Which Came First, the Caterpillar or the Butterfly?

Butterfly gardening can be extremely rewarding. Watching these beauties flutter about from flower to flower, breeze to breeze... There are two types of plants that butterflies need in order to survive, nectar plants and host plants. If you have both in your garden, you will be able to witness the entire life cycle of the fabulous flittering Lepidoptera.

Nectar Plants
Nectar plants are what most people think of when designing a butterfly garden. They provide the food needed for sustenance. Some common nectar plants are:

Black Sweet William Dianthus Nigrescens Sooty available at Green Thing on Etsy.com

Cosmos available at Seven Acre Woods on Etsy.com

Some other great nectar plants for your butterfly garden include Aster, Blazing Stars, Common Milkweed, Coreopsis, Lantana, Marigold, Shasta Daisys, Sunflowers, and Zinnia.

Host Plants

Less common but as equally important are host plants. Butterflies use these for reproduction, meaning depositing eggs and feeding larvae (caterpillars). Some familiar host plants are:

Hollyhocks available at A Better Place on Etsy.com

Dill available at Homegrown Healthy on Etsy.com

Other common host plants for your butterfly garden include the Common Foxglove, Nasturtium, Milkweed, False Nettle, Rue, Silver Brocade, Snapdragon, Sunflower, Violet, Fennel, Spicebush, Passion Flower, Pipevine, Pawpaw and Sweet Bay Magnolias.

Both Nectar & Host Plants

If you don't have much space for a butterfly garden, it makes sense to use dual-purpose plants. Here are a few that serve as both nectar and host plants for your fluttering beauties:

Swamp Verbena, or Simpler's Joy, available at Infinite Gardens on Etsy.com

Purple Coneflower available at A Better Place on Etsy.com

Blackeyed Susans available at Infinite Gardens on Etsy.com