Nectar and Host Plants

To attract the maximum number of butterflies to your yard, make sure you provide a selection of both nectar plants and host plants in your garden.

All adult butterflies require nectar for energy and spend much of the warmest part of the day, when their metabolism is at its highest levels, sipping nectar from flowers in your yard, along roadsides, in natural and cleared meadows and elsewhere.

When it comes to nectar plants, the adults will feed on almost anything that has lots of juicy flowers. Native flowering plants are usually better than showy cultivars that have been hybridized for mounds of colorful flowers and other desirable traits. During cross-breeding, sweet nectar production often gets short shrift.

Females lay their eggs only on certain plants which their caterpillars or larvae eat until they mature to the point that they can change into chrysalises. They are quite persnickety when it comes to host plants. Many species of butterflies will only lay eggs on one type of plant. A prime example is the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) which deposits eggs exclusively on plants of the Milkweed family (Asclepias spp.).

Here are Butterfly Lady’s top ten favorite nectar plants, in no particular order:
       • Milkweed (Asclepias spp.), especially Butterfly Milkweed (A. tuberosa) and Swamp Milkweed
            (A. incarnata)
       • Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii)
       • Lantana (Lantana camera) "Miss Huff" is a excellent choice and rather hardy to Zone 7.
       • Penta (Pentas lanceolata)
       • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
       • Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum)
       • Stoke’s Aster (Stokesia laevis)
       • Purpletop Verbena (Verbena bonariensis)
       • Common Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
       • Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and other common lawn weeds such as White
            Clover (Trifolium repens) and Red Clover (Trifolium pratense). You will attract more butterflies
            to your yard if you raise your lawnmower an inch or two and avoid using as much weed killer,
            if any, on your lawn.

Also in no particular order, Butterfly Lady’s top ten favorite host plants:
       • Milkweed (Asclepias spp.), especially Butterfly Milkweed (A. tuberosa) and Swamp Milkweed
            (A. incarnata) — Host plants for Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
       • Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Rue (Ruta graveolens), Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) and Dill
            (Anethum graveolens) — Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
       • Common Hollyhock (Alcea rosea) — Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
       • Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla) — Pipevine Swallowtail (Buttus philenor)
       • Collards (Brassica oleracea) and other Cabbage (Brassica spp.) family plants — Cabbage
            White (Pieris rapae) and Checkered White (Pontia protodice)
       • Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) — Tiger Swallowtail (Papilip glaucus) and Red-Spotted
            Purple (Limenitis arthemis)
       • Passion Flower (Passiflora spp.) — Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and Zebra Heliconian
            (Heliconius charithonia)
       • Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) — Spring Azure (Celestrina ladon)
       • Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) — Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus). Needs a moist spot.
       • Clover (Trifolium spp.), various grasses, Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album), Plantain
            (Plantago spp.), Violets (Viola spp.) and others — Host plants for various butterflies. As with
            common weeds that serve as a source of nectar for adult butterflies (see above), it pays to relax
            a bit when it comes to weeding every little stray out of your yard.

Well, we stated that the plants in these lists are “in no particular order.” However, as you can see, Milkweed is at the top of both lists. Butterfly Lady believes there can never be enough Milkweed for the Monarchs and encourages you to cultivate it liberally, since it pulls double duty as both a host plant and a nectar plant.

Butterfly Gardening in North Carolina

An excellent, 12-page full-color booklet published by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Urban Wildlife: Butterflies in Your Backyard lists both native host and nectar plants that attract butterflies in the Tarheel State, including most of the above plus others not mentioned here.

Much of the advice in this recommended booklet applies to neighboring states and can be easily adapted to many locales in the Southeast, South Central, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states in the US.

Enjoy the Butterflies!