Butterflies are beautiful garden inhabitants -- and they earn their keep by serving as plant pollinators. Leslie Saul of the San Francisco Zoo offers advice on attracting them to your garden. Adult butterflies aren't picky about sources of nectar, but adults will lay their eggs only on specific host plants, on which caterpillars will feed. By learning more about which butterflies are native to your area, you can choose the right host plants. Check with a local zoo, natural-history museum, university or environmental-protection organization. Good general nectar sources include butterfly bush, purple coneflower, Joe Pye weed, butterfly weed, ironweed, verbenas, zinnias, Mexican sunflower, cosmos, lantana and small, single-flowered marigolds. Many native woody plants -- for example, tulip poplar, hackberry, oak, sassafras, hawthorn, black cherry and spicebush -- serve as host plants for caterpillars. Here's a short list of common butterflies and their preferred host plants: Black swallowtail: dill, parsley, Queen Anne's lace Buckeye: snapdragons Great spangled fritillary: violets Gulf fritillary: passion vine, or maypop Monarch: butterfly weed, milkweed and other members of the genus Asclepias Mourning cloak: aspen, elm Spicebush swallowtail: sassafras, spicebush Tiger swallowtail: American hornbeam, hawthorn, ash, tulip poplar, sweet-bay, common lilac, spicebush Spring azure: New Jersey tea, dogwood, viburnum, black cherry Red-spotted purple: poplar, oak, black cherry Viceroy: cottonwood, willow Zebra swallowtail: pawpaw Site your butterfly garden in a sunny, warm area where the insects can sun themselves. Stones make good sunning spots. Butterflies appreciate some protection from wind as well. A flowing-water feature will help draw butterflies. Make sure it is not stagnant: the water must remain clean and fresh. If you use Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) in your garden to eliminate cabbageworms, tomato hornworms and other pests, keep in mind that it kills caterpillars indiscriminately, including butterflies and moths.
RESOURCES :
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies
Model: 0394519140
Author: Robert Michael Pyle
Knopf, 1981
Stokes Butterfly Book
Model: 0316817805
Author: Donald and Lillian Stokes and Ernest Williams
October 1991
Little, Brown & Co.
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: 617-227-0730
Fax: 800-286-9471
The Lepidopterists' Society
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