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Summer
1999
[TEXT ARCHIVE WEB-PUBLISHED MARCH 2002.
ORIGINAL PRINT PUBLICATION DATE: SUMMER 1999.]
Create
Your Own Butterfly Garden
Provided
By The Chicago Academy of Sciences.
Butterflies
bring beauty, color and graceful movement to any setting,
from an open expanse of prairie to a backyard flower garden.
If you'd like to enjoy the sight of butterflies fluttering
around your home this summer, here's what you can do to
create a butterfly garden in your own yard.
1.
Pick a sunny spot.
Plants
that attract butterflies, and the butterflies themselves,
need sunlight. The sun helps the flowers bloom faster, so
they can produce plenty of nectar for adult butterflies
to feed on, and lots of leaves for the caterpillars. It
also keeps the butterflies warm enough to fly and gives
them plenty of time to find food, mates, and places to lay
their eggs. The sun's warmth also helps the eggs develop
more quickly. A few large stones in or near the garden will
give the butterflies a warm place to light and restore their
energy between feedings, mating, and laying eggs. A nearby
shady spot is also a good idea — it gives the butterflies
a cool spot to rest in case the sun gets too hot.
2.
Provide shelter from the wind.
Too
much wind will interfere with the butterflies' flight patterns,
as well as their ability to feed and mate. A nearby stand
of trees or bushes or a solid fence can serve as good "breeze
breakers."
3.
Maintain a steady food supply.
Plant
a good mix of host plants, including both annuals and perennials.
That will guarantee there will always be plants blooming,
providing a continuous source of leaves and nectar for the
butterflies' entire life cycle. The annuals will bloom all
summer, and the perennials will grow back every year. Butterflies
can tell which part of a garden produces the most nectar,
so they'll be most attracted by mass plantings of the same
species of plants or flowers. The overall size of the planting
doesn't matter, however — butterflies can be attracted to
an apartment window box as well as a raised bed in your
garden, a perennial border, or a large field.
4.
Use insects, not pesticides, for pest control.
Garden
pests can damage your plants and harm your butterflies;
but chemicals that kill pests, including organic pesticides,
will also kill the butterflies. Instead of pesticides, you
can rely on beneficial insects to keep pests under control.
These insects will thrive in your butterfly garden, because
they need the same things as butterflies: nectar and pollen,
shelter, and many of the same kinds of flowers that butterflies
prefer. Beneficial insects prey on the harmful insects that
can damage host and nectar plants; if they run out of insects
to feed on, they can live on nectar.
5.
Provide plenty of water.
Like
any garden, your butterfly garden will need watering, weeding,
and other regular attention to stay healthy and produce
the abundant leaves, flowers, and nectar that attract butterflies.
Which
Host Plants Are Best for Butterflies?
In
the Midwest as well as other regions, butterflies have adapted
to their environment, evolving alongside native plants in
a mutually beneficial relationship. The butterflies depend
on the plants for food, shelter, and egg-laying, and they
help the plants survive by carrying pollen from one plant
to another.
Butterflies
can be very choosy about which plant they use for feeding,
egg-laying, and roosting. Many caterpillars will starve
rather than eat the "wrong" plant. The adult female is careful
to lay her eggs on the correct host plant, so the caterpillars
will have plenty of food to fuel their change (metamorphosis)
from larvae into adult butterflies.
Nectar
Plants
Butterflies
prefer composites (daisy-like flowers), panicles (large
clusters of blooms on a stem), and umbels (flat topped flowers
that originate from a single apex). These plants provide
a good landing pad for the butterflies as well as easy access
to their nectar. Butterflies also like flowers with strong
colors, such as orange, yellow, and purple; and their sensitive
sense of smell leads them quickly to flowers with a strong
fragrance.
These
Perennials Are Good Nectar Sources:
Wild
Bergamot
Blazing
Star
Cardinal
Flower
Dogbane
Culver's
Root
Ironweed
Joe
Pye Weed
any
kind of Milkweed
New
England Aster
Purple
Coneflower
Pasture
Thistle
Wild
Quinine
Keep
a Butterfly Log
Once
your garden is planted and the butterflies are beginning
to visit, you can start a daily log to keep track of the
kinds of butterflies that are attracted to your garden.
A number of field guides are available to help you identify
the various butterfly species common in the Midwest (see
Further Reading). When you identify a particular species,
jot down its name, the plants it visited, the date and time
you saw it, and the weather conditions in a notebook, just
like scientists do. You can also take notes on the kinds
of butterfly eggs and caterpillars you observe. If you'd
like to contribute to scientists' efforts to catalogue the
size and health of the Chicago region's butterfly population,
you can send your logs to: Education Department, Chicago
Academy of Sciences, 2060 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL
60614.
Butterflies
Your Garden May Attract:
Black
Swallowtails
Buckeyes
Cabbage
Whites
Common
Sulphurs
Eastern
Tailed Blues
Giant
Swallowtails
Great
Spangled Fritillaries
Monarchs
Mourning
Cloaks
Painted
Ladies
Pearl
Crescents
Question
Marks
Red
Admirals
Red
Spotted Purples
Spring
Azures
Tiger
Swallowtails
Visit
a Butterfly Garden in the Heart of Chicago
A
special feature of the Chicago Academy of Sciences' Nature
Museum, located in Chicago's Lincoln Park, is the Butterfly
Haven, a permanent butterfly greenhouse. The exhibit will
include a 28-foot tall atrium aflutter with 15-25 different
species of live butterflies. Activities will encourage interaction
with the unique environment without infringing on its magic
and charm. Adjacent to the greenhouse will be a variety
of interactive programs including a digital field guide
and information about the life cycle, migration, behavior,
and ecology of butterflies. The Nature Museum, at Fullerton
Parkway and Cannon Drive, is open year-round, except Christmas.
For more information, visit the Chicago
Academy of Sciences' Web site.
Further
Reading:
Butterfly
Gardens: Luring Nature's Loveliest Pollinators to Your Yard.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Publications, 1995. Stokes, Donald
and Lillian & Ernest Williams.
The
Butterfly Book: An Easy Guide to Butterfly Gardening, Identification,
and Behavior. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1991. Pyle,
Robert Michael.
National
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies.
New York: National Audubon Society, 1981.
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