Gardening for Wildlife: A Butterfly Sanctuary in Your Yard

Fall is a good time to evaluate whether your yard is a sanctuary for butterflies and other pollinators. In our last article we considered the following needs of butterflies: sun; shelter; moisture; and host, or larval, plants for caterpillars. Have you provided all of these elements for your small flying friends? If so, let’s think about their other need, nectar plants.

Butterflies have relatively short lives, and many species have multiple generations in one season. While some insects travel over wide ranges, many spend their lives in areas that approximate the size of your yard or neighborhood. This means that you can really make a difference in the lives of butterflies by providing a habitat from which they only need to roam short distances to meet all of their needs. If butterflies don’t need to travel far to find the necessities of life, they will have more time to conserve their energy for drinking nectar, seeking mates, and laying eggs. They are also more likely not to encounter predators in their flights.

In order to know what attracts butterflies to a particular location, we need only study their behavior in their native habitats. Butterflies need warmth in order to move their wings; therefore, they are most likely found at times and in places where there is sun and the temperature is at least 60 degrees. What other lessons can we learn from finding them in the wild?

Butterflies and other native pollinators have evolved with native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees or naturalized plants that were brought to your area so many years ago they have become part of the wild landscape. Nature provides both nectar plants and host plants for native and migrating species, and in the wild you will sometimes see a flock of butterflies of the same species on flowers in close proximity to their host plants. By feeding near their host plants they can save energy when finding nectar sources and will be near the plants on which to lay the eggs of the next generation. Although native plants for our gardens have been difficult to obtain in the past, they are now available in many nurseries and garden centers and can be obtained from plant sales of Master Gardeners and other environmentally conscious organizations. There are, or course, also good non-native perennials and annuals for sale that attract pollinators and do not compete with native species.

Since butterflies are most abundant from May through September, you will want to have plants in your garden and landscape that bloom during these months. On the other hand, even here in North Georgia we have butterflies in our garden in early April on Viburnum (Viburnum spp.) and Redbud (Cercis canadensis) trees; moreover, we have migrating Monarchs (Danaus plexippus), and Cloudless Sulphurs (Phoebis sennae) along with resident species in October. Many butterflies flock to late blooming plants such as Hardy Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum), Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium fistulosum), Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius), and various species of Aster (Aster spp.), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and Phlox (Phlox spp.). In addition some also find their way to garden plants that bloom throughout the season, such as Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii), Zinnia (Zinnia spp.), and Impatiens (Impatiens spp.). Your goal is to try to have some blooms from spring through early fall. Unfortunately, this year we have had difficulty in providing a continuous source of nectar. The late freeze destroyed the first set of leaves on our Butterfly Bushes and caused other favorite butterfly flowers, such as Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Purple Coneflower (Echinaceae purpurea), to mature more slowly than usual. The exceptions were several species of Coreopsis (Coreopsis spp.), which bloomed profusely for a short time.

Butterflies are attracted to abundantly blooming flowers in large areas; therefore, clustering your blooming plants will bring more butterflies to the same location. Your garden can imitate the sweeps of colorful flowers along roadsides and in fields, which provide a veritable smorgasbord for potential pollinators. Clustering your plants also provides more protection for caterpillars and butterflies who need shelter from hungry predators. If your garden is large, be sure to leave trails for maintenance and for moving close to butterflies and flowers that you want to photograph.

If you can identify the native butterflies in your area, you are more likely to choose plants that provide for the needs of both caterpillars and adults. In the summer issue we recommended the book Butterflies of Georgia Field Guide by Jaret C. Daniels (Adventure Publications, Inc., 2004) as a good source of pictures and information about butterflies of Georgia and surrounding areas. Among other books about butterflies in our personal library, we often consult Butterflies through Binoculars: the East by Jeffrey Glassberg (Oxford University Press) and National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies (Alfred A. Knopf). Each book has strengths and weaknesses relative to being “user-friendly.”

One of our recent acquisitions, The Butterfly Gardener’s Guide, edited by Claire Hagen Dole (Science Press for Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2003), is not an identification book but is instead a guide for gardeners. The book contains a series of essays under the headings Observing Butterflies, Advanced Butterfly Gardening, and Encyclopedia of Butterfly and Caterpillars Plants. There is also an article written for each area of the continental United States.

As the cooler weather comes, take some time to study materials that you have acquired about butterflies and butterfly gardening. Decide whether establishing a butterfly garden or enhancing the one you already have is one of your goals for the next gardening season. Sometimes a lot of hard work is necessary to turn a garden into a paradise for pollinators, but the pleasure of watching these beautiful “flying flowers” is worth the effort.