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Like beautiful flowers, butterflies are gems when you find them flying, feeding, or basking in your backyard. They come in a range of sizes and colors and, depending upon the species, show up at different times of year -- even in winter. However, as is more often the case with beautiful or beneficial insects in our urban areas, butterflies can be hard to find. We usually have no trouble seeing one or two very common species. But, most others are rare. You can help bring these jewels back by providing one or more of the needs we list below. Anything you can do will help.

"Butterflies and moths are the flowers of the air." Edward O. Wilson

Butterflies Need Your Help
To create a landscape that is inviting for butterflies, first consider their life stories. They begin as eggs, hatch into caterpillars that eat, grow by leaps and bounds and, eventually, transform into winged adults that flit around looking for food, mates, and places to lay new eggs. During each of these stages butterflies have very different needs. The more of these needs you can supply, the greater the chance that your backyard will become a home for butterflies. But always remember: anything you do can help, so start small and focus on one thing at a time.

Caterpillar host plants. The caterpillars of each species have their own limited menu of plants upon which they will dine. Female butterflies lay their eggs on or near these host plants and will be attracted to your backyard if you supply the right plants. To start with, grow host plants for the more common butterflies you already see flying through your property and then branch out as you learn more. Try planting a few of the species listed on this sheet.

Hiding places for pupae. After several weeks of eating and growing, caterpillars need to transform (pupate) into their adult, winged forms. They do this within the protection of a cocoon (chrysalis). Before building a cocoon, however, a caterpillar wanders in search of a protected site. Depending upon the species, this safe haven could be a bush, tall grass, or piles of leaves or sticks. If you leave these features in your yard, you will encourage butterflies to stay around.

Nectar plants, fruit, and sap. After adult butterflies emerge from their cocoons, they look for sugar to fuel their search for mates and egg-laying sites. Most often, we see them collecting the sweet nectar produced by flowers. However, some butterflies, such as the mourning cloak, get sugars from rotten fruit or the sap leaking from wounded trees. By providing flowering plants (see below) or plates of rotting fruit (such as peaches, melons, or bananas) you will attract many of these beautiful insects to your yard.

Minerals and salt. Because plants contain very little minerals or salt, many adult butterflies need to find another source of these nutrients. In the wild, they can get these by tasting exposed clay deposits, animal urine, saliva, or even bird droppings. They also will come to mud puddles that you create. Scrape a small depression in the ground, line the edges with pebbles, and add some water each morning. It is best if these puddles dry out by the end of each day.

Plenty of sun and protection from the wind. Adult butterflies need to be warm in order to fly. Therefore, nectar flowers and larval host plants should be grown in an open, sunny area protected from the wind by large shrubs, a hedgerow, a fence, or some other windbreak. You could also put out large, flat rocks placed in the sun. These rocks will soak up the sun's heat and give the adult butterflies a place to warm themselves.

Overwintering sites. Depending upon the species, butterflies may overwinter (hibernate) as eggs, larvae, pupae, or even adults. You might find them on plants around the garden, under leaf litter, under loose bark, or in piles of logs and other debris. To help these hibernators, a little untidiness goes a long way. Two or three weeks before the severe cold of winter sets in, clean up a minimum of leaves and garden debris and pile up logs or leaves around the edge of your yard.

No insecticides around house or garden. Please don't use pesticides in your garden. Alternative methods for controlling specific garden pests without using chemicals are available, but even these should be used with caution, keeping in mind the various life stages of butterflies.

Remember, anything you do will help. Even just a few plants can provide important food and habitat.

Sixteen host plants and the larvae they feed
Fennel (Foeniculum spp.), Swallowtails
Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota), Swallowtails
Milk vetch (Astragalus spp.), Various blues
Lupines (Lupinus spp.), Various blues
Clover (Trifolium spp.), Sulfurs and blues
Milkweed (Asclepias spp.), Monarch
Thistle (Cirsium spp.), Painted lady
Violets (Viola spp.), Various fritillaries
Vetch (Vicia spp.), Sulphurs and blues
Winter cress (Barbarea spp.), Orange tips
Willow (Salix spp.), many species
Aspen (Populus spp.), many species
Snowberry (Symphocarpus spp.), Sphinx moths
Rose (Rosa gymnocarpa), Mourning cloak
Spirea (Spirea spp.), many species
Grasses and sedges, many species

Sixteen nectar plants for adult butterflies
Elderberry (Sambucus spp.)
Penstemon (Penstemon spp.)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.)
Milkweed (Asclepias spp.)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium spp.)
Daisies (Chrysanthemum spp.)
Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea spp.)
Lantana (Lantana spp.)
Bee balm (Monarda spp.)
Stonecrop (Sedum spp.)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Asters (Aster spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea spp.)
Spirea (Spirea spp.)

Butterflies need:
1. Larval host plants
2. Hiding places for pupae
3. Nectar plants and sap for adults
4. Minerals and salts for adults
5. Protection from wind
6. Plenty of sun
7. Overwintering sites
8. No pesticides

You'll also find great advice and information in these books:
Butterfly Gardening: Making Summer Magic in Your Backyard by The Xerces Society and The Smithsonian Institution. A comprehensive book on creating habitat for butterflies and other insects.

The Butterfly Book by Donald and Lillian Stokes. A great place to start learning about butterflies, focused on the most common butterflies of North America.

Produced by Mace Vaughan, Staff Entomologist, Xerces Society
April 2004

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