Creating a Butterfly Garden:
Laying the Groundwork

Before researching butterflies and their needs, invite your students to do some sleuthing. Investigate the school grounds and neighborhood in search of plants that seem to attract these winged beauties. Can they spot any laying eggs, or locate any caterpillars?

Next, to jump-start their garden planning, prompt your students to think of a garden as a complete habitat for all life stages of these fascinating insects. By definition, a habitat supplies food, shelter, water, and the means to rear offspring. Explore the following questions. Which can students answer through past experiences or observations? Which can they uncover by checking with Internet resources, a local naturalist or environmental educator, or Master Gardeners?

• What do butterflies eat? (nectar from flowers)
• Where do they rest? (warm, sunny rocks; shady borders)
• Where do they get water? (mud puddles)
• What does their life cycle looks like? (four-stage metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, adult)
• What do their offspring (caterpillars) require for survival? (leafy "host" plants)
• Which species frequent our area and which plants do they prefer?
• What do we need to plant to create a habitat for these species?

Use what students discover, along with these cardinal rules of butterfly gardening, to create an alluring site that nurtures and nourishes.

Enticing Butterflies

Pick a Promising Plot
For both plants and butterflies to thrive, your garden plot needs at least six hours of direct sun each day. (If your growing space is limited, consider growing in containers filled with a rich, well-drained soil mix.) A site sheltered from the wind by trees, shrubs, or a building, will keep tall plants from blowing over, and allow your butterflies to feed, mate, and lay eggs in relative tranquility. A row of nearby trees and shrubs also gives butterflies a safe place to spend the night.

Find Plants for All Stages
Your garden need not be large, but plant diversity ensures that it will attract a greater variety of butterflies (and other creatures, too). Student research will yield details on local butterfly species and their plant needs (see the Resources section for fruitful sites.)

Here are some general guidelines:

Nectar flowers provide a source of food for adult butterflies. Butterflies are attracted to brightly colored, sweet-smelling flowers that allow them easy access. (Composite daisy-like flowers are favorites.) Some of the preferred, easy-to-grow nectar plants are: butterfly weed, lantana, butterfly bush, black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, lavender, cosmos, zinnia, and marigold. Plan so that something is in bloom at all times. Butterflies are attracted to masses of color and fragrance, so try to plant groups of flowers instead of single plants.

Grow host plants for the "kids." Plants upon which butterfly larvae dine are often "weeds," wildflowers, shrubs, and trees native to the area. Some species will lay eggs on only one type of host plant, while others have a range. Some of the primary plants for butterfly larvae include: aspen, alfalfa, clover, nettle, pearly everlasting, milkweed, grasses, hackberry, parsley, vetch, and willow.

Other Important Features
Puddles or other shallow water sources are important, primarily for male butterflies, more as a source of salt and amino acids than as a water source. If you have no naturally occurring puddles, try sinking a shallow container filled with moist sand, dirt, and/or stones into the ground. Keep it moist and watch for large congregations of male butterflies and their drinking buddies.

Dark stones in your garden can provide a warm spot where butterflies can bask in the sun and warm their bodies for flying.

Overwintering sites for butterflies and pupae are simple to provide for some species: just don't tidy up too much in the fall. Instead, allow plant "litter" to remain in place. (It enriches the soil as it decays, too.)

Practice Nature-Friendly Pest Control
Butterflies are insects, so it makes sense that insecticides — even those labeled "organic" — can harm them. Herbicides used to quell weeds weeds can also harm nectar and host plants. If you feel that you must control pests, start with hand-picking or squishing the offenders, and make the area attractive to pest predators (ladybugs, lacewings, birds). To keep weeds in check, maintain a layer of mulch and pull weeds regularly. This is safer for people, too!

Tend your plants carefully, and keep reading up on the butterflies your garden will one day attract.

Observation Tips
Butterflies are most active when the weather is sunny and calm. Getting close is easier if you wear earth-tone clothing rather than bright colors. If your quarry is too jumpy, try using binoculars from a distance. Track your garden's progress in a journal, or create a timeline on a classroom bulletin board or a hallway wall. Decide which data to chart: plant growth, bloom times, butterfly sightings, weather conditions, or other factors. Post pictures and drawings, too!

Read on for Curriculum Connections leading from the butterfly garden.

Copyright© 2004 National Gardening Association
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