CALIFORNIA GARDENS: Tips for creating a butterfly garden

Q: My young twin children have asked me for a very special birthday present: a backyard "butterfly garden," as they want to study butterflies. Can you suggest a list of all the plants that attract butterflies and that do well in our area? Thank you! - Mrs. K.T.H., Escondido

A: What a great birthday present your children came up with! They will not only be able to study the butterflies, but also the plants that host them. Even though many butterflies are threatened by habitat loss, pollution and pesticides, you can still transform your own back yard garden into a butterfly haven.

First of all, location is the most important thing to consider when you are planning a home for butterflies. These delicate creatures require a unique combination of bright sun and damp cool areas. Ideally, your new butterfly garden should be in a bright sunny area, but also close to a space that provides some damp undergrowth such as a wooded area or a pond. Butterfly-attracting plants will love the sun and your butterflies will be able to drink from the nearby moist soil.

As butterflies are attracted to bright colors, the larger expanse of one color you give them, the easier it will be for them to find your garden. So try to create a landscape design with large splashes of color by using groups of the same flowers. Try to tier the garden, to give butterflies a variety of levels to feed from. Also add a few flat stones to your garden, so the butterflies can bask in the sun, which they love! You will find them frequently sunning themselves to help control their body temperature and remain active.

Even though most adult butterflies live for only 10-20 days, different species are active at different times throughout the year. To ensure that butterflies will keep coming back to your yard, choose a mix of colorful nectar-rich flowering plants that blossom continuously from early spring through late fall, providing a bounty of food for them.

Here is a list of perennials that are known to attract butterflies: asters, phlox, goldenrod, milkweed, pineapple sage, purple coneflower, verbena, coreopsis, dianthus, blazing star and joy-pye weed, as well as butterfly-friendly annuals like nasturtium, French marigolds, Heliotrope, impatiens, cosmos, and zinnias. Nectar-rich shrubs include Azalea, Butterfly bush, glossy abelia, and trailing Lantana.

It is also fun to add a few host plants to lure female butterflies into the garden to lay her eggs and provide food for the caterpillars. Caterpillars are rather picky eaters and generally rely on only one or two species of plants, as the female butterflies lay eggs only on plants that their future offspring can eat. Without these plants, the eggs will hatch but the caterpillars will starve or be poisoned. For example, for the beautiful monarchs, plant milkweed. For black swallowtails, grow parsley or dill and for the checkered skippers, plant hollyhocks.

It is important to maintain a healthy butterfly haven, therefore, you cannot use any type of herbicides and pesticides, as these are toxic to butterflies in both their adult and larval phases. If you have a bug infestation that you must eliminate, use predatory insects, insecticidal soap on the offending plant, or remove the pest by hand.


