Native Plant Gardening

Growing Butterflies

by Christine Black

The best butterfly gardens are more than sources for nectar. If you want butterflies, you need to create a place where you can grow your own baby butterflies (aka caterpillars) by including native host plants.

Host plants: native plant species that native butterfly and moth species can use as food in their larval stage.

With native host plants, your garden will become a caterpillar nursery; providing important food for birds, and of course growing butterflies!

Studies show an area must be comprised of at least 70% native plants to adequately support local wildlife. (Read more about that in Smithsonian Magazine, Oct 2018) If you are just starting out, that can feel like a big number. How do you go from a sterile turf grass yard to a native plant ecological oasis?

The answer, like with any goal in life, is one step at a time.

Here are some small steps you can take towards helping rebuild biodiversity:

  • Start a small garden. How small? It needs to be something you can easily manage so that you are successful. When those plants thrive, you will be encouraged by your success and want to add more!
  • Add a few native plant selections to your existing landscaping beds.
  • Make management easy by planting a groundcover and mulching with shredded leaves in fall.

Groundcover: fancy gardener word for a plant that grows along the ground and covers the open soil to prevent weeds, keep in moisture, and make your other plants super happy. Think of it like a living mulch. Groundcover plants do a better job at trapping moisture than shredded store bought wood chip mulch and save you the time and cost of spreading it.

  • Stop spraying! When you spray your yard for mosquitoes, you kill all the other insects including the caterpillars you are trying to grow. Dragonflies, birds, and bats eat mosquitoes. The more native plants you add, the more you will attract your mosquito-eating partners.
  • Plant a native tree! White Oaks for example are the host plant of more than 500 species of butterfly and moth.
  • Put up a sign and tell your friends! The more people who add native plants to their gardens, the more connected and healthier the ecosystem we are trying to rebuild will become.

Finally, the last and most important step is to have fun! Explore your garden as it grows, and get to know all of the insects and birds who visit your yard!