Butterflies and How to Attract Them

Furnish Breeding and Feeding Grounds

If you are truly concerned with butterfly conservation and welcome the opportunity to observe the entire butterfly life cycle in your own yard, you should furnish breeding and larval (caterpillar) feeding grounds for butterflies. Although mating may occur anywhere, reproductively successful females probably will not venture great distances from specific host plants (plants eaten by the caterpillars), especially if there is an ample supply of nectar nearby. Most adult butterflies lay their eggs on or near specific host plants because these plants meet the nutritional needs of the caterpillars hatched from the eggs. This specificity is apparently so strong that most caterpillars will starve to death if they cannot find their host plants in a field or yard soon after emerging from the egg.

Fortunately, many larval food plants are common and your yard probably already has some. However, if you know what butterflies occur in your area, you can make a point of planting larval plants listed in Table 1.

It’s generally a good idea to group larval plants just as you would nectar plants. This will help females locate future nursery sites and provide caterpillars with ample nourishment.

Please realize that the caterpillar is the main feeding and growing state in the butterfly life cycle. Therefore, these larval plants are sometimes partially or completely consumed. Also, some larval host plants may have weedy characteristics. Consequently, you may want to locate the breeding and feeding grounds in a patch of wild vegetation in a corner of your property.