Gardening for Butterflies
by Jane Kirkland
People often ask me which plants are best for attracting butterflies to their gardens. My answer always begins with “native plants.”
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Where to Purchase Native
Plants and Seeds Your local nursery is a good source for learning about and purchasing native plants and seeds. Avoid buying seed packs of wildflowers at places such as your grocery store. Many of these packs are not native flower seeds and many contain invasive plant seeds. Read the labels carefully. Here are some other good sources for information and seeds. • New Jersey Audubon Society. For years, the New Jersey Audubon Society has promoted the development and maintenance of backyard habitats. Visit their website and follow the links to their World of Backyard Habitats to learn more. www.njaudubon.org • Valley Forge Audubon Society. Visit their website and click on “Backyards for Nature” (BFN) links. BFN teaches you about native plants you can incorporate into your yard to help support native wildlife. The BFN main page has links down the left side for frequently asked questions, resources for buying plants and seed and other useful info. (One MacIntosh user reports these links did not appear until he ran his cursor down the left side of the page.) This is one of the best places you can learn about gardening for birds and butterflies with native plants. www.valleyforgeaudubon.org • Yellow Springs Farm: This farm in Chester County specializes in |
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Native plants are well adapted to our soil and climate, are low maintenance, require no fertilizer and should not need pesticides. Their moisture requirements are met by precipitation and they are disease-resistant when planted in a location meeting their light, moisture and pH requirements.
Use natives in your garden and you’ll be rewarded with a rainbow of color; not just the plants and flowers but the beautiful butterflies — and birds — that your garden will draw.
By using natives you’ll spend less time maintaining your garden and have more time to watch its inhabitants grow. When you are planting, maintaining and enjoying your garden, don’t forget to include your children. Fuel your kids’ natural nurturing instincts with the hobby of gardening.
What do Butterflies Need?
Most butterflies don’t travel far (though some species such as monarchs do migrate). Most live a short life. Butterflies need sunny spots to bask, host plants on which to lay eggs and to feed the caterpillars, and nectar for the adults. Butterflies lay their eggs on the host plant that the caterpillar will feed upon when it hatches.
Caterpillars are eating machines and they’ll chomp away at the foliage of the host plants. Don’t worry, they won’t kill the plant and they’ll leave the host when ready for the next step in their lifecycle, the chrysalis. When the adult emerges from the chrysalis, it feeds on flower nectar.
If your garden contains both host plants and nectar plants and if you plant a variety of flowers that provide blooms throughout the butterfly season (spring to fall), you’ll be rewarded with beautiful butterflies.
Native Trees and Shrubs
The Tulip tree (also called the tulip poplar) is the host plant for the largest of our butterflies — the eastern tiger swallowtail. This yellow butterfly with black stripes is also arguably our most easily recognized butterfly.
Tulip trees bloom in the spring with large pale orange and green tulip-shaped flowers. The cone-like clusters of seeds in the flowers ripen in the fall and persist through the winter, attracting many species of birds such as goldfinches, housefinches, cardinals, chickadees, and the tufted titmouse.
Spicebush and sassafras are hosts for the spice bush swallowtail butterfly. Hackberry is the host for the question mark, eastern comma and hackberry emperor butterflies. The highbush blueberry is also the host plant for spring azure, tiny little pale blue butterflies. It also provides nutritious berries for many species of birds.
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See Jane at the
Phila. Flower Show Nature columnist Jane Kirkland will discuss Gardening To Attract Birds — A Seasonal Guide at the Philadelphia Flower Show at the Philadelphia Convention Center, Sat. March 11 at 11:30am. Her program is included in the price of admission. This is the third year Jane will present this popular lecture. For info or to purchase tickets, visit www.theflowershow.com |
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Flowers
Some native plants do double duty for butterflies; serving as both host plant for caterpillars as well as nectar plant for adults. They include swamp milkweed, (host and food plants for monarchs) and asters (host for pearly everlastings and food for many species).
Other good native flowers for adult butterflies are bee balm, butterfly weed (that’s not the same plant as the popular butterfly bush), cardinal flower, purple coneflower, jo-pye weed, violets and wild bergamot (also called monarda fistulosa).
Tickseed (coreopsis) is both a good source of nectar for butterflies and a good source of seed for birds. Many of these flowers will also attract hummingbirds. There are non-invasive native forms of goldenrod and remember, it’s the ragweed, not the goldenrod, that causes hay fever. Goldenrod attracts many species of butterflies as well as goldfinches, robins, bluebirds, blue jays and the white-throated and song sparrows.
Don’t Forget: When buying plants and seeds for your butterfly garden ask two questions: “Is it native?” and “Is it invasive?” Remember, that “wildflower” does not necessarily mean “native” and “native” doesn’t necessarily mean “non-invasive”. Here’s wishing you a rainbow of birds and butterflies this gardening season.
Jane Kirkland is a Downingtown, PA speaker, naturalist, photographer and author of the Take A Walk nature
books for kids. Learn more at www.takeawalk.com.