Nurseries for Baby Butterflies

Kristen De Lay told us last week about eliminating the negative: dealing with invasive weeds that damage our local ecology. Now, accentuating the positive, she brings us some delightful insights on creating a thriving natural ecosystem. Choosing the right plants for your yard or flower beds can attract a healthy mix of beautiful butterflies to bless the land with their beauty. This is an update of an article first published in 2020. 

Have you ever seen a baby butterfly? Cutest things ever! The size of a grain of rice, tiny little wings… no, I’m kidding. I know, I know, baby butterflies are really just caterpillars. But isn’t it cuter to say baby butterflies?

When many of us think of a butterfly, we think of how beautiful they are floating through the air, jumping from flower to flower. When we think of a caterpillar though, we might think “Ew!” or wonder if it is invasive, or worse, we spray some kind of pesticide to get rid of them. However, many caterpillars are vital to our environment. They need to have food, proper shelter and even water sources to turn into the beautiful adults that we all love to watch. They need safe places to make that magical transformation. With a little effort, we can provide natural little nurseries for them to thrive. 

If we only plant food sources for adult butterflies, we’ll quickly see a decline in our butterfly populations. In this article, I’ll share the types of things you can plant to attract more baby butterflies (i.e. caterpillars). 

I read a book that I highly recommend to my neighbors. In “Nature’s Best Hope”, Douglas Tallamy explains how homeowners everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats. Something that really stood out to me is the nutritional value of caterpillars (both moth and butterfly caterpillars) for our birds. I see many of us adding seed and nuts to our bird feeders, which adult birds definitely appreciate, but caterpillars are what birds feed to their babies. Making this connection on how supporting these caterpillars, in turn supports our bird populations, was a big lightbulb moment for me. I don’t know about you, but bird watching was my absolute favorite pandemic activity, and my husband and I still love sitting out in our backyard and enjoying the birds that visit our yard. I invite you to join me in supporting their habitat in our neighborhood. 

One last thing before I go into host plants, please also consider leaving your leaves in the winter. If you can’t stand the thought of leaving them on your grass, then think about leaving the ones laying in your flower beds. Better yet, put your yard leaves on your flower beds. Not only will that insulate your plants over the winter, but many bugs lay their eggs in leaf litter or caterpillars move into the pupae stage in that shelter. When we rake or blow them away, we are actually destroying many baby bugs that we need in our environment. Many of these eat mosquitos and aphids or are vital food sources for birds.

Our old suburban lawn

The information below came from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). You can reference the source by visiting this page on native butterflies. These are specific to our area. I am a huge advocate of the NWF and see my yard as a way to support the environment. We try very hard to utilize plants that flower from February to November. We use very little water (my bill is usually around $50 each month in the summer) and I rarely mow. Usually, it’s one time in the spring and one time in mid-summer.

A safe haven for beautiful butterflies and their babies

This look isn’t for everyone, but I’d love it if you’d join me in replacing a few of your plants with native plants. If you have any questions or want references, I can talk to you all day about it. I try to keep my plant nerdiness at bay, but I’m here if you ever want to chat!

Host Plants and the butterflies they support (Note: This is a two-column table. If you are viewing on a phone, turn the screen sideways to see the host plants paired with the butterflies they attract.)

Butterfly	Host Plants
Spring Azur Photo credit: inaturalist.org	Red Twig Dogwood
Northern Checkerspot Photo credit: butterfliesandmoths.org/	Aspen Fleabane, Rubber Rabbitbrush Fleabane photo credit: inaturalist.org, Rabbitbrush Photo Credit: High Country Gardens
Variable Checkerspot Photo credit: inaturalist.org	Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus) Photo credit: High Country Gardens
Grey Hairstreak butterfly Photo source: Butterflyidentification.com	Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) Photo Credit: High Country Gardens
Southern Dogface Butterfly Photo credit: inaturalist.org	White Prairie Clover (Dalea candida) Photo credit: American Southwest
Columbine Duskywing Photo source: butterfliesandmoths.org	Colorado Blue Or Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea)
Monarch Photo from National Wildlife Federation	Showy Milkweed, Butterflyweed Photo credit: High Country Gardens
Silvery Checkerspot	Maximillian Sunflower (perennial sunflower) Photo Credit: Spring Hill Nursery
Skippers – There are a bunch of these, too many to show all the pictures! Here’s more info.	Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Blue Grama Photo Credit: High Country Garden
Rocky Mountain Parnassian	Sedum – ONLY sedum. Our native variety is Sedum lanceolatum Photo credit: SW Colorado Wildflowers
Giant Swallowtail	Hop Tree, Gasplant Hoptree (Wikipedia)
Pale Beauty, Fringed Looper	Willows, aspen, cottonwood, poplar, black chokecherry, Pin Cherry, Gamble Oak, Ponderosa Pine Photo Credit: The Tree farm (Ponderosa pine)
Coral Hairstreak	Black chokecherry, Pin Cherry, Photo Credit Echter’s Nursery (Chokecherry)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Saskatoon serviceberry, Utah serviceberry, Gambel Oak, cerro hawthorn (Crataegus erythropoda), fleshy hawthorn (Crataegus succulenta), willows, poplars, aspen and cottonwood
Eastern Tailed Blue	Ponderosa Pine, Milkvetch, vetch and lupine Photo Credit from SW Colorado Wildflowers
Columbian Emerald Moth	Gambel Oak, Willows, Rock Spirea, Photo Credit: Colorado Springs Utilities
American Painted Lady	Artemisia frigida and ludoviciana, pussytoes (great groundcover!) Artemisia Frigida – Photo credit by Santa Fe Botanical Gardens

These are just a sampling of plants that adult butterflies look for to lay their eggs. Some are easier to find than others at our local plant nurseries. They are not sold at the big box stores, though you might find one here or there, but it is really rare. If you don’t see them, definitely ask the staff to stock more native species of plants. The more available they are, the more we can all make a bigger impact in supporting our local pollinators. 

– Kristen De Lay is an avid gardener with a special interest in native plants and creating wildlife habitats. She is a member and volunteer for the Colorado Native Plant Society and also participates in our Sustainable Southern Gables group. She and her family have lived in Southern Gables since 2016.