Flower Garden Lovers

A Butterfly Garden Must Have the Right Plants for Your Area

Although some may think that butterfly gardens, and being a butterfly enthusiast, are a recently popular past time, love of butterflies and having a butterfly garden go waaay back. Fact is Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, went so far as to describe the life cycle of the Cabbage Butterfly. Matthew Tekulsky discusses in his book, The Butterfly Garden, the small, screened-in public park run by Albert and Amy Carter back in the 1930's. They stocked this park with 16,000 home-grown butterflies.

If you would like to join this long line of butterfly lovers and produce a butterfly garden, then your first course of action will be to learn what types of butterflies might be available in your area. Be aware that butterfly populations cycle just like so many other wild life species. A butterfly species that seems to overwhelm your flower garden this year, may be nowhere to be found next year. Or so it may appear. In reality, that butterfly may be found in abundance in another butterfly garden down the road.

The first thing you may wish to do is simply become aware of what butterfly species may be found in your area. Later in this article, you can find a quick guide but the best thing may simply be to pay attention as you walk around your home, flower garden and surrounding countryside. Take along a good butterfly guide and record your observations.

However, like many of us, impatient as we are to get started on that butterfly garden, you may wish to simply use the following guide and other material you may find such as in the book mentioned above. Use these to begin your butterfly garden with appropriate nectar and host plants and flowers for the butterflies that should be in your region.

Regional Butterfly Species and Plants

This is simply a quick reference list of butterflies and host and nectar plants by region.

Northeastern N. America
From W. Virginia up through Quebec and as far west as Indiana and Ohio

• Butterflies: Swallowtails (black, spicebush and tiger), Cabbage White, Pearl Crescent, Monarch, Buckeye, Red-spotted Purple, Great Spangled Fritillary
• Plants: Milkweed (monarchs), fennel, parsley, carrot and dill (black swallowtails), spicebush (spicebush swallowtails), nasturtium (cabbage white), violets (great spangled fritillary), willow, birch, beech, aspen, wild cherry (many species)
• Nectar Flowers: Buddleia, Heliotrope, Lantana, Milkweed, Mint, Pentas, Porterweed, Verbena and Zinnias.

Southeastern U.S.

• Butterflies: Swallowtails (black, spicebush, tiger and pipevine), Buckeye, Pearl Crescent, Monarch, Cloudless Sulphur, Gulf Fritillary, Red-spotted purple
• Plants: Fennel, carrot, spicebush, dill, parsley, pipevine (swallowtails), wild cherry, poplar, sassafras, passiflora, wild senna, asters, milkweed
• Nectar Flowers: same as northeast

Southern Florida

• Butterflies: Polydamas swallowtail, giant swallowtail, zebra longwing, Julia, gulf fritillary, orange-barred sulphur, cloudless sulphur, monarch, queen
• Plants: milkweed, wild senna, passiflora, wild lime, citrus, dutchman’s pipe

Midwest

• Butterflies: Swallowtails, Buckeye, Cloudless Sulphur, Pearl Crescent, Cabbage White, Monarch, Viceroy
• Plants: Pipevines, fennel, carrot, dill, parsley, violets, nasturtium, wild senna, asters, snapdragon, verbena, cabbage, milkweed

New Mexico, Texas

• Butterflies: Patch, Hackberry, Monarch, Pearl Crescent, Question Mark, Buckeye, Cloudless Sulphur, Gulf Fritillary
• Plants: sunflowers, passiflora, hackberry, wild senna, milkweed, nettles, asters

Arizona, California, Nevada

• Butterflies: Western tiger swallowtail, anise swallowtail, two-tailed swallowtail, black swallowtail, pale swallowtail, pipevine swallowtail, cloudless sulphur, west coast lady, Monarch, gulf fritillary
• Plants: Fennel, carrots, parsley, dill, wild senna, wild plums, buckthorns, wild cherries, wild lilacs, hollyhocks, ashes, willows, aspens, poplars

Western States and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta

• Butterflies: Western tiger swallowtail, pale swallowtail, cabbage white, striped hairstreak, Wiedemeyer’s Admiral, mourning cloak, monarch, great spangled fritillary, painted lady
• Plants: wild plums and cherries, aspen, willow, poplar, sunflowers, buckthorns, wild lilacs, nasturtium, blueberries, ashes, violet, chokecherry

For additional information with gardening tips about needed aspects of a butterfly garden, see our previous articles listed in our Butterfly Garden Articles section. There are some things you need to make sure your flower garden provides to be a great place for butterflies and these are covered in other articles.

© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson

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© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson. Find more articles about a Butterfly Garden at our informative website, Flower Garden Lovers.
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