Attracting Butterflies
Certify Now!Brightly colored butterflies can be a welcome addition to your wildlife garden, not only because of their beauty, but also because of their usefulness in pollinating flowers.
Attracting butterflies involves incorporating plants that serve the needs of all life stages of the butterfly. They need a place to lay eggs, food plants for the larva (caterpillar), a place to form a chrysalis, and nectar sources for the adult.
Most adult butterflies live 10-20 days. Some, however, are believed to live no longer than three or four days, while others, such as overwintering monarchs, may live six months.
More than 700 species of butterflies are found in North America. Very few are agricultural pests. Adult butterflies range in size from the half-inch pigmy blue found in southern California to the giant female Queen Alexandra's birdwing of New Guinea, which measures about 10 inches from wing tip to wing tip.
Butterfly tarsi or "feet" possess a sense similar to taste. Contact with sweet liquids such as nectar causes the proboscis to uncoil. Millions of shinglelike, overlapping scales give butterfly wings their color and patterns. Metallic, irridescent hues come from faceted scales that refract light; solid colors are from pigmented scales. During the time from hatching to pupating (forming the pupa or chrysalis), the caterpillar may increase its body size more than 30,000 times. The chrysalises or pupae of many common gossamer wings - a group of butterflies which includes the blues, hairstreaks and elfins - are capable of producing weak sounds. By flexing and rubbing together body segment membranes, sounds are generated that may frighten off small predators and parasites.
Plants That Attract Butterflies
Adults searching for nectar are attracted to:
- Red, yellow, orange, pink or purple blossoms
- Flat-topped or clustered flowers
- Short flower tubes
Short flower tubes allow the butterflies to reach the nectar with their proboscis. Nectar-producing plants should be grown in open, sunny areas, as adults of most species rarely feed on plants in the shade.
Many caterpillars are picky eaters. They rely on only one or two species of plants. The caterpillar of the giant swallowtail butterfly in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states feeds on just two native plant foods - northern prickly ash and hop tree. Others, such as the red-spotted purple, will feed on a variety of deciduous trees.
Butterfly Garden Necessities:
Plant native flowering plants - Dense "clusters" of small flowers such as zinnias, marigolds, tithonia, buddleia, milkweeds, verbenas and many mint family plants generally work well. Because many butterflies and native flowering plants have co-evolved over time and depend on each other for survival and reproduction, it is particularly important to install native flowering plants local to your geographic area. Native plants provide butterflies with the nectar or foliage they need as caterpillars and adults. Adult butterflies may accidentally mistake a non-native, invasive plant for a good egg-laying site, which could prevent the survival of its offspring. Grow your nectar-producing native plants in sunny areas that are protected from strong winds. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has lists of recommended native plants by region and state.
Plant type and color is important – Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple blossoms that are flat-topped or clustered, and have short flower tubes.
Plant good nectar sources in the sun - Your key butterfly nectar source plants should receive full sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Butterfly adults generally feed only in the sun. If sun is limited in your landscape, try adding butterfly nectar sources to the vegetable garden.
Plant for continuous bloom - Butterflies need nectar throughout the adult phase of their life span. Try to plant so that when one plant stops blooming, another begins.
Say no to insecticides! - Insecticides such as malathion, Sevin, and diazinon are marketed to kill insects. Don't use these materials in or near the butterfly garden or better, anywhere on your property. Even "benign" insecticides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis, are lethal to butterflies (while caterpillars).
Feed butterfly caterpillars. - If you don't "grow" caterpillars, there will be no adults. Bringing caterpillar foods into your garden can greatly increase your chances of attracting unusual and uncommon butterflies, while giving you yet another reason to plant an increasing variety of native plants. In many cases, caterpillars of a species feed on only a very limited variety of plants. Most butterfly caterpillars never cause the leaf damage we associate with some moth caterpillars such as bagworms, tent caterpillars, or gypsy moths.
Provide a place for butterflies to rest – Butterflies need sun for orientation and to warm their wings for flight. Place flat stones in your garden to provide space for butterflies to rest and bask in the sun.
Give them a place for puddling – Butterflies often congregate on wet sand and mud to partake in "puddling," drinking water and extracting minerals from damp puddles. Place coarse sand in a shallow pan and then insert the pan in the soil of your habitat. Make sure to keep the sand moist.
Common Butterflies and the Plants they Eat
Acmon Blue - buckwheat, lupines, milkvetch
American Painted Lady - cudweed, everlast
Baird's Swallowtail - dragon sagebrush
Black Swallowtail - parsley, dill, fennel, Queen Anne’s lace, common rue
Cabbage White - members of mustard family
Coral Hairstreak - wild black cherry, American and chickasaw plum, black chokeberry
Dun Skipper - sedges, grasses including purpletop
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - wild black cherry, ash, tulip tree, willow, sweetbay, basswood
Giant Swallowtail - prickly ash, citrus, common rue, hoptree, gas plant, torchwood
Gray Comma - gooseberry, azalea, elm
Great Purple Hairstreak - mistletoe
Gulf Fritillary - maypops, other passion vines
Henry's Elfin - redbud, dahoon and yaupon hollies, maple-leaved viburnum, blueberries
Monarch - milkweeds
Painted Lady (Cosmopolite) - thistles, mallows, nievitas, yellow fiddleneck
Pygmy Blue - saltbush, lamb's quarters, pigweed
Red Admiral/White Admiral - wild cherries, black oaks, aspens, yellow and black birch
Silver-spotted Skipper - locusts, wisteria, other legumes
Spicebush Swallowtail - sassafras, spicebush
Sulphurs - clover, peas, vetch, alfalfa, asters
Variegated Fritillary - passion flower, maypop, violets, stonecrop, purslane
Viceroy - willows, cottonwood, aspen
Western Tailed Blue - vetches, milkvetches
Western Tiger Swallowtail - willow, plum, alder, sycamore, hoptree, ash
Woodland Skipper - grasses
Zebra Swallowtail - pawpaw
Download the "Attracting Butterflies" Tipsheet (pdf)
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