Butterflies in the Organic Garden

Butterflies have always been a popular reward to the fruits of your organic flower gardening labor. Not only do butterflies add beauty to the garden, but also butterfly conservation efforts are an important part of maintaining a healthy pollinator population.

Butterfly Host Plants

All gardeners take delight in the graceful arc of a butterfly in flight, as it dips willy-nilly into your flower garden buffet. However, few extend this same warm welcome to the lowly caterpillar. To create a comprehensive butterfly habitat, you must open your garden to the larvae of the butterfly.

If your skin crawls at the thought of allowing an army of caterpillars to munch its way through your carefully kept garden, take heart. Caterpillars feed upon very specific host plants, so you can dedicate one area of your garden to butterfly larvae.

Large butterflies like Black and Anise Swallowtails are conspicuous and easy to attract. Include extra fennel and parsley in your herb garden, or leave some carrots and celery behind to feed these larvae. Brilliantly colored Clouded Sulphur butterflies are common throughout the United States and Canada, and your cover crop of alfalfa or clover serves as the host for this larvae.

Butterfly Garden Flowers

Large groupings of garden flowers that provide concentrated nectar will attract scores of butterflies. Any flower that resembles a daisy, including coneflowers, zinnias, and coreopsis, are attractive to butterflies. Plants and shrubs that produce clusters of tubular flowers are a welcome sign to butterflies. A single butterfly bush in a sunny spot provides testament to this. Finally, you should include some plants that produce flower clusters, such as lantana or sedum.

Butterfly Puddling

Butterflies seek shallow puddles in the garden not only as a source of drinking water, but also as a way to obtain vital minerals. In fact, the Cloudless Sulphur and the Sleepy Orange butterfly may congregate en masse in muddy areas of your garden. Look for this puddling behavior in the hottest part of the day, and keep your soil free of chemicals that can harm sensitive butterflies.

Butterfly Shelter

Butterfly houses are a whimsical addition to your garden décor, but you don’t need a fancy box to provide shelter to butterflies. The log pile you keep in the corner for firewood offers many more nooks and crannies for butterflies to hide in during stormy or windy weather.

Pesticides and Butterflies

The same natural pesticides organic gardeners use to protect their flowers and vegetables from caterpillars also kill butterflies and their larvae. If you use Bt spray or powder on your garden, keep it away from your butterfly host plants and flowers. When you don’t have enough dill or anise to support your butterfly larvae population, exclude them with floating row covers.

Source:

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension