you will be creating your very own circle of life in your garden.  You can feed the plants in your garden and in your home with your own home-produced compost.  You will also save money.  You can even add kitchen waste, such as potato and carrot peels, rotten veggies and the like to your compost heap.  This will also reduce the amount of refuse ending up in landfills, which costs money and ultimately encourages global warming.

Producing your own compost is a cheap, therapeutic and natural manner of feeding your garden.  By working compost into your garden, you will enhance the nutrient contents in your soil; create an insulating layer in your soil, which will prevent moisture loss and protect the roots of your plants from extreme heat or cold; and you will encourage a healthy ecosystem in your garden.

The landscaping experts at Kingfisher Landscaping design and implement exceptional and beautiful gardens in a professional manner.  We pride ourselves in providing our clients with excellent, efficient and comprehensive service.  We offer all the products and services associated with creating a peaceful, and aesthetically pleasing outdoor living space which will complement the style of your home and in which you can relax.