Butterflies and the Plants they Love ...right in your garden!

Butterflies are widely known to delight and amaze children of all ages, myself included. My breath catches whenever a butterfly graces our yard. Whether it is resting, flitting from flower to flower or just passing by, I have to stop what I am doing to watch - if even for just a moment. With some simple changes to ours gardens, we can attract more butterflies and entice them to linger.

But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:
And now from having ridden out desire
They lie closed over in the wind and cling
Where wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.
~Robert Frost, "Blue-Butterfly Day"

Before researching this article, I believed the only consideration to attracting butterflies was to simply add a few plants that produce the sweet nectar they so enjoy. As an informed gardener, by adding just a few more amenities to the simple basics of food, shelter and water, you can create a bona-fide butterfly sanctuary. Your butterflies will stay even longer with even just a host plant to provide a place for her to lay her egg(s), ensuring more butterflies in the future.

Butterfly Garden Basics, FOOD:

Butterflies get their nutrition from a variety of sources, primarily flower nectar, but also water, and liquids produced by over-ripe fruit. Fruit trees will also attract butterflies. Each species of butterflies may be attracted to different plants, so if you wish to attract a specific butterfly, you'll need to learn a bit about it.

The roses, lilies and peonies in my garden don't attract many butterflies because they don't produce much nectar. However, the lavender, lilacs, bee balm, sunflowers, seedum, and butterfly bush are frequently visited by butterflies. Butterflies will visit your garden from May to October as long as there are flowers blooming for them. At the end of this article (thanks to the website www.thebutterflysite.com) I have listed butterflies found in Rhode Island and some of the plants they love.

• Since green lawns don't attract many butterflies, let clover grow somewhere in your yard, it attracts a variety of species.
  
  
• You can make or purchase a butterfly feeder with butterfly nectar to attract and feed numerous types of butterflies. Simply hang a plate from an old macrame plant hanger and keep a small supply of over-ripe fruit on it in the shade.
  
  Caution: Since fruit often attracts wasps, place it away from the reach of little ones and far from places where family and guests hangout.
  
  
• Many butterflies prefer pink, red, purple, yellow or orange flowers.
  
  
• Butterflies are attracted to plants of a single color, rather than a garden that has a variety of colors; so, plant your butterfly plants in large masses (rather than sprinkled around the garden in small clumps).
  
  
• Butterfly bush, violets, lavender, shasta daisies, and black-eyed susans (aka Rudbeckia) are all perennials that will keep butterflies coming back year after year.
  
  
• Flowering herbs such as lavender, dill, oregano and even rosemary all attract butterflies when they are in flower.
  
  
• Warning: Some caterpillars in your garden may have hairs or forked spines. Some of these may sting if you touch them.
  
  
• Please do not use insecticides which can kill your butterflies and caterpillars. It's much better to release ladybugs, lacewings and preying mantids in your garden. Horticultural oils and insecticidal soaps (used in moderation) will take care of aphids, mealy bugs, spider mites and whiteflies. Be careful...even organic sprays can be harmful.
  
  

Shelter
Butterflies will seek shelter when they need to rest and to be protected from bad weather. Any large bushes and trees on your property will also provide protection from the elements. At night they will perch on a leaf.

A butterfly house provides protection from predators, and shelter from cold and windy weather. Similar to a bat house, the slots are narrower preventing birds and bats from entering. Although called a house, it will mostly be used as a shelter for some butterfly species to overwinter. While some butterflies, such as the famous Monarch butterfly, migrate to warmer climates during the winter. The rest hibernate locally in a cozy nook in a log pile, under a piece of loose bark or inside a building. Some species overwinter as adults, others as pupa and some as caterpillars. Entomologists (aka "bug scientists") believe that most butterflies will find a natural place to hibernate.

If you decide to place a butterfly house in your garden, here are some tips for better success at attracting residents:

• Place it near a host plant (more info further on).
• Place it in the woodiest area you can.
• Place it near late-blooming flowers such as asters, sedum, etc.
• Decorate your box to blend into the surroundings.
  
  sample of butterfly house styles
  
  
  

Water:
If you have ever had a chance to look very closely at a butterfly (or even a photo of one), you may have noticed that its mouth-part looks like a spiraled coil. A butterfly can ingest liquids by forcing blood into the tube to straighten it out. This limits them to consuming nectar and standing water. When a butterfly lands on a flower or a wet surface, you may be able to watch it extend this coil.
To further "trick out" your butterfly garden, you can add a place for them to lay eggs, known as a host plant provides a place for a butterfly to lay her egg(s), and also provides food for the caterpillars once they hatch. Depending on the type of species, she may lay a single egg or a group of eggs. Interestingly, many types of butterflies can taste with their feet to determine if the leaf they are on will provide good food for her babies since caterpillars cannot travel very far to find their own food. If an egg is placed on the wrong type of plant, then the caterpillars won't survive. Luckily, many native trees and plants serve as great host plants.

Once spring temperatures reach sixty degrees, a butterfly begins its life cycle by hatching from an egg attached to a host plant. The very tiny caterpillars (larva) use their chewing mouthparts to first eat their eggshell, then to eat the leaves of their host plant. While adult butterflies feed on flower nectar, caterpillars eat plant leaves, and lots of them. As a gardener, be prepared for the caterpillars to eat your beloved plants. If this isn't palatable to you, place your host plants in a less visible area of the garden.

What is a chrysalis?
Before the final metamorphosis into a butterfly, a caterpillar changes into a chrysalis, caterpillars molt (crawl out of their skins) around five times. An adult butterfly emerges from the pupa to begin her daily search of food and host plants for laying eggs. According to Wikipedia: The pupae of different groups of insects have different names such as chrysalis in the butterfly family.... Pupae may further be enclosed in other structures such as cocoons.

Speaking of locations, keep in mind the real estate motto: Location, Location, Location!

• Birds and bats EAT butterflies. Make sure your butterfly garden is not near any bird feeders, bird nests, etc.
• Butterflies prefer a sunny garden over a shade garden.

Other Added Amenities:

A Resting Place: One really easy addition to your butterfly garden is a surface that a butterfly can lie on to open its wings for basking in the sun. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need to maintain a body temperature between 85-100o F to fly their best. In cooler weather (below 80o F), they open their wings in the sun on a flat rock to absorb the heat since their wings act as solar panels. Simple items that collect heat include a large wooden block or tree stump or a rock big enough to accommodate a few butterflies.

A Puddling Place: Sometimes you may see a few of butterflies near a puddle. Butterflies are attracted to the dissolved minerals in the puddle which supplement their diet. Fill a shallow birdbath or dish with sand or gravel, then keep it moist. You can even add some salt (½ cup per gallon of sand).

Rhode Island Butterflies
Gathered from the amazing butterfly site: http://www.thebutterflysite.com I will be posting in a few days a list of butterflies found in different parts of Rhode Island. This will help you decide which Butterfly Nectar Plants and Butterfly Host Plants you may want in your garden.

There it goes...as it leaves my garden, another butterfly has left me delighted and amazed. Hmmm....maybe next spring we can learn how to raise and release butterflies of our own!

Article written by Renee C. Brannigan
for Woodbridge Greenhouses, Sctituate, R.I.