Growing A Butterfly Garden at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Which Butterflies Are We Likely To Enounter?

• Swallowtails (Papilionidae)• Whites and Sulphurs (Family Pieridae)• Gossamer Wings (Family Lycaenidae)• Snout Butterflies (Family Libytheidae)• Hackberry Butterflies (Family Apaturidae)• Brush-Footed Butterflies (Family Nymphalidae)• Satyrs (Family Satyridae)• Milkweed Butterflies (Family Danaidae)• Skippers (Family Hesperiidae)

Swallowtails of Maine

• Black Swallowtail

• Canadian Tiger Swallowtail

• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

• Giant Swallowtail

• Pipevine Swallowtail

• Spicebush Swallowtail

• Cabbage White

• Clouded Sulphur

• Alfalfa Sulphur

Whites and Sulphurs of

Maine

• American Copper

• Brown Elfin

• Gray Hairstreak

• Banded Hairstreak

• Various blues

Gossamer Wings of

Maine

• Question mark

• Comma

• Mourning cloak

• Milbert’s tortoiseshell

Brush-footed Butterflies of

Maine

• Red-spotted purple

• Viceroy

• White admiral

• Baltimore

• Pearl crescent

Brush-footed Butterflies of

Maine

• Buckeye• Painted lady• Red admiral• American painted lady• Great spangled fritillary• Meadow fritillary

Brush-footed Butterflies of

Maine

• Ringlet

• Little wood satyr

• Northern eyed brown

• Common wood nymph

Satyrs of Maine

• Monarch

Milkweed Butterfly of

Maine

• European skipper

• Silver-spotted skipper

Skippers of Maine

Butterfly 101

• Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths are in the Lepidoptera group which means scaly wings

• Butterflies have clubbed antennae, moths have featherlike antennae

• Butterflies undergo four different life stages. The entire process is called metamorphosis. The four stages are: egg, caterpillar, pupa, butterfly

Butterfly 101

• Butterflies generally need temperatures above 70 degrees to progress through metamorphosis and fly.

• Eggs can lay dormant until warmth comes.

• Butterflies will stay still and use their wings almost like solar collectors to warm their body.

• Eggs are laid by the mother on plants the caterpillar can eat.

Butterfly 101

• Mother butterflies can find the proper plant by sight, taste, or scratching the leaf surface to release a scent

• Eggs take around a week to hatch into a caterpillar under good conditions.

• A caterpillar eats its egg casing and then begins a journey of eating and growing.

• A caterpillar will expand 4-6 times (called instars)

Butterfly 101

• The size of the butterfly is determined by the size of the caterpillar during its last instar phase.

• Caterpillars eat and grow for 2-4 weeks.

• They are born with all of the body parts to pupate into a butterfly.

• The pupa is in a chrysalis form for around 2 weeks (butterfly transformation)

Butterfly 101

• Butterflies are looking for nectar and to reproduce

• They can determine flowers and mates visually and by pheromones.

• Butterflies can see the colors that humans see plus they can see ultraviolet colors. They use ultraviolet to find mates and flowers for nectar.

Butterfly 101

• I had been told years ago that butterflies need a water source as well. To be more accurate, they need a puddle. The puddle allows butterflies to obtain the micronutrients including sodium that they cannot get via nectar.

Larval Foods

• Swallowtails: pipevines, Queen Anne’s lace, dill, parsley, ash, hornbeam, sassafras, spicebush

• Whites: mustards including cabbage and broccoli

• Sulphurs: alfalfa, clovers, vetch

• Coppers: sorrel, docks

• Hairstreaks: blueberries, bearberries, oaks, hickories, butternut, legumes

Larval Foods

• Blues: dogwood, wild cherry, meadowsweet, legumes

• Anglewings and tortoiseshells: nettles, hops, elms, willows, birch, hackberries

• Most brushfooted: composites such as asters, thistles, plantains, snapdragons, turtleheads

• Satyrs: grasses and sedges

• Monarch: milkweeds

Larval Foods

• Skippers: locust, legumes, grasses, legumes

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Annuals:

Ageratum

Cosmos

Heliotrope

Lantana

Lunaria

Marigold

Sunflower

Nicotiana

Pentas

Petunia

Scabiosa

Statice

Verbena

Zinnia

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Perennials:

Early:

Allium

Arabis

Aubrieta

Chives

Dame’s rocket

Forget-me-not

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Perennials:Midseason:Bee balmBlack-eyed SusanButterfly weedCatmintCoreopsisDaisiesDaylilyGaillardiaLavender

LiatrisLilyMenthaPhloxEchinaceaCentranthusRosemarySunflowerVeronicaYarrow

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Perennials

Late:

Aster

Globe thistle

Physostegia

Sedum

Sneezeweed

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Wildflowers:

Early:

Clover

Dandelion

Hawkweed

Winter cress

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Wildflowers

Midseason:

Butterfly weed

Daisies

Dogbane

Milkweed

Mountain mint

Pearly everlasting

Queen Anne’s lace

Thistle

Vetch

Wild bergamot

Yarrow

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Wildflowers

Late:

Aster

Beggar ticks

Boneset

Goldenrod

Ironweed

Joe-pye weed

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Shrubs

Early:

Lilac

Rhododendron

Spicebush

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Shrubs

Midseason:

Butterfly bush

Buttonbush

New Jersey tea

Clethra

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Shrubs

Late:

Bluebeard

Clethra

Butterfly Nectar Plants

Trees

Aesculus

Tree lilac

Prunus spp.

Salix spp.

Top 10 Nectar Plants for Butterflies

Rudbeckia spp.

Photo by William Cullina

Eupatorium spp.

Photo by William Cullina

Liatris spp.

Photo by William Cullina

Coreopsis spp.

Photo by William Cullina

Pentas spp.

Aster spp.

Photo by William Cullina

Asclepias spp.

Lantana spp.

Echinacea spp.

Buddleia spp.

Photo by William Cullina

References and Nurseries

• Andrew Brand and Broken Arrow Nurseries (he is teaching the next class!!!)

• Broken Arrow Nursery (CT)

• Van Berkum (NH)

• High Country Gardens (NM)

• Plant Delights (NC)

• Rare Find (NJ)

• Landcraft (wholesale only)

• Boothbay Region Greenhouses (heah)

• Opus Nursery (RI)

Various References