Greenwood Gardens Shares How To Attract Butterflies

Editor’s note: The following article comes courtesy of Greenwood Gardens

Butterflies are second to bees as our most important pollinator. They not only provide a wonderful connection to the natural world, but also act as a good indicator for the health of the environment. When you see butterflies fluttering around, you know you are doing a good job of inviting nature into your garden.

How can you tell if it’s a butterfly or a moth? Butterflies are active during the day, while moths are usually nocturnal. Butterflies have slim bodies, while moths are fat and hairy. When a butterfly lands, it rests with wings closed; moths rest with their wings open. Butterflies have antennae that are shaped like mini golf clubs; the antennae of moths are either feathery or straight.

Butterflies are ectothermic (cold blooded), regulating their body temperature according to the ambient temperature. They need the heat of the sun to warm up and fly.

What are the steps you need to take to attract them?

Start by planting your butterfly garden in a sunny, protected spot that’s not too windy. The butterflies will need places to bask in the sun and warm up so they can quickly escape predators such as birds, praying mantis and spiders. Create puddles or pools in your garden as a source of water and minerals.

Provide food and shelter for all phases of the butterfly’s life cycle. Include host plants for caterpillars, as well as plants that are rich in nectar for adult butterflies. Don’t be overly tidy – leaf litter, tall grass, and peeling bark provide butterflies ideal places to spend the night or to overwinter.

Choose plants that grow well in your climate. Many native plants have co-evolved with butterflies.

Find out the kinds of butterflies you can expect to see in your area, so that you’ll know what to grow. Some of the common butterflies you will find in Essex county are the Black Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Monarch, Great Spangled Fritillary, Clouded Sulphur, Mourning Cloak, Painted Lady, Common Buckeye, Juniper Hairstreak and Pearl Crescent.

Good nectar sources for regional butterflies are lilacs (Syringa), clover (Trifolium), chives (Allium), cosmos (Cosmos), chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum), asters (Symphyotrichum), zinna (Zinnia), lavender (Lavandula), catmint (Nepeta), milkweed (Asclepias), mint (Mentha), bee balm (Monarda), blazing star (Liatris), phlox (Phlox), anise hyssop (Agastache), bugbane (Cimicifuga/Actea), summersweet (Clethra), blue mist shrub (Caryopteris), and glossy abelia (Abelia).

You’ll also need to include host plants for caterpillars such as fennel (Foeniculum), parsley (Petroselinum), rue (Ruta), violets (Viola), turtlehead (Chelone), asters (Aster), spicebush (Lindera), blueberry bush (Vaccinium), viburnums (Viburnum), willows (Salix), dogwoods (Cornus), cherries (Prunus), and maples (Acer).

When designing a butterfly garden, plant annuals and perennials in large drifts. If they are host plants, you will hardly notice the nibbled leaves of the feeding caterpillars. If they are nectar plants, then you will have created a highly visible feeding site. Give butterflies plenty to eat and they will stay longer.

Also, diversity attracts diversity. An interesting and varied landscape will be attractive to other wildlife as well.

It is important to include both herbaceous and woody material in your butterfly garden. Trees and shrubs not only provide butterflies with food but also offer protected areas from the wind and predators.

Finally, remember to plan for a sequence of blooms, staggering the flowering time of nectar sources so that butterflies will frequent your garden throughout the season.

Since 1976, there has been a 90% decrease in the monarch butterfly population. There are several hypotheses. The oyamel or sacred fir (Abies religiosa) forests in Mexico, where monarchs overwinter, are being logged. Milkweed has virtually been eliminated from agriculture land due to the use of pesticides, thwarting the monarchs’ ability to reproduce as they fly north for the summer. Midwestern droughts in recent years have led to the decline of wildflower populations that support monarchs as they migrate south.

How can we mitigate this problem and encourage butterflies back into our yards? It’s very easy. Growing milkweed (Asclepias) is an effective way to invite monarchs back into the neighborhood.

Ecologist Doug Tallamay asks the public to use plants that support wildlife when designing their gardens. He advocates using native plants from your region that have evolved to support local food webs. We encourage you to keep an eye on ecology and invite butterflies back into your landscapes.

Learn more at greenwoodgardens.org

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