Create a home butterfly garden this spring

She loved to study the intricate patterns of her mounted butterflies, referencing any number of books from the library to identify the species and their traits.

That fascination hasn't subsided in the least. Her backyard now doubles as a chemical-free butterfly habitat, allowing her to watch about a dozen butterflies over a cup of coffee on any given morning.

It does take a fair amount of work — enjoyable for Mensinger — as she also maintains a breeding ground for the butterflies that end up in her yard.

"I collect caterpillars in the late fall and raise them in their cocoons," said Mensinger, the birds and butterfly chairperson for the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs.

"I feed them food like oak leaves and wild cherry leaves. I keep them in a shed in the winter, and they usually hatch in July," she said. "I've raised black swallowtail and monarch and beautiful moths."

If your interest is piqued, you, too, can create a chemical-free backyard butterfly habitat. It will take some effort, as well as space, time and money.

To get started, try to dedicate at least 500 square feet to pack your habitat with the appropriate bushes, shrubs and flowers. The density will cause the greens to grow beyond dedicated borders, so you will have to spend time dividing the plants and taking some of the unruly ones out, said Bob Greene, curator of horticulture at Museum of Science.

Right now is a great time to start planting, but you need to be mindful of what you're putting into the ground. If you don't head for an organic nursery, it's likely the plants you buy will be laced with pesticides, Greene said.

"Systemic pesticides go into the system of the plant and can off-gas at night -- you'll have a circle of dead butterflies by morning," Greene said.

"In general, you should wait three months before exposing the butterflies to such plants," he said. "That presents a challenge if you're looking to plant now, but they really need to metabolize the pesticide first, which will wear off after time."

Mensinger's garden is 100 percent chemical-free, as she uses nothing but compost and peat moss. She plants most of her habitat from seed and therefore doesn't have to worry about pesticides.

To address problematic insects in a pesticide-free garden, you might want to release some do-good bugs. Greene said this is best done in the quiet hours of the early morning, placing good bugs right next to individual bad bugs eating at your habitat.

Mensinger has a different strategy.

"I do have Japanese beetles and grubs that I don't want around," Mensinger said. "I just dig them up and feed them to the birds. I don't use any poison."

If you don't have 500 square feet to spare in your yard, Mensinger thinks spits of land as small as 6 square feet can attract a butterfly or two. Her habitat covers roughly half of her backyard, but stone paths divide it into smaller pieces. The other half of the backyard is too shady for butterflies, as they love hot summer sun.

Be sure to buy host plants, like parsley and wild carrots; caterpillars will enjoy nibbling on the leaves. You'll also need to buy an assortment of nectar plants, like butterfly bush and black-eye susans, that flower at different points of the year. This will ensure that butterflies pursue nectar in your backyard for several months.

A good rule of thumb is to look for flowers with a central disk, leaving the nectar accessible for the butterflies, Mensinger said.

"They won't go to a rose because they can't get to the nectar," she said, for example.

And then just sit, wait, and enjoy what's to come. You should see at least five or six different species, as there are more than 100 butterfly species altogether. One buddleia bush could host 20 to 30 butterflies at a time, Greene said.

"Tiger swallowtail, great swallow fritillary, monarchs," Mensinger said. "I have butterflies in June, July, August, September -- even into October. It's just fun; this is a labor of love."

Plants in Michelle Messinger's backyard:

Aster

Asiatic Lilly

Bachelor's Buttons

Beebaum

Black-eyed Susan

Butterfly Bush

Butterfly Weed

Cosmos

Dahlia

Daisys

Day Lilly

Goldenrods

Heliotrope

Milkweed

Parsley

Purple Coneflower

Queen Anne's Lace

Sage

Turtlehead

Verbena

Yellow Coneflower

Zinnias