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Cooperative Extension Service |
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Agricultural
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Arbor Day
Dale Bumpers College
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Butterfly Gardening
While many gardeners are attracted to the butterflies, most are not as enamored with the caterpillars -- because they do eat holes in the leaves of the plants, and sometimes appear to be consuming the whole plant. While it may not be totally aesthetically pleasing, that is their role in the chain of life for butterflies, and it really doesn't hurt the plants. If you want butterflies, then you also need caterpillars, and they won't eat every plant in your yard. Some of the most popular food sources for a range of butterflies include members of the parsley family, including parsley, fennel, dill and Queen Anne's Lace. The milkweed family is another excellent food source, including the showy Asclepias butterfly weed- with both the native orange and the tropical ones; along with the perennial passionvine and pipevine, and woody plants such as spice bush, hackberry, apples and cherry trees. Nectar plants are often more showy and fun to have in the garden, but you need both. Some common nectar plants include buddleia or butterfly bush, butterfly weed, lantana, honeysuckle, coreopsis and more. Butterflies are a wonderful study of metamorphosis. As the emerging caterpillar comes out of the egg, which has been cleverly laid on a host plant, the larvae eats a large part of its shell before starting to feed on the plant itself. Caterpillars are very limited in their diet; many species will only eat the leaves of a single type of plant. They usually eat only the plant that their mother carefully chose to lay their egg on. The larvae are eating machines, actually outgrowing their bodies five times. Then the caterpillar pupates, covering itself with a protective shell, and metamorphosing into an adult butterfly or moth. Despite the number of butterflies we see, there are dangers at all stages of the butterflies development. Insects and birds can eat the eggs, and parasites can also destroy them in the egg stage. The larvae have even more problems to deal with, from birds to wasps and other bugs, to spiders. They also have to fend off disease problems, and avoid pesticide sprays. And even as adult butterflies, they aren't immune to being attacked by birds or bugs. Yet butterflies can be as crafty as their attackers. They try to hide their eggs on the undersides of leaves. The larvae can have the color or pattern of the plants they are feeding on, helping to camouflage themselves, and some even have false eyes on their backs, or look like bird droppings. The pupal stage or chrysalis can also be masked by looking like a leaf or even a thorn on the host plant. If you would like to learn more about butterfly gardening, and learn to identify the butterflies in the area, contact your local County Extension office. |
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University of Arkansas • Division of Agriculture |
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Everyone
seems to love butterflies, and many gardeners want more of them in their own
yards. To that end, gardeners are planting all types of blooming plants, in the
hopes that butterflies will flock to their garden. While many flowering plants
will entice butterflies to your garden, to truly get a better population,
consider adding plants that serve as food for the caterpillars. The basic
requirements for a butterfly garden are sun, nectar source plants, larval host
plants, and a pesticide-free environment. Gardens can be as small as a few
containers, or as large as the yard you have.