There are more than 16,000 different species of butterflies in the world. North America is home to about 700 of them. So here's some hints on how to attract some of them to your garden.
Two kinds of plants are needed in the life cycle of a butterfly. The food plant and the nectar plant. The female butterfly lays her eggs on the food plant, which the caterpillars eat from the time they hatch until they become butterflies. Most of the caterpillars favorite food plants are weeds such as thistle, nettle or plaintain. But they also enjoy our food plants such as parsley, carrot, fennel and dill. Some butterflies, such as the Monarch will only lay it's eggs on milkweed.
Full-grown butterflies sip flower nectar. Some of their favorites are listed below. So when planning a garden, be sure to put in some of the butterflies favorites and allow an unused part of the garden to devolp a weedy area that will serve as the butterfly nursery. That way you can enjoy butterflies all through their life cycle.
The Butterfly Garden
Annuals: bachelor's button, cosmos, impatiens, lantana, marigold, petunia, zinnia.
Perennials: aster, bee balm, black-eyed susan, butterfly weed, day lily, helitrope, lavendar, mint, phlox, purple coneflower, shasta daisy, showy stonecrop sedum, sunflower, yarrow.
Shrubs: butterfly bush, button bush, glossy abelia, Japenese honeysuckle, lilac, sweet pepper bush, wax-leaf privet.
Butterflies also like to relax on sun-warmed stones, so you could set a few flat stones in your garden to serve as resting spots for them. Also a shallow pan or plate with water for them to drink would be nice.
Happy butterfly gardening!
Compiled from information taken from the magazines:
Woman's World
Better Homes and Garden's
Gloria Green June,1998
