There is nothing quite as beautiful as butterflies floating on their colorful wings through out the garden. Butterflies are beneficial to the pollination of many plants. The use of pesticides hurts the butterfly population in many areas. The reason for this is part of the life cycle on the butterfly is a caterpillar. During the caterpillar stage it eats the leaves of plants and they can eat quite a lot. The use of pesticides should be carefully controlled if one wishes to attract and have lots of butterflies in the garden.
Butterflies start out as an egg the female butterfly lays on a host plant. Host plants are plants that are to feed the caterpillar that hatches from the egg. Butterflies can be very particular when it comes to host plants. We will talk about host plants in more detail later. When the caterpillar is fully grown it spins a chrysalis about its body. This is the pupa stage when the butterfly completes the metamorphosis into the adult butterfly.
Adult butterflies may live only a week or nearly a year depending on the species. Some species can survive winters by remaining dormant in their pupa or egg stages. The metamorphosis of a butterfly from egg to adult normally takes a few weeks in the heat of summer.
The butterfly garden needs to have a wide variety of plants, some tall and some short. Different types of butterflies prefer different plants. Some like to feed low to the ground while others may feed in higher shrubs or even trees. To live and reproduce, butterflies need two types of plants, nectar plants and host plants.
Nectar plants provide sweet nectar which the adult butterflies feed on. There are many flowers that are very good for a butterfly garden, but the best three types, nationwide, are Mexican Sunflowers, Butterfly Bush and Verbena Bonariensis.
Butterflies need another type of plant called a host plant. This is the plant they will lay their eggs on. Four to ten days after the eggs are laid they hatch into caterpillars. Yes, that's right if you want butterflies you have to have caterpillars. Butterflies can be very particular about host plants. One type of butterfly may use a number of different host plants while another may only use only one type host plant.
Below is a list of some types of butterflies and their preferred host plants:
Black Swallowtail- Bronze fennel, parsley, fennel, carrots, Queen Ann's Lace, dill, lovage, celery and anise.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail- ash trees, tuli tree, black cherry tree, sweetbay magnolia and chokecherry tree.
Spicebush Swallowtail- sassafras tree, camphor tree and spicebush
Giant Swallowtail- citrus and rue
Zebra Swallowtail- paw paw
Gulf Fritillary- all passion vines.
Monarch- milkweed
Painted Lady- wormwood
Viceroy- willows
Whites- broccoli, cabbage, and mustard
Terry White along with his wife are the owners of Paula's Herbs and Plants a family owned business specializing in organically grown herbs and other plants. For more information on herbs and gardening in general check out our website and sign up for our newsletter. http://www.paulasherbsandplants.com
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