Butterfly
gardening brings butterflies to your doorstep.
Luxurious
foliage and bright flowers attractive to butterflies fill your yard.
Native
plants enhance the microcommunity in your landscape for butterflies,
birds, and other wildlife.
Butterflies
are attracted to nectar sources, or flowers that
provide them with food. Nectar plants attract butterflies
from the habitat that surrounds you.
Caterpillars,
which metamorphose into butterflies, require special kinds of plants to
feed upon. These are called hostplants.
The food plants produce butterflies, and serve as their habitat.
Native
plants, when put in a microsite suitable to their adaptations, will do
extraordinarily well, require very little care, and will attract and produce
numerous butterflies.
You
can even set up a butterfly garden in a container
on your patio! Plant these plants, and the butterflies will come.
Once
your butterfly garden is set up, get to know their fascinating behavior
and how they interact with other animals and the plants they depend upon.
Here are some special ways to enjoy your
butterfly garden.
Get
the book that tells it all, Florida Butterfly Gardening
Find
out about butterfly gardening
workshops and lectures near you.
Asclepias
tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Asimina
reticulata (Flatwoods Pawpaw). Zebra Swallowtail.
Bidens
alba var. radiata (Spanish Needles)
Hamelia
patens (Firebush)
Phyla
nodiflora (Carpetweed, Cape Weed, Matchheads, Creeping Charlie,
or Lippia). Common Buckeye and Phaon Crescent host plant.
Prunus
umbellata (Flatwoods Plum)
Vaccinium
myrsinites (Shiny-leaved Blueberry)
Exotic Plants
Pentas
Buddleya
or Butterfly Bush
Heliotrope
Tithonia
or Mexican Sunflower
Zinnias
Glandularia
or moss verbenaAgalinis
fasciculata (Cluster-Leaf Gerardia or False Foxglove) for Common
Buckeye.
Asclepias
or milkweed for Monarchs and Queens
Asclepias
curtissii (Curtiss’ Milkweed)
Asclepias
humistrata (Sandhill Milkweed)
Asclepias
tomentosa (Velvet Leaf Milkweed)
Aristolochia
or Dutchmen's Pipe for Polydamus and Pipevile Swallowtails
Beans
for Long-Tailed Skippers
Canna
for Canna Skippers
Canna
flaccida is our native species with yellow flowers.
Cassia
for Sulphur butterflies
Cassia
fasciculata (Partridge Pea) is a host plant for Little Sulphur,
Cloudless Sulphur, Ceraunus Blue, and Gray Hairstreak.
Hackberry,
Celtis
laevigata (or Sugarberry) is a hostplant for the Snout Butterfly,
Questionmark, Hackberry Butterfly, and Tawny Emperor.
Carrot
family plants for Black Swallowtails (dill, parsley, and see our native
Ptilimnium)
Passiflora
or passionvine for Heliconians
Passiflora
incarnata (Maypop) is a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary, Julia,
Zebra Long Wing, and Variegated Fritillary.
Passiflora
multiflora (Many Flowered Passion Flower) is good for the Gulf Fritillary,
Julia, Zebra Long Wing, and Variegated Fritillary.
Passiflora
suberosa (Corky-Stemmed Passion Flower) hosts the Gulf Fritillary,
Julia, Zebra Long Wing, and Variegated Fritillary.
Persea
or Bay trees for Palamedes and Spicebush Swallowtails
Persea
borbonia (Red Bay).
Silk
Bay (Persea humilis).
Swamp
Bay (Persea palustris).
Phyla
nodiflora (Carpetweed, Cape Weed, Matchheads, Creeping Charlie,
or Lippia). In addition to being a ground cover with an excellent
source of nectar, lippis hosts the Common Buckeye and Phaon Crescent.
Citrus
plants for Giant Swallowtails, and also our native plants,
Zanthoxylum
clava-herculis (Hercules Club, Toothache Tree).
Zanthoxylum
fagara (Wild Lime).
Fruit
plates
Mudpuddling
sites
Sunny
locations
Don't
use pesticides!
Caterpillar
of the zebra butterflyFlorida Butterfly Gardening, by Marc and Maria Minno, is the definitive book on butterfly gardening in Florida, useful throughout the southern United States. To order, contact the University Press of Florida, 15 NW 15th Street, Gainesville, FL 32603, (352)392-1351.
