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Butterfly Gardens
By Hilda M. Morrill
 We recently enjoyed a wonderful visit to the
Museum of Science in Boston, where we enjoyed walking among the beautiful free-flying residents of the Butterfly Garden.
Printed guides with photographs help visitors identify the different butterflies and moths, while labels highlight key behaviors to watch for, such as feeding, courting, and basking.
Back at home we hope to encourage our very own visitors.
There is no more delightful decoration for a garden than butterflies. On a warm sunny day they provide color and motion that doubles the pleasure of gardening. How fortunate for the gardener that it takes very little effort to make the yard attractive to butterflies. We would like to share some information from the National Garden Bureau to help make it all happen.
Butterflies will visit, and possibly stay to lay eggs, wherever there is a variety of plants for food and shelter, some moisture, and an absence of pesticides. While there are typically more species in warm climates than in cooler ones, there are butterflies almost everywhere in the country. Their appearance in your backyard ultimately depends on whether their favorite plants are growing there—certain ones to support their larvae, and many others to support the adult butterflies.
Larval host plants are often unattractive, weedy and wild. Yet, adult female butterflies choose these particular plants (Monarch moms must have milkweed!) on which to lay their eggs. This assures that newly hatched caterpillars have appropriate food immediately at hand.
Adult butterflies have more cosmopolitan palates. The flower nectar they need for energy is available in many different flowering plants. They are particularly attracted to hot-colored, fragrant flowers.
Some favorites are: Aster, Black-eyed Susan, Butterfly bush, Butterfly weed, Coreopsis, Joe-Pye weed, Lantana, Liatris, Pentas, and Purple Coneflower, to name a few.
Butterflies get further nutrition from moisture from puddles and raindrops, rotting carrion and other liquids—even human perspiration if you stand very still—that provide traces of minerals and nutrients not in nectar.
It is not necessary to integrate larval and adult plants throughout landscape. Just allow some part of your yard or nearby property to remain weedy and undeveloped to lure female butterflies to lay eggs.
Butterflies visit flowering plants that are in full sun and in sites sheltered from wind in beds or containers. Flowering shrubs provide shelter for roosting too. The more fragrant, the better. Plant at various heights, because like birds, certain butterfly species prefer to feed at certain heights. (Some species are even quite territorial and try to chase others from favorite plants).
Finally, unlike the famous monarchs, which migrate to Mexico and other points south, most butterfly species overwinter nearby. This means that their eggs, chrysalises, or larvae are likely to be in or near your yard during the non-gardening months. Some will even hibernate as adults.
Enjoy!
(We thank the National Garden Bureau, Inc. for providing information used in this article. Images were taken at the Museum of Science, Boston, and are © Hilda M. Morrill.)
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