Butterfly gardening

Butterfly larvae, with some exceptions such as the carnivorous harvester (Feniseca tarquinius), consume plant matter and can be generalists or specialists.

As adults, butterflies feed mainly on nectar, but they have also evolved to consume rotting fruit, tree sap, and even carrion.

Butterfly bait stations can easily be made to provide a food source for species that prefer fruit and sap.

[19] Depending on the zone, some butterfly-attracting plants include: purple cone flower (Echinacea purpurea), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), yellow cone flowers, sunflowers, marigolds, poppies, cosmos, salvias, some lilies, asters, coreopsis, daisies, joe pye weed (Eutrochium), verbenas, blue mist shrub (Caryopteris × clandonensis), lantanas, liatris, milkweed (especially for the monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars feed solely on this plant), zinnias, pentas, porterweeds, and others.

[21] Another such USDA guide for Maryland states that for herbaceous plantings, non-competitive bunch grasses (e.g., broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), purpletop (Tridens flavus)) may be included in a seed mix for native plants at a low rate — less than 25% of the mix based on pure live seed per square foot (0.9 square meters).

For example, black cherry (Prunus serotina), a tree that is native to most of the eastern half of the United States, has white flowers that provide nectar to pollinators during the spring.

P. serotina hosts the caterpillars of more than 450 species of butterflies and moths, including those of the eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), red-spotted purple/white admiral (Limenitis arthemis), viceroy (Limenitis archippus), and cherry gall azure (Celastrina serotina) butterflies and the cecropia (Hyalophora cecropia), promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea), polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus), small-eyed sphinx (Paonias myops), wild cherry sphinx (Sphinx drupiferarum), banded tussock (Halysidota tessellaris), spotted apatelodes (Apatelodes torrefacta), and band-edged prominent moths.

[25] Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a shrub that is native to the eastern half of the United States, has white, yellow, and green flowers that also provide nectar to pollinators during the spring.

Studies have shown that altering leaf color, and the chemical changes that this implies, reduces a plant’s ability to serve as a resource for herbivorous insects.

University studies have suggested that nectaring butterflies have greater preferences for some of these than for others, with Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip' and 'Pink Delight' heading a list of eleven.

[29][30][33][34] The state of Oregon, which designates B. davidii as a "noxious weed" and initially prohibited entry, transport, purchase, sale or propagation of all of its varieties, amended its quarantine in 2009 to permit those cultivars when approved or when proven to be interspecific hybrids.

Although not yet conclusive, there is increasing evidence that neonicotinoids can have negative effects on pollinating insects, including butterflies.

[37] "Puddling" refers to the behavior of male butterflies congregating on wet soil, dung, and carrion to feed on nutrients, specifically sodium.

[9] To create a simple puddling habitat, fill a shallow dish (like a draining tray for a pot) with wet sand.

[38] Recipes include blending rotten fruit (i.e. bananas) with beer, maple syrup, molasses, or sugar.

Perhaps more importantly, ladybugs and other predatory or parasitic insects can prey on butterfly and moth caterpillars and pupae even if they do not do so on adult Lepidoptera.

One can hasten this process if an infestation is high by spraying the plants with a mix of sugar and water, simulating aphid honeydew.

Another technique is to plant a variety of different flowers, including ones that attract hoverflies and parasitic braconid wasps (Braconidae), whose larvae kill pest species.

Where planted or naturalized in the southern United States, the non-native A. curassavica hosts monarch reproduction throughout the winter.

[44] Efforts to restore falling butterfly populations by establishing butterfly gardens and migrating monarch "waystations" require particular attention to the target species' food preferences and population cycles, as well to the conditions needed to propagate and maintain their food plants.

For example, in the Washington, D.C., area and elsewhere in the northeastern and midwestern United States, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is among the most important food plants for monarch caterpillars,[46] especially when its foliage is soft and fresh.

Monarch caterpillars deter predators by incorporating these chemical compounds into their bodies, where the toxins remain throughout the insect's lifetime.

[54] A. tuberosa also has rough leaves and a layer of trichomes, which may inhibit oviposition or decrease a female's ability to sense leaf chemicals.

[60] Mader, Eric; Shepherd, Mathew; Vaughan, Mace; Black, Scott Hoffman; LeBuhn, Gretchen (2011).

Attracting Native Pollinators: Protecting North America's Bees and Butterflies: The Xerces Society guide.