BREEDING PLANTS

In order to maximize utilization of your garden by butterflies, it is generally preferable to include some breeding plants. Sometimes these are availabe for purchase, but more often than not it is necessary to visit you local "roadside" or other "wild area" to obtain these.

The list below is by no means exhaustive.

Cultivated Foodplants
  1. Pearly Everlasting -- Vanessa virginiensis
  2. Pansy -- Euptoieta claudia
  3. Globe Thistle -- Vanessa cardui
  4. Snapdragon -- Junonia coenia
  5. Cabbage; Broccoli -- Pieris rapae
  6. Carrot; Dill -- Papilio polyxenes
  7. Gasplant -- Papilo cresphontes

Wild Foodplants

  1. Stinging Nettle -- Vanessa atalanta; Polygonia sp.; Nymphalis milberti
  2. Canada Thistle -- Vanessa cardui
  3. Common Milkweed -- Danuas plexippus
  4. Orange Milkweed -- Danaus plexippus
  5. Woodland Sunflower -- Chlosyne nycteis
  6. New England Aster -- Phyciodes cocyta
  7. Wild Carrot -- Papilio polyxenes
  8. Toadflax -- Junonia coenia

Source:

Butterflly Gardens, Luring Natures Loveliest Pollinators to Your Yard,. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, 1996.

and Personal Observation