Butterfly Gardens

	Butterfly Gardening Different types of butterflies like different types of flowers. You can supply the things that the "friendly" butterflies like: food, a sunny place with shelter from wind, and water. Insects & Spiders Home \| Butterflies Main \| Moths \| Moths Index \| Skippers \| Butterflies Index

There are butterflies you can attract to your garden, and there are butterflies that you will never see in your garden. There are species of butterflies that do not feed at all, and there are many that do not feed at flowers. However, butterflies that do not feed at flowers still need to lay eggs - and if you don't cultivate any of their host plants, you stand no chance of attracting them to your garden.

You can supply the things that the "friendly" butterflies like: food, a sunny place with shelter from wind, and water. If you're really hardcore, perhaps some rotting fruit or fresh dung, and host plants.

American Painted Lady - Borage, Burdock, Everlasting, Hollyhocks, Knapweed, Mallow, Sunflower, Wormwood

Variegated, Gulf Fritillary - Butterfly Bush

Great Spangled Fritillary - Violets, Pansy, Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Black Swallowtail - Carrot, Dill, Fennel, Parsley, Queen Anne's Lace, Rue

Dwarf Yellow - Violets

Common Wood Nymph - Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) Ox-eye Daisy, Frost Aster

Cabbage White - New England Aster. Host plants: Violets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Mustard, Nasturtium

Butterflies begin their life as an egg, laid either singly or in clusters depending on the species. A caterpillar emerges and, after consuming its egg shell, begins feeding on its host plant. Caterpillars must crawl out of their skin or molt, usually around five times, before changing into a pupa. Finally, an adult butterfly emerges, spreads its wings and flies away. This type of development is complete metamorphosis.

Butterfly gardens are a great source for your own enjoyment, photo opportunities, or an outlet for artistic talent. These gardens can also be extended to interest youth in nature, by providing a small window of native inhabitants of the local environment. On a final note, it's important to conserve butterflies when possible since their habitat is constantly diminishing due to the increasing needs and consequent development of roads and housing.

Like all insects, butterflies and moths are increasingly endangered by the spraying of pesticides.

Peck's Skipper

Least Skipper

Zabulon Skipper

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Butterfly	Flight period	Caterpillar food	Common nectar plants, adult food
Common butterflies and their food plants
Black swallowtail	April-September	Dill, parsley, fennel, carrot	Butterfly weed, alfalfa, thistle
Checkered skipper	April-October	Mallow, hollyhock	Verbena, dandelion, Canada thistle, aster
Checkered white	April-November	Tumble mustard	Alfalfa, mustards, bee balm
Clouded sulfur	April-November	Alfalfa, clover	Alfalfa, phlox, rabbitbrush, aster, marigold
Edwards fritillary	June-September	Nuttall's violet	Rabbitbrush, gaillardia, bee balm
Cabbage White	April-October	Broccoli, cabbage (mustard family)	Many
Gorgone checkerspot	May-September	Sunflowers	White clover, dandelion, Canada thistle
Gray hairstreak	May-October	Many	Many
Hackberry butterfly	May-September	Hackberry	Rotting fruit, sap flows
Monarch	June-October	Milkweed	Cosmos, Canada thistle, rabbitbrush, etc.
Mourning cloak	February-November	Willow, aspen, cottonwood, elm	Rabbitbrush, milkweed, sap
Orange sulfur	April-October	Alfalfa, vetch, pea	Alfalfa, marigold, zinnia
Painted Lady	April-October	Thistle, hollyhock, sunflower	Grape hyacinth, cosmos, zinnia, alfalfa, many flowers
Silver-spotted skipper	May-July	Wild licorice, locust, etc.	Lilac, dogbane, zinnia, sweet pea, Canada thistle
Two-tailed swallowtail	April-August	Green ash, chokecherry	Geranium, thistle, milkweed
Variegated fritillary	April-October	Various, including pansy	Rabbitbrush, Canada thistle
Eastern tiger swallowtail	May-July	Willow, cottonwood, chokecherry	Zinnia, lilac, butterfly bush, thistle, milkweed

Black Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Tiger Swallowtail, black female

Pipevine Swallowtail

If you intersperse groups of both wild and cultivated plants, as well as bloom times (time of day as well as year), you will bring the greatest numbers and variety of butterfly visitors. Large plantings of the same plants will be easier for butterflies to see than singly planted flowers.

Some varieties of flowers which are easy to find and grow in Illinois, and will be attractive to many types of butterflies include: Aster, Black-eyed Susan, Coreopsis, Day lilies, Goldenrod, Hibiscus, Lavender, Lilac, Marigold, Butterfly Bush, Ox-eye Daisies, Phlox, Pink Azalea, Purple Coneflower, Redbud, Rosemary, Verbena.

Shrubs
Plant	Color	Height	Bloom time
Azalea	variable	shrub	spring
Buddleia	blue, pink, white	shrub	midsummer-fall
Lilac	lavender, white, pink	shrub	spring
Privets	white	shrub	spring
Sumac	white	shrub	spring
Vaccinium spp.	white, pink	low shrubs	spring-early summer
Viburnums	white	shrubs	spring

Cultivated Annuals
Plant	Color	Height	Bloom time
Alyssum	violet, white	4 inches	summer-fall
Candytuft	white, pink	8-10 inches	spring-summer
Cosmos	white, lilac, red, yellow	1-3 feet	late summer
Gaillardia	multicolor	24 inches	summer-fall
Impatiens	multicolor	6-18 inches	summer-fall
Marigold	yellow, orange	6-24 inches	summer-fall
Mignonette	red	12-18 inches	summer-fall
Scabiosa	blue, rose, white	18-36 inches	summer-fall
Verbena	multicolor	8-10 inches	midsummer-fall
Zinnias	multicolor	12-24 inches	summer-fall

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Orange Sulphur

Dwarf Yellow or Dainty Sulphur Butterfly

Dwarf Yellow, Dainty Sulphur

Wild Perennials
Plant	Color	Height	Bloom time
Boneset	white	36-60 inches	late summer
Black-Eyed Susan	yellow	12-18 inches	late summer
Blazing Star	purple	up to 18 inches	summer
Dandelion	yellow	4-12 inches	spring-fall
Dogbane	pink to white	shrub	early summer
Goldenrod	yellow	12-48 inches	late summer
Joe-Pye-Weed	lavender	36-60 inches	late summer
Milkweeds	lavender, orange	24-48 inches	summer
New England Aster	purple	24-60 inches	late summer
Thistle	pink, purple	24-48 inches	summer
Wild Bergamot	pink, lavender	24-36 inches	summer
Yarrow	white	12-36 inches	early summer

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