Gardening for Butterflies

All it takes is one chance planting of a species favored by butterflies to hook you into trying to attract these lovely, ephemeral creatures for a lifetime. According to an old saying, “Butterflies go where they please and please where they go”— the crown jewels of a beautiful garden. And by planting the right flowers in the right place, you can invite a variety of butterfly species to dwell in your garden.

Adult butterflies come for the nectar, which they sip through their tongues. Butterflies tend to favor plants with large petals or strong stems that provide a perch. Plants with large petals include members of the genus Compositae,such as asters, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos and daisies.

Other good nectar plants have a flower head that consists of smaller blossoms on stems, such as butterfly bush (Buddleia), lantana, butterfly weed, borage, lavender, mints and phlox. Butterflies tend to avoid the showy double flowers, since these are often low in nectar supplies. And since a heavy fragrance appeals to butterflies, it’s best to stick to the old-fashioned heirloom varieties more than the faint-scented, modern cultivars of the same flower.

Purple and lavender flowers seem to be the most attractive to butterflies, followed by pinks, whites and yellows. If you decide to make a few plantings to attract butterflies, keep in mind that large masses of a few nectar flowers are most effective. You’ll attract more butterflies with a bed of coneflowers than you will with one or two coneflowers mixed in with other plants.

Butterflies are sun-loving insects, so choose a site in full sun if you can. It’s even better if the site is protected from strong winds by a wall, a hedge or some shrubs.

Adult butterflies generally live for about two weeks and much of that time is devoted to reproduction and egg-laying. To lay eggs, the female butterfly needs a proper host plant that will nourish her larvae. Host plants are often quite different from the plants adult butterflies use as nectar sources.

Since most butterflies travel only a few hundred yards from where they grew up as caterpillars, it behooves you to plant or encourage a few host plants. You may come to welcome caterpillars you once thought ugly, or even frightening, once you understand that attracting the local butterfly population you’ll also increase your chances of hosting the next generation of butterflies in your garden.

Some of them feed on the leaves of common trees and shrubs, such as aspen, poplar, willow, hawthorn, basswood, wild cherry, birch, ash, mountain ash, Amelanchier, dogwood, meadowsweet, viburnums, blueberry and sumac. Others prefer foods we commonly consider weeds—milkweed, nettles and thistles.

If you live in a rural area, these wild plants are probably already in plentiful supply. If you don’t and you want to supply these larval foods, plant some, or let them grow in obscure corners of your garden or hidden behind your specimen plants. Dill, parsley, fennel, caraway and anise provide larval food for a variety of beautiful swallowtail butterflies.

Occasionally, you’ll find caterpillars, some of them impressive in size and coloring, munching the foliage of prized ornamentals, herbs, or vegetable plants. In some cases, you can gently move the larvae (wearing gloves) to a less visible part of the plant or to another less–visible plant of the same species in your garden.

Butterflies are extremely sensitive to pesticides, even “organic” pesticides (for example, the bacterial insecticide Bt, Bacillus thuringienseis, targets butterfly larvae), so limit or avoid their use if you want to attract butterflies into your garden. Never spray between 10 and 3 p.m., when butterflies (and honeybees) are most active.

Here are a few suggestions for flowering plants that will attract butterflies to your garden:

• Annuals: Alyssum (blooms summer to mid-fall), Cosmos (mid-summer to fall), Heliotrope (summer), Marigold (summer into fall), Nasturtium (late summer), Salvia (summer through fall) and Zinnia (midsummer to fall).

 

• Biennials: Red clover (summer), Queen Anne’s lace (late spring through fall), Sweet William (spring through early summer).

• Perennials: Asters (late summer to fall), Bergamot (bee balm - summer through fall), Butterfly bush (midsummer to fall), Butterfly weed (summer through fall), White clover (summer), Coreopsis (all summer), Purple cornflower (late summer into fall), Hollyhock (summer), Lavender (summer), Lupine (late spring to early summer), Phlox (all summer), Black- eyed Susan (mid summer to early fall), Salvia (summer into fall), Shasta daisy (summer), Thistle (late spring through fall), Violet (spring), Yarrow (mid to late summer). 

 

By Margaret Hagen, UNH Cooperative Extension Educator, Agricultural Resources

07/14/06

For more information call the UNH Cooperative Extension's Family, Home & Garden Center's Info-line (toll free) at 1-877-398-4769 or send us an email. Volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday 9:00am to 2:00 p.m.