Attracting Butterflies

Monarch on Zinnia, an annual.

Who doesn’t like butterflies? They are beautiful. They make us smile. They drink nectar from our flowering plants. They are colorful. We love them—even the little brown ones. So what can we do to bring them into our yards? Like other wildlife, if we want butterflies, and let’s include other pollinators, too, we need to provide water, food, and shelter. Lucky for us, the plants we plant for food will also provide shelter. And right now, the fall is a great time to start a butterfly garden when typically we have milder temps, cloudy days, and rain which all make new plants very happy.

For water for adult butterflies, you can provide a shallow dish with pebbles in the bottom and a little water. Insects will get water from rain, but during dry periods, having water available is a good idea. While there are many plants that provide nectar for butterflies, to increase the populations of butterflies in your yard, you will want to add plants that butterfly caterpillars will eat and many of them are plants that are native to Virginia. The plants that butterfly caterpillars eat are called host plants and butterflies are like many different plants. A butterfly habitat needs to support butterflies at all stages: egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult.

A mistake that many home gardeners make is that when they see caterpillars or other insects on plants, they want to remove them. When native host plants are added to a landscape, the purpose is to provide food. If your plants are being eaten, you are providing a healthy environment for our native insects.

So where do you start as far as plants? Many people have heard that the host plant for Monarch butterflies is milkweed. Swamp (Asclepias incarnata) or common milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca) will work; so will butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). The milkweeds are also wonderful nectar plants when they are in bloom, and many butterflies and bees will enjoy their blossoms. One of the three native milkweeds will probably work in your garden. Butterfly weed is shorter and more compact than the other milkweeds and it self-seeds.

Monarchs are not the only butterfly that prefers one plant over another.  Most butterfly caterpillars have plants they prefer to eat. Some have more general preferences and others are very specific. If you have a trellis, you can plant Passion Vine (Passiflora incarnata), which is the host plant for Variegated Fritillaries. It will self-seed. The host plant for Common Buckeyes is the common plantain, which is a native plant that will grow in fields or lawns that are not treated with broadleaf herbicides. Clover, a plant that is not native, but is common in our yards, is the host plant for the tiny Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly, so letting some clover grow will help those butterflies prosper.

You may have found large, green-striped caterpillars munching your parsley or dill. Those caterpillars will turn into Black Swallowtails. When you shop for your spring plants, get a few extra parsley plants, and mix them into your flower beds and hanging plants. Likewise, if you have a Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), you may see our state insect, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. PawPaw (Asimina triloba) is the host for Zebra Swallowtails. If there is a specific butterfly that you would like to attract to your yard, do a search for the host plant of that butterfly and add it to your landscape.

In addition to plants, you will want to provide a few other things. Leave some soil areas unplanted. Some butterflies will use those bare areas to take up minerals they need from the soil. When they seek out the minerals, it is called puddling, and you will sometimes see several butterflies in one spot. Another thing you will want to do in the fall is to leave your leaves and flower stems as much as possible until the weather warms up in the spring. Butterfly chrysalides are often formed on leaves and stems and will overwinter. This is difficult for some people because they want to clean the yard in the fall, so it looks neat through the winter.

Host plants provide food for the larval stage, which is essential for the butterfly life cycle. However, a few nectar plants can be added to your yard that butterflies will use. Annuals like Lantana, Zinnias, and Verbena are butterfly favorites and add color to your landscape. Butterfly gardening can be a satisfying hobby. Be sure to include both host and nectar plants to ensure success.

Eastern tailed-blue on clover

Variegated Fritillary on Passion Flower

American Lady on Lantana-attract butterflies

Black Swallowtail – Caterpillar to Butterfly

Native insects on Mountain Mint-native plant

For more information:
Gardening for Butterflies or Attracting Native Pollinators by the Xerces Society.
Bringing Nature Home or Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy.