Butterflies are the most colourful of all our garden guests and second only to birds in popularity. One of the best things about gardening for butterflies is that these insects appreciate the same sorts of plants as we do, so you can feel free to fill your garden with beds of vibrantly coloured flowers and then sit back and wait for the butterflies to arrive, making it even more colourful.
Although young butterflies (caterpillars) generally need native plants, on which they have been feeding for generations, adult butterflies are happy with a wide range of both exotic and native plants. This is because the sugary nectar on which they feed is much the same in all flowers, but not all cultivated flowers are equally attractive to the insects. Big, showy, double flowers often lack nectar because the nectaries have been replaced by additional petals. The old-fashioned cottage garden flowers, with plenty of scent and nectar, are usually the best of the cultivated forms.
Michael Chinery
Honesty is doubly useful to the orange tip butterfly: the flowers provide energy-rich nectar whereas the leaves and seed capsules are a source of food for the caterpillars.
Michael Chinery
The ice plant is a superb source of nectar for butterflies seeking an autumn feast before going into hibernation. Here the flowers are playing host to a throng of small tortoiseshell butterflies and a solitary red admiral.
Michael Chinery
Corn marigold and Virginia stock contribute both colour and valuable butterfly-attracting nectar to the garden.
The 2001 Garden Butterfly Survey, which was organized by Butterfly Conservation, recorded 46 butterfly species in British gardens – just over 70 per cent of the total British species – although the average gardener will be lucky to see more than about 15 or so regular visitors. You can, however, increase the numbers of both species and individuals by growing the right kinds of plants, which should be massed where possible and situated in full sunlight. Different varieties often have different flowering times, and by planting two or more varieties you can increase the period of your garden’s attractiveness to butterflies. Regular dead-heading can also prolong the flowering season, but always remember to leave some seeds for the birds.
Michael Chinery
Polyanthus flowers provide early nectar for brimstones and other butterflies waking from hibernation, and also feed some of the early bees.
PLANTS FOR BUTTERFLIES
The following list of butterfly-friendly plants, arranged more or less in chronological order of flowering, will help you to choose a good assortment for your garden, although your soil may not be suitable for all of them.
| • Polyanthus | • Marjoram* |
| • Aubretia | • Common knapweed* |
| • Wallflower | • Field scabious* |
| • Cuckoo flower* | • Globe thistle |
| • Honesty | • Fleabane* |
| • Sweet rocket | • Hemp agrimony* |
| • Bugle* | • Purple loosestrife* |
| • Red valerian* | • Helichrysum |
| • Ragged robin* | • Golden rod |
| • Mignonette* | • Verbena |
| • Sweet William | • Buddleia |
| • Corn marigold* | • Dahlia (single) |
| • Sainfoin* | • Michaelmas daisy |
| • Lavender | •Ice-plant (Sedum spectabile)** |
| • Phlox |
* Denotes wild flowers native to Britain
** There are several varieties of this popular garden plant, but they are not all particularly good for butterflies. The original pale-flowered form is best. The dark-flowered ‘Autumn Joy’ looks good, but has little nectar and butterflies are not keen on it.
So strong is the attraction of buddleia for butterflies that it is commonly called the butterfly bush. Many people plant it purely to bring in the butterflies, although it is an attractive plant in its own right. Buddleia has several species, but the various forms of B. davidii are the most butterfly-friendly bushes, and those with pale mauve flowers seem to be the best of all. The darker ones, although very striking to look at, often have little nectar and attract far fewer butterflies. B. davidii usually flowers from late June until September, but you can extend the flowering period by tinkering with your pruning regime. Leave one bush more or less unpruned and it will flower somewhat earlier than another which is pruned hard in the normal way in the spring. The globular, orange-yellow flower clusters of the evergreen B. globosa open in May – a month or more before B. davidii comes into flower – and these will pull in a varied range of early butterflies.
Michael Chinery
Marjoram is a great favourite with the gatekeeper or hedge brown butterfly.
Michael Chinery
Bramble is an excellent source of nectar for summer butterflies, including the brimstone shown here.
I have a sneaking admiration for unkempt privet hedges that are left to flower in the summer, for it was on such a hedge that I met my first red admiral and painted lady. Many other butterflies are attracted by the heady scent and strong nectar. Bramble is another favourite, providing nectar for the gatekeepers and ringlets in the summer and delicious fruits for the birds (and us) later in the year. Quite a lot of moth caterpillars also enjoy the foliage. Ivy is not really good news in a hedge, but left to climb a suitable wall or tree it will flower in the autumn and provide the commas and other autumn butterflies with a good feast of nectar before they go into hibernation. The autumn brood of holly blue caterpillars will also appreciate the flowers and developing fruits, and your garden birds will enjoy the ripe fruits in the spring.
Michael Chinery
No wildlife garden should be without a buddleia. Even a solitary bush in a town garden will attract butterflies, and it is easy to watch them plunging their long tongues into the nectar-filled tubular flowers. Although it is unlikely to be seen in many British gardens, the swallowtail is a common visitor to continental gardens.
VITAL STINGING NETTLES
If you want butterflies to breed in your garden, you will have to provide the larval food-plants – and for some of our most colourful species, including the peacock and red admiral, this means planting stinging nettles! Few gardeners are prepared to tolerate these invasive plants, but if you have space, it is worth cultivating a small patch. If the caterpillars don’t eat them you can always cook them yourself – not a bad substitute for spinach! Ignore the temptation to relegate your nettle patch to a dark corner; the butterflies will ignore it there as well because they like to lay their eggs in sunshine. Cut the patch regularly, a bit at a time, so that there is always some young growth available for the insects.
And don’t be too eager to trim round the bases of trees, walls and hedges; a bit of long grass here may feed the caterpillars of ringlets and gatekeepers.
Michael Chinery
Map butterfly larvae
Nectar-rich flowers will certainly bring a host of butterflies into your garden, but this does not mean that they will stay and breed because the nectar does not usually come from the plants required by the caterpillars. Nevertheless, a good source of nectar is of great benefit to the visiting species. Your garden is like a service station, where they can re-fuel and maybe rest for a while before moving on. Re-fuelled and refreshed, they are more likely to be successful in finding the food plants on which to lay their eggs, and they will be able to lay more eggs as well.
Unfortunately, the caterpillars of most butterflies feed on weeds, including various grasses, but two food plants well worth having in your garden are sweet rocket and honesty. These will feed both the adults and young of the orange-tip, and if you can find room for a buckthorn bush in your hedge or shrubbery the brimstones are sure to lay some eggs on it.
CONSERVATION TIP
Do not site bird boxes close to your butterfly flowers – certainly not boxes that suit the spotted flycatcher, as this bird will thoroughly enjoy the feast of butterflies.
