Johnsons's Garden Centers Text File document - copyright 2004
PDF file available at http://www.johnsonsgarden.com/newsletter/landscaping.html

A Butterfly Invitation
June 2004
Mike Hargrove, Johnson's Ridge Rd. Greenhouse Manager

    Attracting butterflies to your yard and garden is a natural for any
gardener. You do not need an established, mature garden to attract
butterflies. You can get started in a new yard or you can add annuals
and perennials to an established landscape to lure more butterflies. An
added benefit is that most of the nectar producing plants that
butterflies are looking for are also some of the most colorful for the
garden. Butterflies require shelter, sunny flight paths, moisture,
nectar plants and "host" plants.

    Shelter from wind and predators can be provided with trees and
shrubs or fences and walls to block the wind. Try to keep bird baths,
bird feeders and bird houses away from your butterfly habitat.

    Sunny flight paths can be open areas of lawn that warm up during the
day (butterflies don't take wing until the temperature is around 55 or
60 degrees). Provide some large flat rocks for sunning areas.

    Moisture should be provided with shallow depressions in rocks, moist
sand or shallow mud puddles for "puddling." Male butterflies congregate
around mud puddles for moisture and minerals. Butterflies drink from
drops of water on leaves or rocks.

    Nectar is a butterfly's main source of food. Composite flowers
(daisy-type) are the most attractive as they provide a ready-made
landing site for butterflies. The best colors to use are red, purple,
yellow and orange. Some of the favorite annuals are lantana, ageratum,
verbena, cosmos, zinnia and pentas. Perennials to plant are milkweed
asclepias, coneflowers, monarda, sedums, veronica, buddleia, coreopsis
and phlox. Besides nectar, some butterflies are attracted to rotting
fruit like melons or bananas. (Something to do with that leftover
watermelon rind and banana peel!)

    Host plants must be provided for females to lay eggs on and the
larvae to feed on while growing. If you are providing host plants for
butterflies, do not use pesticides on or near these plants. Pesticides
kill butterflies and other beneficial insects. Different butterflies use
different host plants. Monarchs lay eggs only on milkweed plants; black
swallowtails use herbs like parsley, dill and fennel. Once the eggs are
laid, they hatch in three to six days. The caterpillars then eat on the
host plants for three to four weeks before going into the chrysalis
stage. It will be another nine to fourteen days before they emerge as an
adult. A large number of butterflies use trees and shrubs as host plants
such as willows, magnolias, chokecherry, cottonwood and elm. Other
annual and perennial host plants include violets, hollyhocks, clover,
peas, asters and snapdragons.

    It can be challenging to identify all the butterflies that come to
such a garden. Some of my frequent summer visitors are skippers, painted
ladies, admirals, swallowtails, viceroys, sulphurs, question marks and
everyone's favorite--the monarchs.

    By knowing how to provide what they need, and with only minimum
effort on your part, butterflies can become a varied and fascinating
addition to your garden from April through September.