U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Attracting Butterflies Backyard Habitat for Wildlife

Host Plants for Butterflies Plants Butterflies Like 1 (Host plant—Scientific name Plants selected from the following list Butterfly attracted) will appeal to butterflies (common name scientific name): Creating Butterflyweed—Asclepius tuberosa Habitat Monarch Butterfly Shrubs: Creating Azalea—Rhododendron spp. habitat for Parsley—Petroselinium crispum butterflies is an exciting and rewarding Black Swallowtail Butterfly Annuals: endeavor. Some key components of your Cosmos—Cosmos sulphureus butterfly habitat are: Dill—Anethum graveolens Black Swallowtail Butterfly French Marigold—Tagetes patula ■ Sunny areas. Plants that butterflies like require bright sunshine. Fennel—Foeniculum vulgare Heliotrope—Heliotrope arborescens Black Swallowtail Butterfly ■ Splashes of color. Butterflies are attracted to flowers by color. Groups Rue—Ruta graveolens of flowers are easier to locate than Black Swallowtail Butterfly isolated plants.

■ Passion Flower—Passiflora incarnata Single flowers. The nectar of single Gulf Fritillary Butterfly flowers is more accessible and easier to extract than double Spicebush—Lindera benzoin flowering plants. Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly ■ Host plants. Female butterflies lay Tulip Tree—Lirieodnedron tulipifera their eggs only on certain host plants Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly that will nourish the young caterpillars after they hatch. Grow those plants that supply food for the caterpillars. Butterfly Biology The most successful butterfly habitat includes plants which meet the needs of ■ Damp areas. Butterflies cannot drink butterflies during all four stages of their from open water. Wet sand, earth, or Impatiens—Impatiens w allerana life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and mud are the best watering holes. adult. Mexican sunflower—Tithonia rotundifolia ■ Basking stones. Butterflies often After mating, female butterflies search for Verbena—Verbena x hydrida perch on stones to bask in the sun. a specific kind of “host plant” on which to Basking raises their body lay eggs. For example, monarchs lay eggs Zinnia—Zinnia elegans temperature so that they are able to on milkweed, black swallowtails on parsley, fly and remain active. and tiger swallowtails on tulip tree or wild Pentas—Pentas lanceolata cherry. In a few days, caterpillars emerge Enjoy Watching Butterflies from the eggs and begin to eat. Perennials: You can enhance your butterfly habitat Caterpillars only feed on specific kinds of Purple coneflower—Echinacea purpurea by making personal observations. plants. Identify which butterflies occur in your Black-eyed susan—Rudbeckia spp. community and the plants they are When the caterpillars are fully grown, visiting. Butterflies are easy to identify they shed their skin and change into Butterflyweed—Asclepias tuberosa with field guides such as: chrysalises. Often chrysalises are attached to plant stems and protected by Coreopsis—Coreopsis spp. Butterflies and Moths surrounding vegetation. It is inside the by H.S. Zim, Golden Guide Series, chrysalis that the adult butterfly is Moss Verbena—Verbena tenvisecta Golden Press, New York, New York, 1987. formed. 1 Information provided by The Audubon Society Handbook for After emerging from the chrysalis, the The Butterfly Center, Callaway Gardens Butterfly Watchers by R. M. Pyle, adult butterfly soon begins to search for Charles Scribners & Sons. nectar-rich flowers to feed upon.