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Butterfly Garden

The butterfly garden is wonderful fun for kids and adults alike.  When you design your own butterfly garden you will want to provide for all stages of the butterfly life cycle; eggs, caterpillars and adults.  Butterfly caterpillars eat different plants than butterfly adults.  Butterfly adults generally eat nectar.  And caterpillars eat leaves.  You will also want some still water for butterflies to drink.  A birdbath can often give a butterfly a necessary drink.  Swallowtails will often congregate around wet gravel.

The passion vines (passiflora species) are famous for providing the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars plenty of food.  And the Monarch Butterfly has a special relationship with milkweed.  The list of nectar plants for butterfly adults to feed upon is lengthy and often very specific to the kind of butterfly that will come to feed.  

A courtyard or enclosed space can provide a still environment so the wind does not wreck havoc with the movement of the butterflies.  A south facing wall will warm the air and allow for an extended day of flight for your butterflies.  

It is fascinating to watch a butterfly flit through a garden.  It seems like they have no preferred destination at all.  But they will almost always alight on the same kinds of plants.

Easy gardening nectar plants include Eriogonum species, Salvia species, Ceanothus species, and Lupine Species.  The list of plants that butterflies will visit is not even close to being complete.  Butterflies will visit many other plants.  The ones on the list are particularly noted for attracting the following butterflies.

Abelia grandiflora ~ Monarch Butterfly

Achillea cerise queen ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea clavennae ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea kellereri ~  Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea moonshine ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea paprika ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea salmon beauty ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Achillea tomentosa ~ Variable Checkerspot, Hairstreaks

Agastache aurantiaca apricot sunrise ~ Monarch Butterfly, Western Tiger Swallowtail

Althea rosea~ Skippers, Checkerspot, Hairstreaks, Painted Lady

Alyogyne ~ Skippers, Checkerspot, Hairstreaks, Painted Lady

Amaranthus ~ Mournful Duskywing

Amorpha californica ~ California Dogface

Amsinkia ~ Painted Lady

Antirrhinum ~ Buckeye

Arbutus unedo ~ Monarch Butterfly

Arctostaphylos Howard McMinn ~ Monarch Butterfly

Asclepias californica ~ Monarch Butterfly

Asclepias cordifolia ~ Monarch Butterfly

Asclepias fascicularis ~ Monarch Butterfly, West Coast Lady

Asclepias liniaria ~ Monarch Butterfly

Asclepias speciosa ~ Monarch Butterfly

Ascelpias tuberosa ~ Monarch Butterfly

Aster ~ Buckeye

Baccharis pilularis ~ Buckeye

Beloperone californica ~ West Coast Lady

Buddleia asiatica ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Buddleia Black Knight ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Buddleia Harlequin ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Buddleia Lochinch ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Buddleia Pink Delight ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Buddleia Honeycomb ~ Red Admiral, Swallowtails, Mourning Cloak

Ceanothus ~ California tortoise shell, California hairstreak

Centaurea gymnocarpa ~ Painted Lady, Monarch Butterfly

Cassia sp. ~ Marine Blue, Sulfer

Cercis occidentalis ~ Mormon Metalmark, Mournful Duskywing, Muir's Hairstreak

Cirsium ~ Buckeye

Collinsia heterophylla ~ Edith's Checkerspot

Dodecatheon clevelandii ~ Gray Blue, Arctic Blue

Encelia californica ~ Monarch Butterfly

Erigeron glaucus ~ California Dogface, Buckeye

Eriogonum crocatum ~ Hairstreaks

Eriogonum grande rubescens ~ Hairstreaks

Eriogonum fasciculatum ~ Mormon Metalmark, Mournful Duskywing, Hairstreaks

Eriogonum incanum ~ Hairstreaks

Foeniculum vulgare ~ Anise Swallowtail

Hibiscus ~ Common Hairstreak, Skippers

Lantana montavidensis ~ California Dogface, Monarch Butterfly, Skippers

Lavandula ~ Hairstreaks, Skippers, Mournful Duskywing, Sara Orangetip

Lavatera assurgentiflora ~ West Coast Lady

Lobelia laxiflora ~ Western Tiger Swallowtail

Lupinus ~ Blue's and Hairstreaks

Mimulus aurantiacus ~ Buckeye, Checkerspot

Monardella ~ Red Admiral, Monarch Butterfly, Swallowtail, Painted Lady, California Dogface

Penstemon ~ Checkerspot

Perovskia atriplicifolia ~ Skippers

Platanus racemosa ~ Western Tiger Swallowtail

Plumbago auriculata ~ Marine Blue, Red Admiral

Prunus ilicifolia ~ Pale Swallowtail, Western Tiger Swallowtail

Quercus agrifolia ~ California Sister

Salix lasiolepis ~ Western Tiger Swallowtail, Mourning Cloak, Viceroy, Lorquin's Admiral

Salvia clevelandii ~ Checkerspots, California Dogface, Gulf Fritillary, Hairstreaks, Skippers

Salvia leucantha ~ Checkerspots, California Dogface, Gulf Fritillary, Hairstreaks, Skippers

Salvia mellifera ~ Checkerspots, California Dogface, Gulf Fritillary, Hairstreaks, Skippers

Salvia microphylla ~ California Dogface, Gulf Fritillary

Salvia uliginosa ~ Mournful Duskywing

Spaeralcea ambigua ~ West Coast Lady, Skippers

Pentas lanceolata ~ Western Tiger Swallowtail

Solidago californica ~ Monarch Butterfly, Painted Lady

Trichostema lanata ~ California Dogface, Monarch Butterfly, Western Tiger Swallowtail

Vaccinium ~ Sulpher

Verbena bonariensis ~ Gulf Fritillary