Helping children preserve and protect the gifts of family, nature, and literacy

Butterfly Garden

Invite butterflies to your garden!

• Your garden can include
  • Nectar Plants
  • Host Plants
  • Shelter
  • Water

Butterflies need host plants to lay eggs on as well as nectar plants for feeding.  If we think about each stage of the butterfly's life cycle, we need enough host plants for females to lay their eggs on and in sufficient amounts to carry the larva through it's development.  The adults will also want to stay around longer if nectar plants and water and shelter are available.

What do butterflies do when it rains? They can use any available shelter such as under leaves, in trees, next to houses, or on stacks of wood or stones. Flowers that are planted in clusters or clumps give butterflies protection from the wind. 

Why do butterflies bask in the sun?  Butterflies need to warm themselves in order fly.  One way to do this is basking or finding a warm spot in the sun.  They prefer light colored surfaces because sunlight is reflected from the surface and the insect is warmed from below as well as from above.  Place large light colored rock in your birdbath, or but a tray of moist sand outside in your yard.  This way, you can offer a place to bask, and a drink of water to the butterflies.

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