Trying to attract more butterflies to your garden? It’s easy when you include host plants! Adult butterflies lay their eggs on specific plants, called “host plants,” which serve as food sources for their larvae.
Once consumed, these plants often re-sprout their leaves within the same growing season. Seemingly as payment for services rendered, butterflies (and other insects) pollinate the plants, as they take breaks from egg-laying to sip upon nectar. Witness this cycle in your own garden.
- Locate the garden in a sunny area
- Butterflies and most butterfly-attracting plants require bright sunshine.
- Plant nectar-producing flowers.
- Butterflies visit flowers in search of nectar, a sugary fluid, to eat. Many native butterflies seem to prefer purple, yellow, orange, and re-colored blossoms. Clusters of short, tubular flowers or flat-topped blossoms provide the ideal shapes for butterflies to easily land and feed.
- Select single flowers rather than double flowers.
- The nectar of single flowers is more accessible and easier for butterflies to extract than the nectar of double flowers which have more petals per flower.
- Use large splashes of color in your landscape design.
- Butterflies are first attracted to flowers by their color. Groups of flowers are easier for butterflies to locate than isolated plants.
- Plan for continuous bloom throughout the growing season.
- Butterflies are active from early spring until late fall. Plant a selection of flowers that will provide nectar throughout the entire growing season (e.g. spring: blue-berries, clover, wild cherry; summer: milkweeds, cone flowers, thistle; fall: goldenrod, Joey weeds).
- Include host plants in the garden design.
- Host plants provide food for caterpillars and lure female butterflies into the garden to lay eggs.
- Include damp areas or shallow puddles in the garden.
- Some butterflies drink and extract salts from moist soil. Occasionally large numbers of male butterflies congregate around a moist area to drink, forming a "puddle club."
- Place flat stones in the garden.
- Butterflies often perch on stones, bare soil or vegetation, spread their wings and bask in the sun. Basking raises their body temperature so they are able to fly and remain active.
- Do not use pesticides in or near a butterfly garden.
- Most traditional garden pesticides are toxic to butterflies. Use predatory insects, insecticidal soap or hand remove the pests if problems occur.
Also Read: Lilac Breasted Roller, Most Attractive Bird / Indian Roller Bird / Yellow Cardinal – One in Million Birds
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