No matter how small your garden is, you can grow plants that benefit butterflies.

A single butterfly bush attracts many butterflies that are already present in your area. A few parsley plants may well be useful to elegant female black swallowtails. Most people employ butterfly gardening to create movement and drama in their gardens and to experience the beauty of butterflies at home. Done correctly, butterfly gardening can increase butterfly populations.

The key here is to do real butterfly gardening. When you create a garden, you usually grow plants. When you butterfly-garden you should aspire to grow butterflies! How do you do this? You use plants that are food plants for butterfly caterpillars. In dealing with butterflies, an extremely important point to keep in mind is that caterpillars and adult butterflies use two different types of food and that both are absolutely necessary to create a healthy population of butterflies. It is tempting to focus almost exclusively on food for adult butterflies (primarily nectar from flowers) because you love both flowers and adult butterflies. But, without food for the caterpillars, you won't have adult butterflies to feed.

Caterpillar Food Plants

Almost all butterfly caterpillars eat plants. As a gardener, your natural reaction may be to kill (or at least remove) anything you've found eating your plants. But, unlike many moth caterpillars, butterfly caterpillars generally aren't real pests of the plants they eat in nature. Tiger swallowtail caterpillars feeding on wild cherry leaves, viceroy caterpillars feeding on willows, or monarch caterpillars feeding on a strand of milkweed rarely cause lasting harm. In addition, because butterfly caterpillars eat only specific plants, you don't have to worry about their moving on to other plants.

See our booklet Enjoying Butterflies More for more information and a list of plants that serve as caterpillar food. The closer your garden is to an already existing population of butterflies, the more likely that they will find and use it.

Foods for Adult Butterflies

The number one food for adult butterflies is nectar from flowers. Butterfly gardening with standard horticultural plants is easier for a number of reasons. First, these plants are readily available throughout the country. Most of us live within easy distance of a nursery with a good selection of garden plants. If you don't, numerous mail-order nurseries will fill the void. Second, horticultural plants are more standardized, and the same plants can be recommended for use over much of the continent. Native plants are sometimes more difficult to obtain. But, although using native plants may be more of a challenge, ultimately it is more satisfying.

Encourage Diversity

The more complex your garden becomes, the more attractive it is likely to be to butterflies. Different butterflies also prefer different nectar sources. Some prefer larger flowers; many prefer smaller flowers. Skippers seem to be especially drawn to purple flowers, and many hairstreaks like white flowers. Because butterflies are present from early spring to late fall, you'll want a procession of flowers for use as butterfly feeding stations throughout the year.

In addition, many butterfly species feed on small, inconspicuous plants that most gardeners would regard as weeds. If possible, allow a few areas of your garden, perhaps areas that are not easily seen, to become weedy. You'll be amazed by the beautiful butterflies that these areas will export to your more formal garden!

Mud Puddles and Basking Areas

Many butterflies like to gather at damp sand or gravel. You may already have an area that is naturally wet, or you can easily create a small wet area by burying a bucket or container filled with sand and adding water as necessary.

Butterflies like to warm themselves in the sun, so why not help them by providing some decorative rocks in sunny areas? In addition to providing a convenient basking spot, the rocks retain heat from the sun's rays, further aiding the butterfly in its search for warmth.

To read more buy Enjoying Butterflies More, only $4.99 in our nature shop. From the editors of Bird Watcher's Digest magazine.