Make Your Own Butterfly Garden...

and get nature lessons from your backyard!

My daughter touches what was the chrysalis after the butterfly has emerged.

Would you like to create a butterfly garden?

How would you like to implement more nature studies and a butterfly garden into your family life?

If your answer is "yes," then I have some tips for you that may help you get started!

Every year, my children and I watch the butterflies in our garden. And it is not by chance that the butterflies show up. I purposefully grow plants on which the adult female butterfly will lay her eggs. As the caterpillars grow, they munch on the leaves of the "host" plants. It's all part of the butterfly's life cycle. The life cycle has basically four phases.

Butterfly Life Cycle

• EGG - After mating, the adult female selects a host plant on which to lay her eggs.
• CATERPILLAR - After the eggs hatch, the caterpillar eating machines begin to eat and grow.
• CHRYSALIS - Once the caterpillar finishes growing, it finds a protected spot to molt into a chrysalis.
• BUTTERFLY - After about 10-14 days for most species (unless its a butterfly that has over-wintered), a brand new butterfly will emerge.

Planning Your Garden For The Life Cycle

If you plan a garden that includes food and protection for all stages of the butterfly life cycle, you can see the complete cycle in your own yard, year after year. Black swallowtails are easy to spot in the region I live in, which is why we choose to attract them specifically. You may find, however, that there are butterflies more suitable to garden for in your own region. Whatever butterflies you choose to attract, you'll need to plant some "host" plants that the eggs will be laid on and the growing caterpillars will eat. You also need plants for nectar for the adult butterflies, and you need some trees and shrubs for protection for the chrysalis and butterfly. I have listed some plants to help get you started.

Host and Nectar Plants

Trees

• willow
• poplar
• elm
• birch
• hackberry
• hawthorn
• fruit trees
• almond
• fir
• Southern magnolia

Shrubs

• viburnum
• lilac
• cotoneaster
• spirea
• mallow
• cinquefoil
• butterfly bush
• sweet mock orange

Flowers

• ageratum
• sweet alyssum
• bachelor's button
• bee balm
• hollyhock
• nasturtium
• clover
• sweet pea
• milkweed
• thistle
• mallow
• rue (can burn sensitive skin, so use gloves)
• parsley
• dill
• fennel
• Queen Ann's lace
• coneflower (Echinacea)
• penstemon
• nicotiana
• cosmos
• marygold
• dianthus
• delphinium

A Place for Water

Butterflies need water. I simply place some very shallow basins throughout the garden. You can place them strategically on stumps, overturned pots, or even hang them from trees by way of flower pot holders. They do not need to contain very much water. Even wet sponges placed throughout the garden are good for butterflies to land on. Butterflies will land around mudholes. I am sure my children enjoyed creating mudholes!

Black Swallowtails

Black swallowtail caterpillars are sometimes called parsleyworms. As you might guess, they do eat parsley, but they especially like the rue in my garden. They also like dill. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to find a chrysalis that we can watch until a brand-new butterfly emerges. It is always exciting!

If you note in the picture of the caterpillar my daughter is holding above (she knows to be gentle), the parsleyworm has a scent organ that is starting to protrude. It is bright orange to red and it produces a very odd scent to ward off would-be predators. We were careful to put the caterpillar right back on the host plant after we took our picture. This caterpillar will turn into a beautiful black swallowtail. (Note: Some people are sensitive to rue. I do not seem to be, and neither does my daughter. Still, take care with the plant as it can "burn" the skin of sensitive individuals.) In addition, sap from rue can produce a photophytotoxic reaction in the sun, causing anything from very minor to extensive skin damage, to do use caution.

Planning A Butterfly Garden

It is fairly easy to create a butterfly garden. It just takes some space (doesn't have to be too large) and some planning, time, and effort.

• First choose your spot (small or large).
• Choose the plants you would like to include, incorporating what you already have growing in your yard.
• Make a diagram on paper of where you'll put everything.
• Get started planting and caring for your plants.
• Wait for the butterflies!

Butterfly Garden Pictures

This is a walkway through the part of our garden that has the most rue.

Here is a thick planting of coreopsis, Jupiter's beard, money plant, and other things. See the tiger swallowtail?

And here's the swallowtail close up!

We have many nectar plants that draw adult butterflies to our gardens. Nectar is the sweet liquid inside the flowers that is the adult butterfly's main source of nourishment. This walkway is lined with nectar plants.

Keeping a Nature Journal