Butterfly Gardens

 

Butterflies are drawn to areas that provide water, food and shelter. Remember the following when creating a butterfly garden:

- Butterflies like direct sunlight and heat.

- Avoid using chemical pesticides.

- Provide a warm resting spot by placing a few flat stones around the garden.

 

A butterfly bath should be very shallow. Just a slight film of water on a rock or pavement. A good idea is to use a shallow clay saucer and fill it with river stones and gravel. It will prevent from instant water evaporation and at the same time will enable the butterflies to perch on the stones and not get drowned.   

 

Butterflies are cold blooded, so plant the garden in a warm, sunny area. Provide flat rocks for them to rest on.

Butterflies' wings are extremely fragile, so plant near a wall or fence that will shelter your garden from wind. Also, you could plant a hedge of butterfly bushes or viburnum, which will also provide nighttime shelter for the butterflies.

To entice butterflies to your garden, plant for the caterpillars as well as the butterflies. Butterflies go through several life stages that require a specific place in your garden.

 

Some butterflies do not feed on nectar. Providing supplemental foods will encourage them to stop by your garden. Provide fruit that's past its prime as food option - peaches, watermelon, pears, apples, bananas, canteloupe, figs, grapes, nectarines, tomatoes are among the favorite.

 

Here are some of the plants suitable for butterfly gardens: asters, coreopsis, coneflowers, blanket flowers, sunflowers, Mexican hats, scabiosa (pincushion), anise hyssop, salvias,penstemons, yarrows, alliums, milkweeds, astilbes, pholox, sedums, goldenrods, verbenas, hollyhock, daylilies, hibiscus, butterfly bush, buttonbush, lilies, mallows, thymes, mints, clovers, lantana, snapdragons, impatiens, cosmos, marigolds, sweet alyssum, candytufts, zinnias, nasturtiums.

 

Here are some of the butterflies found in North Texas area:

Gulf Fritillary

Host plants : Various species of passion-vine including maypops (Passiflora incarnata) and running pop (P. foetida).
Adult food: Nectar from lantana, shepherd's needle, and others.

    

 

Queen

Host plants : Milkweeds and milkweed vines.
Adult food: Nectar from flowers including milkweeds, fogfruit, and shepherd's needle.

         

 

Monarch

Host plants: Milkweeds including common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), swamp milkweed (A. incarnata), and showy milkweed (A. speciosa); and milkweed vine in the tropics.
Adult food: Nectar from all milkweeds. Early in the season before milkweeds bloom, Monarchs visit a variety of flowers including lilac, red clover, lantana, and thistles. In the fall adults visit composites including goldenrods, gayfeather, ironweed, and tickseed sunflower.

       

 

Mourning Cloak

Host plants : willow, elm, poplar, aspen, birch, hackberry

Adult food : rotting fruit, sap, butterfly bush, milkweed, shasta daisy

                

 

Painted Lady

Host plants : daisy, hollyhock

Adult food : goldenrod, aster, zinnia , butterfly bush, milkweed

   

 

Red Admiral

Host plants : nettle

Adult food : rotting fruit and sap, daisy, aster, goldenrod, butterfly bush, milkweed

          

 

Variegated Fritillary

Host plants: A variety of plants in several families including maypops (Passiflora incarnata), may apple (Podophyllum peltata), violets (Viola), purslane (Portulaca), stonecrop (Sedum), and moonseed (Menispermum).
Adult food: Nectar from several plant species including butterflyweed, common milkweed, peppermint, red clover, swamp milkweed, and tickseed sunflower.

 

       

 

Viceroy

Host plants : Trees in the willow family (Salicaceae) including willows (Salix), and poplars and cottonwoods (Populus).
Adult food: Early in the season when few flowers are available Viceroys feed on aphid honeydew, carrion, dung, and decaying fungi. Later generations feed more often at flowers such as aster, goldenrod, joe-pye weed, shepherd's needle, and Canada thistle.

           

 

Black swallowtail

Host plants : Leaves of plants in the parsley family (Apiaceae) including Queen Anne's Lace, carrot, celery and dill. Sometimes plants in the citrus family (Rutaceae) are preferred. Queen Anne's Lace, carrot, celery and dill.
Adult food:red clover, milkweed, and thistles

     

 

    

 

 

Eastern tiger swallowtail

Host plants : Leaves of various plants including wild cherry, sweetbay, basswood, tulip tree, birch, ash, cottonwood, mountain ash, and willow
Adult food: Nectar of flowers from a variety of plants including wild cherry and lilac.

    

 

Spicebush Swallowtail

Host plants : Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum); perhaps prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), and redbay (Persea borbonia).
Adult food: Nectar from Japanese honeysuckle, thistles, milkweed, azalea, lantana, mimosa, and sweet pepperbush.

     

   

 

Pipevine Swallowtail

Host plants : Pipevines (Aristolochia species), including Aristolochia californica, A. serpentaria and others.
Adult food: Solely nectar from flowers including thistles (Cirsium species), bergamot, lilac, phlox, azaleas, dame's-rocket, lantana, petunias, verbenas, lupines, yellow star thistle, California buckeye.

   

 

        

 

Giant Swallowtail

Host plants : Trees and herbs of the citrus family (Rutaceae) including Citrus species, prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata), and Common Rue (Ruta graveolens).
Adult food: Nectar from lantana, azalea, bougainvilla, bouncing bet, dame's rocket, goldenrod, Japanese honeysuckle, and swamp milkweed.