Attracting Attracting Butterflies To A Garden

Butterflies have four main stages during their life cycle. It is important to create a garden that is attractive to all stages.

There are five steps to creating a garden that will attract butterflies. Create physical conditions that will provide a butterfly with a safe and comfortable habitat. Appeal to a butterfly’s senses. Provide a good menu for both caterpillars and adults. Encourage reproduction by providing plants that are good for caterpillars.

Physical Conditions A healthy butterfly environment includes several important elements. Sunlight- butterflies need a sunny area to stay warm No pesticides Mud puddle- mud contains minerals that are important for a butterfly’s diet Dark colored rocks- when a butterfly gets cold, it will sit on a rock in full sun to warm up Trees with large leaves- leaves provide shelter from weather as well as a place to lay eggs

Appealing to Senses Touch- warm surfaces (like dark stones) Taste- plants that caterpillars will eat and flowers that butterflies will drink Smell- fragrant flowers See- Butterflies see in cool colors. The center of a warm- colored flower looks blue or purple, acting like a target showing the butterfly where to drink nectar.

Good Menu Certain plants attract certain species of butterflies. Butterfly bushes are a popular garden plant, but they are an invasive species that attract stink bugs. Fresh fruit like oranges and watermelon will also attract butterflies.

Encouraging Reproduction Butterflies lay their eggs on plants that their caterpillars will eat once they hatch. If you plant it, they will come.

Butterflies Native To Maryland Maryland is home to 151 known species of butterflies. In the next few slides, you will see pictures of Maryland natives, including some of the plants their caterpillars are known to eat.

Monarch vs. Viceroy These two insects are a good example of mimicry. Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed, which makes them taste terrible throughout their lifecycle. The Viceroy adult looks almost exactly like an adult Monarch, but doesn’t taste as bad. Viceroy caterpillars feed on members of the willow tree family.

Black Swallowtail herbs (parsley, dill) Tiger Swallowtail tulip tree, sweet bay, black cherry, ash, poplar, birch, aspen, choke cherry

Spicebush Swallowtail spicebushes Buckeye toadflax, plantains, snapdragon

Cabbage White cabbage, brocolli, brussel sprouts Cloudless Sulfur clover

Red Spotted Purple cherry, poplar, aspen; Adults love raw apples Painted Lady thistle, mallow, hollyhock

Eastern Tailed Blue clover Spring Azure dogwood, viburnum, blueberry

Question Mark elm, hackberry, hops, nettles Red Admiral nettles

Mourning Cloak willow, aspen, elm, cottonwood, birch Little Wood Satyr grasses, sedges

Silver Spotted Skipper honey locust, bush clover

Baltimore Checkerspot This is our state butterfly. It is extremely endangered because it’s only food source is the Turtlehead, a rare plant that deer find extremely tasty.