What We Can Do Tips and Techniques for the Butterfly Butterflies, however, needn’t disappear. Butterfly In fact, the pattern of decline can even be 1. The ideal location for a butterfly reversed by those willing to do some is an area open to your view and enjoy- butterfly gardening. ment, yet relatively undisturbed by pets or Cosmos playing children. “The power to enrich a patch of If each of us a few flowers to pro- vide nectar for adult butterflies and some 2. Because butterflies are cold-blooded, host plants to serve as food for caterpillars their flight muscles will not work if they earth with beautiful butterflies, (which become butterflies), the entire tex- Western tiger swallowtail are chilled; so a warm, sunny, wind-pro- no matter how humble the plot ture of our communities can be enhanced. nectaring on daisy tree. tected area is the perfect spot for your or simple the effort, is awesome.” Regardless of how small our garden space butterfly garden. Tall background plants, may be we can still have a positive impact walls, or fencing can provide a wind on the butterfly population. One square shelter. – Robert Pyle foot of space can provide a feeding station for many butterflies. 3. flowers that are preferred by butterflies. Their favorite colors are pink, A flower pot or window box filled with Monkey flower purple, yellow, and orange. Flat flowers Butterflies in Our Midst cosmos and makes an excellent (zinnias and cosmos), short tubular flowers “butterfly restaurant.” A somewhat larger (lupine), and flower clusters ( and The Bay Area is home to patch of ground planted with Buddleia ) are best because they provide easy (butterfly bush) or a vast plot sown with 142 of butterflies, which depend Monarch butterflies nectar- access to nectar. Drooping flowers, though on a great diversity of plant communities. native wildflowers can attract and nurture ing on Mexican sunflower. nectar-rich, are less suitable because they With each passing decade, however, fewer thousands of butterflies. provide no place to perch comfortably and fewer butterflies are commonly seen. while sipping. They cannot live on concrete and asphalt. As wild meadows and flower-coated hill- 4. Occasional “sun bathing” allows a sides give way to development, the quality The human race faces a multitude of envi- butterfly to remain active by raising its of our living environment declines while, body temperature. A few flat stones or for other species, existence itself becomes ronmental problems. Thinning ozone, acid rain, polluted rivers and lakes, and global boulders in sunny areas of the garden will threatened. Ecologist Robert Pyle expresses provide a place for basking. his concern about what he has called warming present complex problems which seem to defy solutions, especially at the level of the individual. 5. Many butterflies drink water and extract “the extinction of experience – the loss of mineral salts from damp soil and puddles. everyday species within our own radius of Including shallow pools or moist spots will reach.” However, working in our own backyards, we can help to stem the destruction of attract a “puddle club.” our local ecosystems by promoting species According to Pyle, “When we lose the diversity. By restoring and protecting habi- 6. The most successful, environmentally common wildlife in our immediate sound are those which are pesti- Mourning cloak tat in our own yards, we not only please surroundings, we run the risk of becoming ourselves, we hold open the possibility that cide-free. The enchantment provided by a inured to nature’s absence, blind to Cover photos: future generations can also experience the garden alive with butterflies will far out- delight, and . . . alienated from the land.” Cover photos: upper, Western tiger swallowtail natural splendor and living art provided by weigh the annoyance of a few undesirable lower, variable checkerspot butterflies among garden blossoms. garden pests. The following plant species are considered excellent for attracting butterflies. Visitor Centers Try a few and watch your art-in-motion garden come alive. ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM NECTAR PLANTS (for butterflies ) Fremont (510) 796-0663 [email protected] Perennials Yarrow * Butterfly False Indigo Amorpha californica* BLACK DIAMOND MINES Coast Rock Cress Arabis blepharophylla* Antioch (925) 757-2620 Common Milkweed speciosa** [email protected] Gardening Butterfly Bush Buddleia davidii Wild Lilac Ceanothus species** COYOTE HILLS REGIONAL PARK Fremont (510) 795-9385 Coreopsis californica* [email protected] Coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata Purple Cone Flower CRAB COVE Alameda (510) 521-6887 Buckwheat Eriogonum faseieulatum* [email protected] Lantana Lantana montevidensis Silver Lupine Lupinus albifrons* SUNOL REGIONAL WILDERNESS Lupine Lupinus species** Sunol (925) 862-2601 Sticky Monkey Flower Mimulus aurantiacus** [email protected] Daisy Tree Mimulus guttatus** TILDEN NATURE AREA/EEC Common Monkey Flower Montanoa grandiflora and LITTLE FARM Flowering Tobacco Nicotiana alata* Berkeley (510) 525-2233 Wild Tobacco Nicotiana (some*) [email protected] Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia laciniata Sedum (Stonecrop) Sedum species Further Reading: Goldenrod Solidago species* The Butterfly Book, Stokes & Williams Johnny-jump-up pedunculata* The Butterfly Garden, Tekulsky

Annuals Cosmos The Regional Parks Botanic Garden, located in Heliotrope Heliotropium arborescens Tilden Park, Berkeley, has an annual native plant Alyssum Lobularia maritima sale on the third Saturday of April. Many butterfly- Pincushion Flower Scabiosa caucasica attracting plants are available. (510) 841-8732 Mexican Sunflower Tithonia rotundifolia Verbena Verbena species (some*) Text: Jan Southworth Zinnia Zinnia elegans Photos: Ed Ross, Don Jedlovec, Dan Southworth, and Jan Southworth FOOD PLANTS (for caterpillars) This brochure is provided as a public service of the Perennials Dutchman’s Pipe Aristolochia californica* Interpretive and Recreation Services Department of Milkweed Asclepias species (some*) the East Bay Regional Park District. For more infor- Michaelmas Daisy regulinis mation, call one of the visitor centers listed above. Borage Borago officinalis Wild Lilac Ceanothus species* East Bay Regional Park District Lupine Lupinus species* 2950 Peralta Oaks Ct., P.O. Box 5381 Oakland, CA 94605-0381 Annuals Snapdragon Antirrhinum majus (510) 635-0135 Nasturtium Tropaeolium species TDD phone (510) 633-0460 East Bay Regional Park District Violet Viola species* * natives www.ebparks.org www.ebparks.org ** California native and host 11/06