PB1636 Butterfly Gardening
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Home Garden, Lawn, and Landscape UT Extension Publications April 2010 PB1636 Butterfly Gardening The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agexgard Part of the Plant Sciences Commons Recommended Citation "PB1636 Butterfly Gardening," The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service, 04-0225 W036 , https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_agexgard/89 The publications in this collection represent the historical publishing record of the UT Agricultural Experiment Station and do not necessarily reflect current scientific knowledge or ecommendations.r Current information about UT Ag Research can be found at the UT Ag Research website. This Specialized Gardens is brought to you for free and open access by the UT Extension Publications at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Home Garden, Lawn, and Landscape by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Extension PB1636 Butterfly Gardening Table of Contents Introduction 3 The Butterfl y Life Cycle 3 Butterfl y Habitats 4 Creating a Butterfl y Garden 6 Butterfl y Garden Care 7 Sources of Information about Butterfl ies 8 Appendix A. Tree and Shrub Food Sources and the Butterfl ies They Attract 9 Appendix B. Herbaceous Plant Food Sources and the Butterfl ies They Attract 11 Butterfly Gardening Linda L. Gombert, Graduate Student Susan L. Hamilton, Associate Professor Mindi Coe, Undergraduate Student Plant Sciences utterfl y gardening has pers are quite easy to tell apart. become a rewarding The wings of true butter fl ies are B outdoor hobby that is larger and fuller by compari- sweep ing the country. But what son, while those of skippers are exactly is butterfl y gar den ing? small er and tri an gu lar. But ter - Quite simply, it is the practice fl ies often have more brightly of at tract ing butterfl ies to your col ored wings than skippers, garden by growing common which are gen er al ly muted plants and fl owers that they use. shades of brown and gray. The Butterfl y eggs come in many As de vel op ment infringes upon bodies of but terfl ies are also shapes, colors and textures. fi elds and meadows, but ter fl ies slender, while skippers have are losing their hab i tats to new thick, bulky bodies. Butterfl ies outside cover ing dries and be- subdi vi sions and shopping malls. may appear to fl y swiftly, but comes solid, the egg can take on By pro viding the right types of they are not strong fl iers—their in tri cate tex tures and become plants, shelter, water and a safe wing strokes are rel a tive ly slow. quite color ful. Eggs may ap pear haven for them to lay their eggs, Skippers fl y very swiftly, often smooth and round, like those of you can attract butter fl ies to darting around with wings mov- the Tiger Swal low tail; oblong your garden. You may be able ing so fast they appear to blur. and seg ment ed, as in the Falcate to witness a truly miraculous But ter fl ies and skip pers are only Orangetip; or even vase-shaped pro cess of nature: the trans for - active during the day, while and ribbed, like the Queen ma tion from egg, to cat er pillar, many moths are active at night. But ter fl y’s. De pend ing upon to chrys a lis, to adult butterfl y. (Some moths, howev er, are ac- the species, eggs may be laid And in the process, you might tive during the day as well.) singly, in rows or in clus ters of help ensure the con tin ued and any where from a few to several increased sur viv al of common To have a successful but ter fl y hun dred. Most but ter fl ies need but ter fl ies that are threat ened garden, you need to un der - sunny areas for mat ing and lay- by the de struc tion of their wild stand the life journey of butter - ing their eggs. habitats. fl ies, skip pers and moths. The beau ti ful crea tures that fl oat The second stage in the but- through your yard are actually ter fl y life cycle is the lar va or The Butterfly Life Cy cle the culmi na tion of a life cycle cat er pil lar. Cat er pil lars are, Butterfl ies are mem bers of the that de vel ops in four stages. The sim ply put, very ef fi cient insect order Lep i doptera. The term for this type of life cycle eating machines. word “lep i doptera” is derived involving dra mat ic changes in Their mouths from the Greek words lepis, form and func tion of the insect are equipped which means “scale;” and pteron, from stage to stage, is “complete meaning “wing.” The order Lep- metamor pho sis.” i doptera is com posed of butter - East ern Black fl ies, skippers and moths. While The fi rst stage is the egg, Swal low tail they may appear very similar at which is laid by the adult caterpillar fi rst glance, butterfl ies and skip- female but ter fl y. As the 3 with a pair of pow er ful chew ing fl y. This is the fi nal stage of the specifi c chemi cals found in cer- man di bles to help them grind butterfl y’s life. Its mis sion now tain plants in order to survive. A their food. The spinnerets, or is to mate and produce the next prime ex am ple is the Monarch, silk gland out lets, are lo cat ed on gen er a tion of butterfl ies. whose caterpillars feed on plants the lower lip. in the milkweed fam i ly. The Butterfly Habitats milkweed plant con tains toxins To insure their sur viv al, it is that are transferred to the cater- important to pro vide the en vi - pillar when it eats the milk weed. ron ment need ed by but terfl ies The adult butterfl y also contains in your region. Dif fer ent spe- the toxins. A bird at tempt ing to cies of but ter fl ies have dif fer ent eat a bright ly-striped Mon arch lifestyles, so a good but ter fl y cat er pil lar or the orange and garden should have a va ri ety black butterfl y will regur gi tate of habitats. For ex am ple, some them and thus learn that they butter fl ies prefer open mead- are not a suit able food source. ows, while others prefer shady wood ed hab i tats. The closer your There are no general char ac - The chrysalis or pupa of the garden match es their natural ter is tics that make rec og niz ing a Eastern Black Swallowtail. hab i tat, the great er your chances good larval food plant easy. You The cat er pil lar spins silk or se- of at tract ing but ter fl ies and must research and observe the cretes a sticky liquid that it uses con vincing them to stay. The but terfl ies you hope to at tract to to se cure it self as it enters the el ements of a suc cessful butter fl y your garden to know what host third stage, the pupa or chrys- garden include nectar sourc es plants to provide for specifi c but- a lis. The chrys a lis is a sta tion ary, and larval food plants, ad e quate terfl ies. Ta bles 1 and 2 at the end non-feed ing, rest ing/transform ing sun light, shel ter and wa ter. of this publication list host plants stage. Inside this shell, the tis- for many common butterfl ies. sues of the larva are broken down and rebuilt into the organs Adult Monarch butter fl y Adult butterfl ies get their nour- of the adult but ter fl y. The pupal on swamp milk weed ish ment from fl ower nectar, and span is temperature related and they will feed on a variety of usually lasts 7-14 days. When different sources. Unlike cat er - this meta mor pho sis is com plete, pil lars, they will investigate any the skin of the chrys a lis splits likely-looking nectar source. But- open and the adult butterfl y, or terfl ies use foot-like append ag es imago, crawls out. called tarsi to taste pos si ble food sources. Adult butter fl ies and moths feed via a pro bos cis, a long, hollow, tongue-like struc- ture that they coil beneath their Two stag es in the but ter fl y life head when not feeding. cycle need food, so you need to provide two types of plants: There are three char ac teris tics of larval food and adult food. Lar- fl owers that attract a but ter fl y’s val food plants are com mon ly attention: fl ower shape or ar- re ferred to as “host plants.” It is range ment, color and fra grance. im por tant to have the right kinds Newly emerged Eastern Black of host plants available for the Butterfl ies must land in order Swal low tail. types of but ter fl ies you wish to to feed, so the shape of blooms When it fi rst emerges, the but- at tract.