One of my favorite butterflies to raise is the Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). It’s an easy species to attract to your garden. You just need to provide their host plants on which the females lay their eggs, including Dill, Fennel, Parsley, Rue or Golden Alexander and they will find them.
The beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) butterfly and five of its host plants, including common herbs: Dill, Fennel, and Parsley.Female Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly ovipositing an egg on Fennel. Look closely at the end of her abdomen. Can you see the cream-colored egg?Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly eggs on Rue and Fennel leaves.
Once you find the eggs or tiny caterpillars, remove the leaves or pieces of the plant they are on and place them inside a small plastic cup with a lid. This keeps the tiny caterpillars from escaping.) Do not punch holes.
Keep them inside the cup until after they hatch and for a few days. Then you can place them inside a larger container. I like to use salad containers from fast-food restaurants, but you can use any container with a lid. I use a pushpin to punch air holes in the lid. Line the bottom of the container with a paper towel or coffee filter. Be sure to provide plenty of the host plant leaves on which you found the eggs and/or caterpillars.
Use a pushpin to punch air holes in the lid of the container.This easy-to-assemble habitat is nothing more than a fast-food salad container lined with a coffee filter. A few holes punched in the top with a push pin complete the project. These Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars are dining on Curly Parsley.I call this my caterpillar condo.
Check on your caterpillars each day to make sure they have enough food to feast on. Once they get bigger you will need to empty the fecal droppings (known as frass) each day and add a new coffee filter or paper towel plus fresh food.
Caterpillars make a mess! Be sure to clean your cage every day to keep your caterpillars healthy and happy.
When they are ready to pupate, they will crawl to the top of the lid and make their chrysalis. Many people like to put sticks inside the container for them to use, but that is not necessary. However, it can be fun to see the different colors the chrysalis becomes.
The caterpillar will crawl to the top and spin a silk girdle on the container lid before it sheds its skin for the final time.Chameleon-like, the Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar will pupate with colors that match its surroundings in order to camouflage itself.A newly-emerged female Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly ready for its first flight
It usually takes about two weeks for the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis. You can then experience the joy of holding and releasing your new butterfly.
While many butterflies daintily sip nectar from blooming flowers, others follow their wilder cravings—drawn to the rich, fermenting sugars of overripe fruit. Incorporating a fruit feeder into your butterfly garden offers more than just a sweet gesture—it caters to species that thrive on the nutrients found in rotten fruit. For these butterflies, nectar is not enough; they seek the deep, juicy sustenance that only fruit can provide.
A couple of Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies enjoy sips of sweet fruit juice on a summer afternoon. By placing sliced oranges and watermelon inside a suet bird feeder you can make this simple butterfly feeder.
Why Fruit Attracts Butterflies
Butterflies are attracted to the sugary liquids found in fruit. As fruits ripen, they release sugars and other compounds that butterflies find appealing. Overripe or rotting fruits become softer and more liquid, making their juices easier to access. The fermentation process in overripe fruits can also release scents that appeal to butterflies.
Butterflies have a straw-like proboscis, which is a modified mouthpart that allows them to sip liquids. They can’t chew solid food, so they use their proboscis to access the juices from the fruit.
A Red-spotted Purple enjoys feeding on cantaloupe.
🔎 Species to Watch For
Species especially drawn to fruit include Mourning Cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa), Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), Question Marks (Polygonia interrogationis), Red-Spotted Purples (Limenitis arthemis), Hackberry Emperors (Asterocampa celtis), Viceroys (Limenitis archippus), and Commas (Polygonia c-album) and Question Marks (Polygonia interrogationis). These butterflies are known for their fondness of fermented sugars and may visit regularly if fruit is available.
A sweet orange set out on my deck railing attracted this Viceroy butterfly.
🍊How to Create a Simple Fruit Feeder
The National Wildlife Federation suggests using a plate and adding fruit that is going bad. Place pieces of overripe fruit in a shallow dish and place it outside. The mixture can be kept moist by adding water or fruit juice. Add a splash of beer or wine to enhance fermentation and a dash of salt to attract more butterflies.
My friend, Jill Streit-Murphy of Building a Butterfly Garden, hangs out a rotten banana in her garden. There are so many butterflies you can’t even see the fruit!
A mass of Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis) butterflies marauding a rotting banana still in its peel. • Copyright by Jill Streit-Murphy. Used with permission.
🚫Keep Ants Away
Hang your fruit feeder with an ant guard to prevent invasions. Options include water-filled guards with a drop of oil, or those with enclosed pesticide elements that don’t contact the butterflies.
An ant guard is an essential equipment when using a butterfly feeder. Click here or on photo to view a variety of ant guards.
🍌 Banana Brew for the Bold
The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, makes a Banana Brew” and paints the mixture on stumps and logs placed throughout their nature preserve. Many of the tropical butterflies found in the sanctuary and be found feeding on the banana brew making it a perfect place to observe and photograph butterflies.
A Malachite (Siproeta stelenes) and Tropical Leafwing (Anaea aidea) feed on the sweet “Butterfly Brew” at the National Butterfly Center outdoor butterfly conservatory in Mission, Texas.
🍌 Butterfly Brew Recipe
Here’s a basic version you can try at home: 8-10 Overripe bananas (mashed) 2 cups brown sugar or molasses 1 16 oz Dark Beer
Blend until smooth. Should be the consistency of cake batter. Let the mixture keep on counter overnight to fefment, then store in fridge.
🖌️ How to Use It
Mix ingredients until you get a thick, sticky paste.
Paint it onto logs, tree trunks, or flat stones in your garden.
Place in shaded areas where butterflies like to rest.
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) feeds on butterfly brew placed on a rotting log.
Quick Tips for Fruity Butterfly Feasting
🍉 Best Fruit Choices
Use soft, overripe fruits like bananas, peaches, oranges, apples, watermelon and cantaloup and strawberries
Avoid citrus peels or underripe fruit—they’re tougher and less appealing
☀️ When to Place Feeders
Late summer and early fall often bring more fruit-feeding visitors
Warm, sunny days help release fruity scents that attract butterflies
🍽️ Placement Matters
Set fruit out near resting spots like logs, rocks, or garden benches
Shade helps slow down fruit decay and keeps butterflies cool
🚫 Ant-Proofing Tricks
Use hanging dishes with water-filled ant guards
Apply petroleum jelly around feeder edges to deter crawlers
📸 Butterfly Watching Bonus
Early morning and mid-afternoon are prime times for fruit-feeding activity
Keep your camera ready—some fruit lovers are bold and photogenic!
What does a butterfly have to do with serving in the U.S. Peace Corps? As a Peace Corps Response volunteer from July 2014 to March 2015, I had the opportunity to raise thousands of butterflies for an exhibit in El Salvador.
A Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) butterfly nectars on Porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) in El Salvador.El Salvador is still recuperating from a devastating civil war that wracked the country from 1980 to 1992, leaving at least 75,000 people dead and tens of thousands more displaced. My site, Segundo Montes, is a community made up of five towns in the eastern department of Morazán, formed in 1990 by repatriated refugees who fled the country’s civil war.
Suzanne Tilton demonstrates the importance of butterfly host plants in the Mariposario Turístico Almirante de Morazán, a large butterfly enclosure in El Salvador.
After nearly a decade in refugee camps in Honduras, residents returned en masse 25 years ago to reclaim their livelihoods and dignity. I wanted to help this once-war-torn community’s iconography transform itself from memories of combat fatigues to fluttery symbols of peace and hope.
When I arrived at the Mariposario Turístico Almirante de Morazán, I was thrilled to see the abundance and variety of butterflies – from Blue Morphos (Morpho peleides) to Zebra Longwings (Heliconius charithonia) and everything in between – flying in the gardens outside. It was a delightful sight and I knew immediately that I had arrived where I belonged.
The butterfly exhibit was built in 2008 as an agricultural project to raise butterflies but, within two years, it was abandoned due to lack of knowledge and support on how to raise and manage the rearing of butterflies. My job as an Educational Butterfly Farm Management Specialist was to train butterfly wranglers how to cultivate butterflies and maintain a healthy habitat for them inside the exhibit.
A delightful child visiting the butterfly zoo has dressed up as a butterfly.
I also visited several primary and secondary schools to teach the life cycle of butterflies and why they’re important for the mountainous environment. Children had the chance to hold and observe up close live specimens in the forms of eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises and adult butterflies. I used props to dress up the children as caterpillars, butterflies, and moths. They cheered in delight when we released butterflies at the end of the presentation and watched them fly freely into the sky.
I knew I was having an impact when parents would stop me in the community and share that they had learned all about butterfly metamorphosis from their children.
One of the highlights of my experience in El Salvador was a weekend visit by 50 students from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City, who came across the border to learn butterfly biology and butterfly zoo management with an emphasis on environmentally friendly sustainability.
There is a concerted effort to develop tourism along theRuta de Paz (Peace Highway) from Morazán’s capital of San Francisco Gotera to El Salvador’s border with Honduras, along Highway 7. The butterfly zoo is strategically located along this route and is well-positioned to attract the attention of vacationers headed to the cool air and brilliant sunshine of Perquín, eight miles farther north.
Teaching a class on butterfly biology in El Salvador.
At 4,000 feet in elevation, Perquín is a popular destination of Salvadorans fleeing the heat and humidity of the coast and tropical lowlands. As time goes by, it is hoped that the Mariposario Turístico Almirante de Morazán will play its part in entertaining and educating tourists on the beauty of butterflies while it continues to contribute to the economic well-being of the community.
A visitor to the butterfly zoo experiences the joy of holding a Tiger Longwing (Heliconius hecale).
In conjunction with the nascent tourism industry, I was privileged to make presentations and conduct field trips for university students studying tourism and hospitality at the nearby Technical Institute of Father Segundo Montes.
I experienced such a feeling of joy and satisfaction as I watched mesmerized visitors hold a butterfly for the first time.
Just as a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, I have been transformed into a different person by serving as a Peace Corps Response volunteer.
Learning about the different parts of a butterfly; including compound eyes, hearing sensors, proboscis, and wings.
Editor’s Note: This post was written and originally published in Peace Corps Passport, the U.S. Peace Corps’ official blog, on 22 April 2015 to commemorate Earth Day.
One of the surest ways to see fall-migrating Monarch butterflies is to plant flowers that attract them. Monarchs will drop from the sky for the nectar they need for energy during fall migrations.
Monarch (Danaus plexippus) on Lantana (Lantana camara). Photo courtesy Tiago J. G. Fernandes. Used with permission.
The Monarchs will search for nectar plants the entire time they are traveling to their winter roosting sites in Mexico. Gardens can provide a place for the migrating monarchs so they can refuel and continue their journey. Help Monarchs by planting flowers that bloom late into the fall such as the flowers listed below.
Asters (Aster spp.) are a favorite of Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) in the fall, particularly the New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae).
Monarch nectaring on Aster.
Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.), including Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) and Swamp Sunflowers (Helianthus angustifolius) are late bloomers and provide nectar for migrating Monarchs.
Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)Monarch nectaring on Swamp Sunflower. Photo courtesy LuGene Peterson. Used with permission.
Many Lantanasare still blooming. I had several Monarchs stop in late October in my North Carolina, USA, garden to sip the nectar from ‘Miss Huff’ Lantana (Lantana camara ‘Miss Huff’)
Monarch butterfly nectaring on ‘Miss Huff’ Lantana.
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is a wonderful fall blooming perennial and is one of the major nectar sources for the Monarchs’ trip back to Mexico.
The brilliant purple-crimson bloom of Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) is very attractive to Monarchs. See some spectacular photos of Monarchs on Ironweed at the Flower Hill Farm Retreat.
Monarch sampling Ironweed nectar.
Other great nectar flowers to plant for fall-migrating Monarchs include Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea).
Monarch butterfly goes to work on a Purple Coneflower in the garden.
Autumn Joy Stonecrop (Sedum ‘Herbstfreude’) burst into bloom in fall. If left standing, they provide winter interest and food for birds.
Migrating Monarchs stop by the Flower Hill Farm Retreat to feed on the blooms on “Autumn Joy” Sedum. Photo courtesy Carol Ann Duke. Used with permission.
Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
The Monarchs flock to the Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum).
I was thrilled when I discovered these Coontie bushes in a yard in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Yes, I know, they’re bare. But, that is actually good news because it means there’ve been caterpillars feeding on the leaves. And those caterpillars turn into cute little Atala butterflies!
Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) plants that have been stripped of most leaves by hungry Atala (Eumaeus atala) caterpillars in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA. The plants will rejuvenate themselves in a few weeks, stimulated by their natural pruning.
This is significant because, at one point, the Atala butterfly, native to south Florida, was thought extinct during the mid 1960s. Atala butterflies use Coontie as the host plant for their caterpillars. Coontie is a small, tough, woody palm-like perennial plant.
Healthy Coontie plants.
It was used by Native Americans and later by European settlers who processed the Coontie’s large storage root to extract an edible starch, which was used to make bread. Settlers continued the practice on an industrial level and by the early 1900s several commercial factories in south Florida processed Coontie roots for the manufacture of arrowroot biscuits.
Vintage advertisement for Arnott’s Milk Arrowroot Biscuits.
Coontie plants started disappearing throughout Florida, and so did the Atala butterfly. By 1965, federal and state authorities thought the Atala was extinct.
Atala butterfly with its jet black, neon blue, and orange markings.Atala larva on Coontie with their fancy red and yellow colors mimicking Coontie seeds for camouflage.
Coontie has made a comeback because Sunshine State gardeners have rediscovered that the native plant is well adapted to Florida yards. Its increased use in landscapes has encouraged the presence of the Atala butterfly. The Atala butterfly is now thriving, once again, in southern and Central Florida.
This is significant. Why? It means that you can make a huge impact on protecting butterflies by growing the right plants in your yard. Currently, Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterfly populations are in decline because native Milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.), which Monarchs use as hosts for their caterpillars, are disappearing from farm fields and roadsides where milkweeds used to thrive.
Karen Oberhauser, monarch expert and professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said, “North American gardeners can contribute by planting milkweed and making their land more butterfly friendly. Given the conservation challenges facing monarchs, it’s vitally important that we mobilize as many people as possible. Through our collective efforts, monarch populations can rebound, so that their migrations may be appreciated by many generations to come,” she concluded.
Let’s work together, make our yards butterfly-friendly, plant Milkweed and native plants for the Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) and bring hope to these butterflies! Click here to locate Milkweed seeds for your garden.
Monarch butterfly nectaring on Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), a species of Milkweed which also happens to be their host plant.
When they are ready to pupate, they will crawl to the top of the lid and make their chrysalis. Many people like to put sticks inside the container for them to use, but that is not necessary. However, it can be fun to see the different colors the chrysalis becomes.
Why Fruit Attracts Butterflies
