The Rewards of Butterfly Gardening August 2005

Lepidoptera means scaled winged and describes the butterfly with its most obvious features – wings covered with flattened scales.  Few people think of butterflies as pollinators, but just like bees butterflies pollinate plants too.

One report states that the number of honey bees in the United States has decreased by 25% in the past decade due to a parasitic mite.  So if we make a habitat for butterflies not only can we enjoy them but we may also be of service to agriculture and plant life in general.

Several years ago John and I opted to start a butterfly garden and what a joy it has been.  Due to our health and age, it is not as pretty for humans to look at as it once was, but the winged creatures are enjoying it just the same  After some study we discovered that we not only needed pretty flowers to furnish nectar, but we also needed plants for the caterpillar – called host plants.  Different varieties of the insect need different host and nectar plants.

Butterflies go through what is called metamorphosis – a life cycle consisting of four distinct stages – the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and then the butterfly.  The caterpillar, also called the larva, likes to eat, but he has poor eye sight and a small brain; therefore, the female lays her eggs on or near a host plant.  The female lays about 500 eggs at a time and they hatch in 3 – 5 days and the caterpillar stage lasts 12 – 18 days.  The caterpillar starts to hang in the shape of a J just before he goes through a rhythmic pattern when he turns into the chrysalis. Of course, the type butterfly determines the color of the chrysalis; and it hangs nearly motionless and is encased in a shiny hard covering for about a week before it emerges as a butterfly.  The butterfly adult lives about two weeks and mates on the second or third day after it emerges. She lays eggs for several days thereafter, thus enduring the continuation of the cycle.

We grow parsley, dill, fennel and various other plants for host plants, but trees and lots of weedy plants are good host plants, too. Sassafras, Chokeberry, Queen Ann’s Lace and Hackberry tree act as host plants.  Dutchman’s Pipevine is the host plant for a beautiful black butterfly with blue dots, called Pipevine Swallowtail (many times we call it Pipevine Butterfly and leave off the Swallowtail part).  Soon after we got started in this project someone gave me a start of the pipevine and it had just started to grow, when John came in one morning and said, “The pipevine was covered up with caterpillars and I got them cleaned off.”  Wow!!  At the time he didn’t realize that he was destroying those pretty butterflies.

We have oodles of Variegated Fritillary butterflies and their host plants include fennel and dill.  The book says they like violets and pansies for nectar, but we find them covering up the Lantana and most any other flower of color.

The little yellow Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly is another variety that likes whatever is available.  We have lots of those, as well as the White Checkered Butterfly which likes Cleome for their nectar.

Where I got it I don’t know, but I have a yellow blooming plant which I’m told is called a Cosmos (it’s not like the Cosmos I know) and it is crawling alive with butterflies of various kinds.  Painted Ladies have white spots near the tip of their wings and they are plentiful here. Zinnias are their favorite nectar plant and the thistle is the host plant.

At the corner of the herb bed is a mass of Mexican Sunflowers, which should have been thinned way back in the early spring.  Now they stand so thick we cannot see the ground, but what a delight.  They stand about five or six feet tall and the bloom is a large flat daisy-like blossom and orange in color.  In the middle of the day those plants are literally covered up with beautiful butterflies called Viceroy.  The Viceroy resembles a Monarch – deep orange in color, but the markings are different.

Buddlei (Butterfly Bush) is the nectar plant for various beauties, but two we used to have and seldom see this year are the big yellow Giant Swallowtail and the Eastern Black Swallowtail.  Perhaps when farmers and/or gardeners spray, they kill the caterpillars.

All the butterfly plants we have are perennials and require little care, so consider growing plants that butterflies need – watching the colorful butterflies is one of the best parts of country living.