Gardening for the Butterfly Life Cycle

Egg

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

Adult

kathy.stevens@mncppc-mc.org

Attracting butterflies to your garden

is not enough to help them survive

and thrive

Adult butterflies want to mate and

lay eggs more than anything else

Females can deposit hundreds of eggs.

But where?

Food for Caterpillars

• Trees are used by many species because they are

the predominant plant type in the region, but

shrubs and herbaceous plants are also used

• The butterfly lays her eggs on the plants her

caterpillars can eat. Each species has specific

plants they have evolved with and find palatable.

Tulip Poplar- Liriodendron tulipifera

Tulip tree silk moth

Prunus serotina- Wild Black Cherry

Spring Azure

caterpillar and

butterfly

Prunus serotina-Black CherryCrecopia Moth and

caterpillar

Butterflies and moths are insects

that eat plants-insect herbivores

Butterflies and moths are abundant (many species, many

individuals) and are the most-studied insect herbivore group.

Butterflies and moths are in the taxonomic family Lepidoptera

Wild Food Pyramid

Plants:

primary producers

Insect herbivores

Insect carnivores

Vertebrate carnivores

Vertebrate herbivores

Insects that eat plants are

important to all the higher levels of

the food pyramid

• Convert plant materials(sugars, complex

carbohydrates and fibers) into protein and fat.

• Multiple species feeding on a single type of

plant creates redundancy. If one species

declines, others are still available as a food

source.

Birds feed caterpillars to their young

Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar

Liriodendron tulipifera- Tulip Poplar

Prunus serotina, P. virginiana- Wild Cherry

Magnolia virginiana- Sweet Bay Magnolia

Native animals need native plants

Each species of butterfly and moth has particular plants

that they recognize as food for their caterpillars.

Exotic (non-native)

plants can be used for

nectar by adults, but are

rarely eaten by native

caterpillars.

Monarch butterfly on Clethra alnifolia

Are our gardens habitats?

Or are they places that wildlife visits but can’t make a living?

Trees support a huge number of

Lepidoptera species

Oaks

Io moth

and

caterpillar

Banded and

Striped

Hairstreaks

Quercus rubra- Red oak

Quercus alba-

White oak

Quercus-

Salix- Willows

Salix discolor

Salix nigra

Mourning Cloak

Viceroy

Red-Spotted Purple

Prunus- Wild Cherries and Plums

Spring Azure

caterpillar and

butterfly

Prunus virginiana- Chokecherry

Crecopia Moth and

caterpillar

Small Eyed Sphinx Moth

Mourning Cloak

Betula-

Birches

Betula nigra “Heritage’ above and below

undetermined Betula from Silver Spring, left

Woody Members

of the Rosaceae, the Rose Family

Malus ‘Prairiefire’ above and Malus

fruits below

Amelanchier

canadensis fruits,

flowers and fall color

Grey Hairstreak below and

caterpillar above

Striped Hairstreak Crataegus- Hawthorn

Apple

Sphinx

moth

Striped Hairstreak

Spring Azure

caterpillar on blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum- Highbush Blueberry

Acer rubrum- Red Maple

Acer

saccharinum-Silver Maple

Box Elder-Acer negundo

A. Pennsylvanicum- Striped Maple

Mid-Atlantic Maples

Silver Maple leaves

A.negundo- Box

Elder

Question Mark caterpillar and butterflyMourning Cloak caterpillar and butterfly

Ulmus- Elms

Pine Elfin

Pinus resinosa-

Red Pine

Pinus strobus- E. White Pine

Imperial Moth- subspecies specializes on Pines

Pinus-

Pines

Carya- Hickories

Banded

Hairstreak

Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar

Royal Walnut Moth

Shellbark Hickory- 25 years old

Cornus- Dogwoods

Spring Azure

C. alternifolia-

Pagoda

dogwood fruits

Cornus canadensis

flowers and fruits

C. florida: flowers and fall color

Liquidambar styraciflua-

Sweet Gum

Luna moth and caterpillar

Sassafras albidum Lindera benzoin-

Spicebush

Promethea moth and caterpillar

Spicebush

Swallowtail

caterpillar

and butterfly

Cephalanthus

occidentalis-Buttonbush

Promethea Moth

Promethea

Moth

Saddleback caterpillar

and moth

Parthenocissus quinquefolia- Virginia Creeper

Hydrangea sphinx moth and caterpillar

4 species of Fritillary caterpillars eat Viola-

Aphrodite fritillary on milkweed

Violets

and

Pansies

Asters are food plants for the Pearl Crescent butterfly and are

important nectar sources for many species of insects.

Asteraceae:

Thistles, Asters,

Goldenrods,

Coneflowers

and more

Monarchs are milkweed

specialists

Asclepias incarnata above

A. syriaca at right

Asclepias curassavica

Red Clover

Young Black Swallowtail on ParsleySulphurs eat legumes

It’s not just the plants you select,

but how you take care of them

• Native silk moths leave their tree hosts and

burrow into the ground to pupate until the

next summer

• Many butterflies and moths spend the winter

as eggs and pupae on stems and in fallen

leaves and debris

• Don’t overdo fall clean up of spent plants and

leaves or you could be removing next year’s

butterflies

Want to Learn More?

• North American Butterfly Association: www.naba.org

• National Wildlife Federation: www.nwf.org

• Monarch Watch: www.monarchwatch.org

• Doug Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home, Timber Press

• Eric Grissell, Insects and Gardens, Timber Press 2001

• Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society

Guide to Conserving North American Bees and

Butterflies and their Habitat, Storey Publishing LLC,

2011

Gardening for the Butterfly Life Cycle

Egg

Caterpillar

Chrysalis

Adult

kathy.stevens@montgomeryparks.org