- Identify the butterfly’s native to your area.
- Assess the yard or garden space in its present state, noting trees, shrubs & herbaceous flowering plants that are a food source for butterflies & caterpillars
- Select a variety of plant which will attract butterflies to your garden. Include a selection of
larval foods and adult nectar plants. - Locate the garden in full sun or an arca that receives at 4 hours of sunlight.
- Provide a windbreak or screen of trees, shrubs or a fence to block excessive wind.
- Plan for continuous bloom throughout the butterfly season, February through November.
- Use groups of plants to display splashes of color to attract more butterflies.
- Plant single flower varieties which are easier for butterflies to nectar upon.
- To encourage butterfly visitation, include a water source for puddling or rotting fruit for the sap feeding butterflies.
- Avoid pesticide use in or near the garden.
- Record your butterfly visitors taking note of the plants that appear to be their favorite nectar sources.
Food Sources For Butterfly Larva
- Paper Kite – South America
- Orange Longwing – Passion Flowers
- The Clipper – South America
- Hackberry Emperor – Hackberry trees
- Skipper – Grass varieties
- Monarch – Milkweeds
- Tiger Swallowtail – Ash, Black Cherry
- Giant Swallowtail – Citrus trifoliate Orange, Hops
- Spice Bush Swallowtail – Bay Laurel, Spice Bush
- Checkered White – Kale, Broccoli, Cabbage, Wild Mustards
- Red Admiral – Nettle & False Nettle
- Variegated Fritillary – Passion Flower, Violets, Pansies, Flax, Purslane, Stonecap
- Gulf Fritillary – Passion Flower
- Black Swallowtail – Dill, Fennel, Rue
- Checkered Skipper – Hollyhock, Marsh Mallow, Tall Winecup
- Broken Dark Skipper – Panicum grasses
- Giant Southern White – Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli
- Gray Hairstreak – Senna, Bluebonnet, Clover, Rose of Sharon, Tall Winecup
- Cloudless Sulfer – Senna
- Little Sulfur – Bluebonnet, Senna
- Question Mark – Elms, Hackberry
- Painted Lady – Thistles, Mallows and many others
- Buckeye – Snapdragons, Ruellia, Plantain, Toad Flax
- Queen – Milkweeds
- Tawny Emperor – Hackberries
