A flower bed packed with coneflowers, asters, zinnias, and bee balm can give adult butterflies a place to feed. Nectar, however, covers just one part of what butterflies need from a garden.
Caterpillars need food too, and their choices can be far more specific. Adding host plants gives butterflies a place to lay eggs and gives emerging caterpillars the leaves they need to eat. Without them, butterflies may stop for nectar and move on.
Host Plants Give Butterflies a Place to Lay Eggs
Adult butterflies can feed from many types of nectar-rich flowers. When egg-laying time arrives, females seek plants suited to their caterpillars.
Monarchs provide a familiar example. Their caterpillars depend on milkweed. Black swallowtail caterpillars use members of the carrot family, including parsley, dill, and fennel. Other butterfly species depend on different grasses, flowers, shrubs, vines, and trees.
Research butterfly species found in your region before choosing host plants. Native species can connect local butterflies with plants already suited to their life cycles.
Chewed Leaves Can Be a Good Sign
Finding holes in leaves often sends gardeners searching for a pest treatment. In a butterfly garden, damaged foliage can mean the plan worked.
Host plants exist to feed caterpillars. Eggs beneath leaves, caterpillars on stems, and missing sections of foliage can signal that butterflies have moved beyond visiting flowers and started reproducing in the garden.
Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides around these plants. Products designed to kill unwanted insects can also harm caterpillars, adult butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. Identify the insect before deciding whether a plant needs treatment.
Nectar Plants Still Matter
Host plants do not replace flowers. A butterfly garden needs both.
Nectar plants feed adults, while host plants feed caterpillars. Coneflowers, bee balm, asters, zinnias, liatris, verbena, sedum, goldenrod, and coreopsis are among the nectar options listed for butterfly gardens. Choosing plants with different bloom periods can keep food available from spring into fall.
Plant several of the same flower together where space permits rather than scattering single plants across the yard. Clusters give butterflies several blooms within one feeding area.
A garden with nectar flowers may attract butterflies for a meal. Add the right host plants, and those visitors have a reason to use the garden for the next stage of their life cycle.
Would you let caterpillars chew some of your garden plants if it meant more butterflies?
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