The objective is to provide the plants and habitat necessary for butterflies and their caterpillars to survive in your garden.
Butterfly Life Cycle
The four life stages a butterfly undergoes are known as complete metamorphosis. The stages in order are:
- Egg
- Caterpillar
- Chrysalis
- Adult
The adult female lays eggs on the appropriate host plant. A tiny caterpillar (larva) hatches from the egg. As the caterpillar grows it molts (sheds) its skin. The stages between molts are called instars. In its final instar the caterpillar forms a chrysalis (pupa). Within the chrysalis the caterpillar transforms and then emerges as an adult butterfly. Then the cycle begins again. The adult butterfly lives an average of two to three weeks.
Gardening for Adult Butterflies
Providing flowers (nectar source) for adult butterflies is the most popular type of butterfly gardening.
Other food and mineral sources include:
- Rotting Fruit
- Tree Sap
- Mud Puddles
- Carrion
- Animal Scat
A recommended habitat should include:
- Sunny areas to bask
- Shelter from the wind
- Trees, shrubs and vegetation to roost and hide in
- Flowers planted in masses to provide nectar from spring through fall
- Limited garden clean-up for overwintering caterpillars and pupae
- Elimination of insecticides and herbicides
- Flowers for Nectar
Native Perennials
- Agastache (anise hyssop)
- Asclepias (milkweeds)
- Asters
- Echinacea (coneflower)
- Eupatorium hyssopifolium (thoroughwort)
- Eutrochium (joe pyes)
- Coreopsis (tickseed)
- Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
- Helianthus (sunflowers)
- Heliopsis (oxeye sunflower)
- Liatris (blazing star)
- Lobelia species
- Monarda (bee balm)
- Oenothera (evening primrose)
- Phlox species
- Pycnanthemum (mountain mints)
- Rudbeckia (black-eyed susans)
- Solidagos (goldenrods)
- Vernonia (ironweeds)
Non-native Perennial Herbs
- catmint
- lavender
- oregano
- thyme
Non-native Annuals
- cosmos
- heliotrope
- lobelia
- marigold
- mexican sunflower
- pansies
- pentas
- petunias
- salvias
- sweet alyssum
- verbenas
- zinnias
Native Shrubs and Trees
- buttonbush
- dogwoods
- new jersey tea
- pussy willow
- spicebush
- summer sweet
- american holly
- blackhaw viburnum
- redbud
- serviceberries
- white oak
- wild black cherry
Gardening for Caterpillars
The lesser known key to butterfly gardening is providing the appropriate larval host plants for the caterpillars. Most butterflies need native plants to lay their eggs upon although some species have adapted to feed upon non-native plants if these plants are in the same family as the native larval host. By including host plants in your garden you can encourage butterflies to stay and reproduce. Plant more than one host plant, especially in small herbaceous hosts. Watch for evidence of caterpillars feeding on the leaves, your plants are now part of the food web. Some examples of butterflies and their host plants are:
- Monarch - milkweeds (Asclepias species)
- Viceroy - willows, aspens
- Pearl crescent - asters
- Fritillaries - violets
- Spicebush swallowtail - spicebush (Lindera benzoin), sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
- Tiger swallowtail - tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), wild black cherry (Prunus serotina)
- Black swallowtail - golden alexanders, parsley, dill, fennel, carrot, queen anne's lace
Do not apply pesticides and when purchasing plants avoid stock that has been sprayed or grown from seed that has been treated with insecticides.
Also consider reducing the size of your lawn and allowing small plants such as white clover and violets to grow among the blades of grass.
"Share Your Space" with wildlife by creating habitat with native plants.
Prepared by Master Gardener Debra Carman, 9/2014 (Updated February 2018)
