Feed the Children

Ihave been proselytizing for butterflies since 2005 with a focus on hostplants to feed the caterpillars. It should be obvious: if you don’t feed the children, there will be no beautiful adults. Still, my most frequently asked question is, “What flowers should I plant to attract more butterflies?” ARRRGH! Planting more flowers will not increase the number or diversity of butterflies coming to a garden. I understand the confusion because it’s hard to connect the dots between crawling caterpillars and winged adults. In fact, scientists didn’t realize that caterpillars and adult butterflies were the same animal until the mid-1700s. As late as 1830, the German naturalist Renous was arrested and charged as a heretic because he claimed that caterpillars turn into butterflies!

Loss of Habitat Means Loss of Hostplants

Like most of our wild friends, butterfly populations are plummeting. This year fewer than 1,000 Monarchs from west of the Rocky Mountains were counted at their overwintering sites in California coastal groves near San Diego and Santa Cruz. This population is functionally extinct due to loss of habitat. Our Midwestern Monarch population that overwinters near Mexico City has dropped 89% in the past 20 years due to habitat loss. Over 20 species of butterflies and moth are currently considered as “pending extinction” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department. In each case, habitat loss is the primary culprit. Each native butterfly has unique native hostplant(s) so when human encroachment destroys that plant, there can be no caterpillars and therefore no adults.

What can we do?

Many more butterflies would be facing extinction if they had to depend on gardeners to start planting specific hostplants to replace native habitat. Fortunately, “unintentional butterfly gardens” pop up whenever humans unwittingly plant hostplants. For instance, Giant Swallowtail caterpillars eat members of the citrus family, so anyone who plants an orange tree, lemon tree or rue plant for themselves has also become an unintentional butterfly gardener if (the BIG IF) they avoid using insecticides. Almost everyone who plants a member of the carrot family like dill, parsley or fennel soon sees the “parsley worms”, beautiful caterpillars that become the Black Swallowtail butterfly. Many hostplants are large trees, so if you have tulip trees, hackberries, cherry or willow trees in your yard, you are an accidental butterfly gardener. Best is to become an intentional butterfly gardener and deliberately plant for butterflies. To learn the hostplants, purchase a butterfly gardening book or a field guide or Google the name of the butterfly that you would like to attract and you’ll find the caterpillar food listed.

For Pipevine Swallowtails, you must plant a pipevine. Aristolochia machrophylla is the best choice. “Plant it and they will come.” All you need is one pregnant female to find your pipevine and lay eggs which will hatch into the charming caterpillars.

The result: beautiful adults like this male Pipevine Swallowtail sipping petunia nectar.

Photos by Lenora Larson.

Shopping for Hostplants

The next challenge? Finding sources for buying hostplants. Most nurseries now carry milkweeds, a hostplant exclusively for Monarchs. If the desired hostplant is a native like pipevines and spicebushes and sennas, they will be found at native plant nurseries and at the many local native plant sales in our area each spring. The Extension Master Gardener plant sales also usually include butterfly hostplants. In particular the Marais des Cygnes (Paola) focuses on hostplants. We will have over 30 species of hostplants this year at our new location, 913 North Pearl in Paola. We now have a huge parking lot that will allow for social distancing and we’ll abide by COVID-19 restrictions. We’ve also extended the hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 6th; Friday, May 7th; and Saturday, May 8th. I will be present for most of the sale to assist gardeners with their hostplant selections.

A True Butterfly Garden: Hostplants and Flowers

Of course, you want flowers for your butterflies. They are absolutely essential to migrating butterflies in spring and fall, and a source of nourishment for courting butterflies. But if there are no foods for the caterpillars, there will be no butterflies sipping nectar.

LENORA LARSON Butterfly Maven

Marais des Cygnes Extension Master Gardener, Idalia Butterfly Society and Kansas Native Plant Society member, Lenora Larson gardens and hosts butterflies in the cruel winds and clay soil of Paola, Kansas. Contact her at lenora.longlips@gmail.com.