Plan a Butterfly Garden this Spring

Creating a butterfly garden supports both butterflies and moths by offering places for them to feed and breed. Your butterfly garden doesn’t need to be large, even a few square feet can make a difference.  Butterflies must bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature as they are cold blooded. Provide flat stones throughout the garden where they can rest and absorb sun and heat. Many gardeners also provide a container of wet sand or a muddy puddle where butterflies may obtain salts and mineral-rich liquids. Select a place that receives full sun but is protected from strong winds. And select flowers that bloom throughout the entire growing season to provide a constant food source.

Butterflies are not only beautiful to watch, but they are also incidental pollinators.  Many butterfly populations are declining due to habitat loss,  pollution and insecticide usage. Monarch numbers in particular have dropped by 90% from reduced milkweed plants.

A successful butterfly and moth garden includes nectar plants for adults and host plants for larvae. One doesn’t work without the other. Nectar plants provide essential nutrients and are packed with calories (sucrose, glucose, fructose) that power a butterfly's daily activities. Host plants, like milkweed for Monarchs, are where eggs are laid and the developing caterpillars feed. These should be planted in several spots to reduce predation.

Milkweeds are essential nectar sources for pollinators and the exclusive host plant for Monarch caterpillars. Although historically listed as a noxious weed, most milkweeds are recognized as native, beneficial plants that should be encouraged rather than eradicated. The name often leads to it being unfairly categorized as a nuisance weed which it is not.

Native milkweeds (butterfly weed, common milkweed, swamp weed) are vital for Monarchs, but avoid tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), which can spread parasites harmful to Monarchs if the plant survives the winter.

Nectar plants for the garden include milkweed, coneflowers, bee balm, joe pye weed, buttonbush, black-eyed susans, and asters, which offer nectar and support many moth and butterfly species. Butterfly Bush supplies nectar but isn’t suitable as a host plant.  Host plants include milkweed, spice bush, pussytoes and violets.

Don’t use pesticides or herbicides as they harm all life stages of butterflies and moths. Overripe fruits can supplement their diet; place fruit pieces in suet feeders or dishes.

Bring butterflies back to your garden with the addition of a pollinator garden where  pollinator’s have a place to feed and raise their young. This small step is an act of conservation that helps preserve biodiversity, support pollinators and brings beauty and movement to your backyard. 

For more information visit: 

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation at www.xerces.org

New York Flora Atlas at www.newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu