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Attracting butterflies to your garden
is not enough to help them survive
and thrive
Adult butterflies want to mate and
lay eggs more than anything else
Females can deposit hundreds of eggs.
But where?
Food for Caterpillars
• Trees are used by many species because they are
the predominant plant type in the region, but
shrubs and herbaceous plants are also used
• The butterfly lays her eggs on the plants her
caterpillars can eat. Each species has specific
plants they have evolved with and find palatable.
Tulip Poplar- Liriodendron tulipifera
Tulip tree silk moth
Prunus serotina- Wild Black Cherry
Spring Azure
caterpillar and
butterfly
Prunus serotina-Black CherryCrecopia Moth and
caterpillar
Butterflies and moths are insects
that eat plants-insect herbivores
Butterflies and moths are abundant (many species, many
individuals) and are the most-studied insect herbivore group.
Butterflies and moths are in the taxonomic family Lepidoptera
Wild Food Pyramid
Plants:
primary producers
Insect herbivores
Insect carnivores
Vertebrate carnivores
Vertebrate herbivores
Insects that eat plants are
important to all the higher levels of
the food pyramid
• Convert plant materials(sugars, complex
carbohydrates and fibers) into protein and fat.
• Multiple species feeding on a single type of
plant creates redundancy. If one species
declines, others are still available as a food
source.
Birds feed caterpillars to their young
Tiger Swallowtail Caterpillar
Liriodendron tulipifera- Tulip Poplar
Prunus serotina, P. virginiana- Wild Cherry
Magnolia virginiana- Sweet Bay Magnolia
Native animals need native plants
Each species of butterfly and moth has particular plants
that they recognize as food for their caterpillars.
Exotic (non-native)
plants can be used for
nectar by adults, but are
rarely eaten by native
caterpillars.
Monarch butterfly on Clethra alnifolia
Are our gardens habitats?
Or are they places that wildlife visits but can’t make a living?
Trees support a huge number of
Lepidoptera species
Oaks
Io moth
and
caterpillar
Banded and
Striped
Hairstreaks
Quercus rubra- Red oak
Quercus alba-
White oak
Quercus-
Salix- Willows
Salix discolor
Salix nigra
Mourning Cloak
Viceroy
Red-Spotted Purple
Prunus- Wild Cherries and Plums
Spring Azure
caterpillar and
butterfly
Prunus virginiana- Chokecherry
Crecopia Moth and
caterpillar
Small Eyed Sphinx Moth
Mourning Cloak
Betula-
Birches
Betula nigra “Heritage’ above and below
undetermined Betula from Silver Spring, left
Woody Members
of the Rosaceae, the Rose Family
Malus ‘Prairiefire’ above and Malus
fruits below
Amelanchier
canadensis fruits,
flowers and fall color
Grey Hairstreak below and
caterpillar above
Striped Hairstreak Crataegus- Hawthorn
Apple
Sphinx
moth
Striped Hairstreak
Spring Azure
caterpillar on blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum- Highbush Blueberry
Acer rubrum- Red Maple
Acer
saccharinum-Silver Maple
Box Elder-Acer negundo
A. Pennsylvanicum- Striped Maple
Mid-Atlantic Maples
Silver Maple leaves
A.negundo- Box
Elder
Question Mark caterpillar and butterflyMourning Cloak caterpillar and butterfly
Ulmus- Elms
Pine Elfin
Pinus resinosa-
Red Pine
Pinus strobus- E. White Pine
Imperial Moth- subspecies specializes on Pines
Pinus-
Pines
Carya- Hickories
Banded
Hairstreak
Hickory Horned Devil caterpillar
Royal Walnut Moth
Shellbark Hickory- 25 years old
Cornus- Dogwoods
Spring Azure
C. alternifolia-
Pagoda
dogwood fruits
Cornus canadensis
flowers and fruits
C. florida: flowers and fall color
Liquidambar styraciflua-
Sweet Gum
Luna moth and caterpillar
Sassafras albidum Lindera benzoin-
Spicebush
Promethea moth and caterpillar
Spicebush
Swallowtail
caterpillar
and butterfly
Cephalanthus
occidentalis-Buttonbush
Promethea Moth
Promethea
Moth
Saddleback caterpillar
and moth
Parthenocissus quinquefolia- Virginia Creeper
Hydrangea sphinx moth and caterpillar
4 species of Fritillary caterpillars eat Viola-
Aphrodite fritillary on milkweed
Violets
and
Pansies
Asters are food plants for the Pearl Crescent butterfly and are
important nectar sources for many species of insects.
Asteraceae:
Thistles, Asters,
Goldenrods,
Coneflowers
and more
Monarchs are milkweed
specialists
Asclepias incarnata above
A. syriaca at right
Asclepias curassavica
Red Clover
Young Black Swallowtail on ParsleySulphurs eat legumes
It’s not just the plants you select,
but how you take care of them
• Native silk moths leave their tree hosts and
burrow into the ground to pupate until the
next summer
• Many butterflies and moths spend the winter
as eggs and pupae on stems and in fallen
leaves and debris
• Don’t overdo fall clean up of spent plants and
leaves or you could be removing next year’s
butterflies
Want to Learn More?
• North American Butterfly Association: www.naba.org
• National Wildlife Federation: www.nwf.org
• Monarch Watch: www.monarchwatch.org
• Doug Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home, Timber Press
• Eric Grissell, Insects and Gardens, Timber Press 2001
• Attracting Native Pollinators: The Xerces Society
Guide to Conserving North American Bees and
Butterflies and their Habitat, Storey Publishing LLC,
2011