© Mary Ann DeSantis

Symbolsnature and even our very of souls, freedom, butterflies capture our attention with their effortless flights and perfect beauty. Butterfly gardens, however, may not be the picture-perfect garden oasis you envision, but that unkempt look is exactly what these exquisite creatures want.

he milkweed leaves also make good host plants where come in cycles. Monarchs may are chewed around the Swallowtails and other butterflies be plentiful one year, then not so edges… the once-lush will lay eggs. Just as important are much the next.” Floating Butterflies © Ambient Ideas/ Shutterstock.com; Red Butterfly in Forest Tparsley has been reduced to bald the nectar-producing plants, like Most beginners, Williams stalks… the lantana grows out Zinnias, which feed the butterflies believes, make the mistake of of control… this describes my once they emerge from the trimming the plants too often butterfly garden perfectly. But chrysalis. or pulling up milkweed that is the unruly garden space outside “The plant list provided by missing its leaves. She tells people my lanai attracts a profusion of the county extension services is who want butterflies to let their butterflies, so I must be doing excellent,” says Williams. “We’re gardens grow naturally. She something right. lucky because everything grows also says be very careful about “People who have butterfly in Florida.” pesticides and insecticides—and gardens can’t expect them to be Two types of plants are not just the kind lawn services beautiful all the time. The purpose needed for successful butterfly use but also common, everyday of the host plants is to be eaten,” gardening. Eggs and larva need varieties that many gardeners explains Anna Williams, a Marion host plants; once butterflies spray around flower beds County Master Gardener whose emerge, they need nectar- every day. specialty is butterfly gardening. producing annuals for food. And “Chemicals will destroy “Butterflies don’t care what the keep it simple. Williams says plants and caterpillar eggs,” she garden looks like; in fact, they butterflies like plants that are says. “If the wind is blowing when prefer it not to be picture perfect.” uncomplicated and make it easy chemicals are being applied, it can First-time butterfly gardeners to get to the nectar. Many of the ruin a plant for the butterflies.” BY MARY ANN DESANTIS should start with the easiest plants newer hybrid plants do not have Williams became a certified to grow. Williams recommends scents to attract butterflies or Master Gardener with the milkweed as a host plant where have overlapping blooms, which University of Florida IFAS/ Monarch butterflies can lay eggs make it harder for the butterflies Marion County Extension Service that will eventually become to remove the nectar. She’s after moving to Summerfield ravenous caterpillars. She says personally had good luck planting eight years ago. She had been herbs, such as parsley and fennel, Zinnias, nectar-producing plants a Master Gardener in Virginia that offer lots of color. for five years before retiring and BUTTERFLY “A variety of plants offers loved the program so much that you more chances to attract she decided to pursue it after her butterflies,” she says. “And arrival in Florida to learn about remember, not every kind of the plants that grow here. She butterfly comes every year.” began specializing in butterfly She tells of her own personal gardening six years ago and now experience with her Dutchman’s chairs the butterfly component for Pipeline Plant that Swallowtails the Master Gardener series. would eat right off the trellis in Norma Samuel, who handles past years. Urban Horticulture for the IFAS/ “This year, we’ve not seen one Marion County Extension Service, Swallowtail,” she says. “Butterflies says the Master Gardener course B2 MAR’13 ocalastyle.com liss ocalastyle.com MAR’13 3 is a vital part of the extension to lure them into your yard. Butterfly Plant service. After completing a 13- Caterpillars—or larva—are COMMON NAME SCIENTIFIC NAME FLOWERING week course, Master Gardeners limited to the kinds of plants SEASON List for North commit to at least 85 hours they can eat. A female butterfly annually of volunteer service their must lay her eggs on a particular Central Florida

first year. The primary purpose kind of plant, because caterpillars Source: Butterfly Rainforest, TreesEastern Redbud Cercis canadensis Spring plants change regularly, so every flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies is educating the public about cannot travel far, and they cannot businesses to establish Dahoon Holly Ilex cassine Spring gardening in an environmentally survive if they hatch on the wrong visit offers something new to butterfly gardens. Chickasaw Plum Prunus angustifolia Spring Larval Host Plants for

responsible manner. kind of plant. see. When weather permits, live In Marion County alone, © Mary Ann DeSantis Hog Plum Prunus umbellata Spring Specific Butterfly Species: “Our plant clinics are It’s also important to know butterfly releases happen Monday Master Gardener Williams Sparkleberry Vaccinium arboreum Spring Walters Viburnum Viburnum abovatum Spring manned every weekday by which species are common to through Friday at 2pm and on estimates there are thousands of Black Swallowtail Master Gardener volunteers,” your area. Marion, Lake, Sumter weekends at 2pm, 3pm, and 4pm. home butterfly gardens. Queen Anne’s Lace says Samuel. “They also offer free and Citrus Counties are part of For sheer numbers, Butterfly “Everyone who putters in a Fennel workshops and youth programs.” Region 3, according to the IFAS/ World in Coconut Creek is a yard likes to see butterflies,” she Parsley ShurbsBastard Indigo Amorpha fruticosa Summer-Fall The Master Gardener Marion County Extension Service. magical paradise filled with more says. “Almost every other yard in than 10,000 swirling butterflies Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis Spring-Summer orientation class is held in May, Although 100 species of butterflies my neighborhood has plants to New Jersey Tea Ceanothus americanus Spring Giant Swallowtail but applicants are interviewed can be found throughout Florida, and exotic plants. Established attract butterflies.” Summersweet Clethra alnifolia Summer Hop Tree and approved before beginning not all of them will visit North in 1988, Butterfly World was Butterflies are important Garberia Garberia heterophylla Summer-Fall Hercules’ Club the $160 course, which runs from Central Florida no matter how the first such butterfly house in pollinators, so gardens are Firebush Hamelia patens Summer-Fall Inkberry Ilex glabra Spring-Summer mid-August until mid-November. many host plants are available. the Western Hemisphere, and it not only beneficial to the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail remains the largest one in Wild Azalea Rhododendron canescens Spring “We want people willing to Among those species common environment but also to people Florida Flame Azalea Rhododendron austrinum Spring Black Cherry learn and then who will volunteer to this area are Swallowtails, the world. who love watching them. White Ash to give back to the community,” Monarchs, Checkered Whites, “When we opened, we knew “Gardening is good exercise Green Ash explains Samuel. Orange Sulfurs, Cloudless it was a huge risk,” said Founder and gaining knowledge about Successful butterfly Sulfurs, American Painted Ladies, and Owner Ron Boender. “We different plants stimulates your / Shutterstock.com; Firebush & Blanket Flowers © Norma Samuel; Black & White Butterfly Wildflowers Zebra Swallowtail gardening begins with education Viceroys and Gulf Fritillaries. didn’t know if people would pay mind,” says Williams, “but the False Foxglove Agalinus spp. Fall Pawpaw and research, according to The Extension Service provides a to see butterflies or not.” biggest benefit is the joy Pink Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Summer-Fall White Swamp Milkweed Asclepias perennis Summer-Fall Woolly Pawpaw Williams. It’s important to know complete list of species and Throughout its history, and relaxation that Ideas Ambient © Butterfly Milkweed Asclepias tuberosa Spring-Summer Dwarf Pawpaw which plants require sunshine and their regions. Butterfly World has been more comes as you watch Aster Aster spp. Summer-Fall Neeted Pawpaw which ones grow in the shade. If you need inspiration, a than an attraction. Boender’s these beautiful Florida Paint Brush Carphephorus corymbosus Fall Smallflower Pawpaw And it’s also fun to see which trip to one of Florida’s world-class on-going research and butterfly creatures flutter Vanilla Plant Carphephorus odoratissimus Fall Slimleaf Pawpaw plants attract a certain species of butterfly houses is all it takes to farming have been instrumental across your Golden Aster Chrysopsis spp. Fall Mistflower Conoclinium coelestinum Summer-Fall butterflies. For example, the Anise catch butterfly-gardening fever. in saving America’s threatened yard.” Dalea Dalea spp. Fall American Painted Lady Swallowtail likes citrus, while the The Florida Museum of Natural and endangered butterflies, Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea Summer Purple Cudweed Black Swallowtail prefers parsley History’s Butterfly Rainforest in including the Schaus Swallowtail Elephants-foot Elepjantopus elatus Summer-Fall Wandering Cudweed or fennel. Monarch caterpillars eat Gainesville is a 6,400-square-foot. native to the Florida Keys. In Snakeroot Eryngium aquaticum Summer Narrow-leaf Cudweed only Milkweed. screened exhibit containing a addition, Butterfly World’s Mistflower Eupatorium coelestinum Summer-Fall Pink & Yellow Butterflies © suns07; Floating Butterflies Joe-pye Weed Eupatorium fistulosum Summer-Fall Decide if you want to attract continuous population of more “Bring Back the Butterflies Blanket Flower Gaillardia pulchella Summer-Fall Checkered White and Great a specific type of butterfly, and than 1,000 butterflies. The 60 Campaign” has encouraged Coastal Vervain Glandularia maritima Summer Southern White consider the plants you need to 80 species and the flowering private citizens, schools and Narrow-leaf Sunflower Helianthus angustifolius Summer-Fall Virginia Peppergrass Beach Sunflower Helianthus debilis Summer-Fall Scarlet Hibiscus Hibiscus coccineus Summer-Fall Redroot Lachnanthes caroliana Summer-Fall Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Blazing Star Liatris spp. Summer-Fall Longwing Butterflies in Literature Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis Summer-Fall Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) “Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man,” said discovers a “lake of fire” when Monarch butterflies mistakenly migrate to her Snow Squarestem Melanhera nivea Summer-Fall Corky-Stemmed Passion Flower Vladimir Nabokov, a 20th century novelist. Tennessee mountain instead of Central Mexico. Scientists, religious leaders Hempweed Mikania scandens Fall Yellow Passion Flower Nabokov certainly would know. In addition to writing psychological and media spark the controversies surrounding climate change. Monarda punctata Fall classics like Lolita and Pale Fire, he worked as the curator of Harvard A transformational journey across the United States and into Mexico is Turkey Tangle Fogfruit Phyla nodiflora Spring-Fall University’s butterfly collecting and classification program during the 1940s. the subject of The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe. Protagonist Luz Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta Summer-Fall Monarch/Queen His contributions to the field were so great that a species of butterfly—the Avila is searching for the legend of las mariposas, the butterflies that fly more Yellow Coneflower Ratibida pinnata Summer-Fall White Twinevine Nabokovia—was named in his honor. than 2,000 miles to their winter home in Mexico. The random characters she Cut-leaved Coneflower Rudbeckia lanciniata Summer-Fall Swamp Milkweed From William Shakespeare to Charles Dickens, butterflies have made meets along the way from Milwaukee to Mexico add meaning and dimension Wild Petunia Ruellia caroliniensis Spring-Fall Butterfly Weed Salvia (Sage) Salvia spp. Summer-Fall Want to Learn More? their way into some of literature’s greatest works. William Wordsworth, Emily to her life. Mexican Milkweed Dickinson and Robert Frost all wrote several poems about butterflies, as have The Blue Butterfly is based on the true story and biography of Canadian Rosinweed Silphium asteriscus Summer-Fall Be sure to attend the Marion Country many other masters of prose. David Marenger, who as a terminally ill 10-year-old boy had one last wish: Goldenrod Solidago spp. Summer-Fall Master Gardeners 19th Annual Spring And lately, it seems butterflies have been an underlying theme in several to capture the beautiful but elusive Blue Morpho. The 2004 movie stars Stokes’ Aster Stokesia laevis Summer-Fall Viceroy Festival, March 9-10, at the UF/IFAS best-selling novels. Popular author Barbara Kingsolver is currently topping Academy-Award winner William Hurt as an aging entomologist who Ironweed Vernonia spp. Summer Coastal Plain Willow Extension Service Auditorium.Visit the charts with Flight Behavior, a story about a young Appalachia mother who reluctantly agrees to take the boy to Costa Rica on a journey of a lifetime. marioncountyfl.org/springfestival.htm.

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