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Gulf Fritillary - A Common Arizona Buttefly |
While I love to travel to interesting locations in Southern Arizona, it is also very satisfying to attract interesting insects and birds to my backyard. And what better way to take advantage of our inherent diversity than to try to attract some of it to our backyards! In fact, bird and butterfly gardening largely relies on native, drought tolerant plantings that serve to improve habitat and offset some of our homes impact on the natural land.
Today we're focusing on butterfly gardening. While butterfly gardening is relatively easy, I’ve found that many new to butterflies get discouraged at some point for a few reasons.
- They expect to have many large butterflies, like Monarchs and Swallowtails. The reality is that most butterflies and much smaller and much more inconspicuous.
- Gardeners tend to overlook larval food plants. As you’ll see below, some of the best attractants of butterflies are not flowers themselves, but rather the leaves.
This article is going to look at the most commonly recommended desert butterfly plants, some of which I’ll highlight as the “all-stars” of butterfly gardening. But first, a quick lesson in butterflies.
Butterfly Life Cycle
Butterflies begin their lives as small eggs, usually laid on a larval food plant that the specific butterfly prefers. Occasionally, eggs will be laid near a larval food plant, but the theme remains – adult female butterflies seek out a specific plant of family of plants for their eggs.
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Caterpillar |
Caterpillars locate a place to pupate. This may be on the larval food plant, or nearby. The caterpillar sheds its skin and forms a chrysalis – a pupal case that some people call a cocoon. Note, however, that cocoons are unique to moths, not butterflies. The chrysalis can also be strikingly colored and very interesting – especially if viewed with close-focus binoculars or a magnifying glass.
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Chrysalis |
Different butterfly species will be observed at different times of the year. Some butterflies are migratory (like Monarchs), while others simply prefer certain weather conditions. In some cases a given species will emerge and be most prevalent when their larval food plants are at their peak. In Arizona, a good backyard butterfly garden may attract 25 species of butterflies or more throughout the year. It is important to be observant. The tiniest of butterflies are easily overlooked, and many butterflies will be inactive during the majority of our hottest days.
Butterfly vs Moth
Generally speaking, if you see a butterfly or moth like creature flying in the daytime, it is a butterfly. Close inspection will reveal some other general differences. For example, butterfly’s antennae usually have a club-like knob on the ends. As mentioned above, butterfly caterpillars form a pupa, while moth caterpillars spin a silk cocoon. Since moths fly at night, they usually have a hairy body, thought to conserve heat. As with any generalization, there are exceptions.
Butterfly Shapes and Sizes
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Western Pygmy Blue |
That aside, be aware that many southwestern butterflies are very small – some as small as your smallest fingernail like the Western Pygmy Blue shown here. Despite the miniature size of some species, they can be quite colorful, especially when viewed with close-focus binoculars or a magnifying glass. However, we also get our share of very large butterflies as well, including Swallowtails, Queens, Gulf Fritillaries, and even an occasional Monarch. Note that some butterflies take on different postures. Skippers, for example, look much more moth-like than species traditionally identified as butterflies.
The Plants
I’ve become firmly convinced that larval food plants are as important, if not more important, than nectar plants. The larval plants attract adult butterflies to lay eggs. Further, some adult butterfly males “stake out” larval plants hoping to find a female. Not to mention that it is great fun to observe caterpillars and watch a butterfly life cycle.
Queen Feeding on Nectar |
Your butterfly garden should insure most of the plants are in full sun, or close to full sun. Brightly lit flowers seem to be a strong attractant. However, it is also key to have some shade in and near your garden. Butterflies must regulate their temperatures, and need places to “cool off”.
Other Tips
Some butterflies like to “eat” salts, water, and other minerals from mud, as well. This is a common behavior sometimes called "puddling". If you have micro-sprayers in your irrigation system, you may wish to make a small clearing where butterflies can come to visit the mud. As an example, when I dump my daughters wading pool, within seconds I have American Snout butterflies that were "hiding" in my Desert Hackberry show themselves and soak up the water and minerals.If possible, create two or more areas in your garden focused on butterflies. Given that the list of preferred plant species ranges from trees to groundcovers, and shrubs to grasses, it should be easy to create a yard full of butterfly attractants.
Lastly, use pesticides sparingly, if at all.
Larval Food Plants
Common Name | Latin Name | Butterflies Attracted | Notes |
Baja Fairy Duster
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Calliandra californica
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Ceraunus Blue
Marine Blue
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All-star!
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Bamboo Muhly
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Muhlenbergia dumosa
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Orange Skipperling
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grass
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Black-eyed Susan | Rudbeckia hirta | Bordered Path | |
Common Sunflower | Helianthus annuus | Bordered Path some cheekerspots | Excellent bird plant - finches love the seeds |
Desert Hackberry
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Celtis pallida
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American Snout
Empress Leilia
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All-star! Also great bird planting. Large shrub.
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Desert Milkweed
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Asclepias subulata
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Queen
Monarch
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Desert Senna
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Senna covesii
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Cloudless Sulphur
Sleepy Orange
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All-star!
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Dill
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Anethum graveolens
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Black Swallowtail
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Parsley is said to work well, too.
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Dutchman's Pipe
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Aristotochia watsonii
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Pipevine Swallowtail
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Consider this one carefully - plants are very toxic and flowers smell odd. Best for acreages and away from children.
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Feather Tree
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Lysiloma microphylla
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Large Orange Sulphur
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Tree
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Fern Acacia
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Acacia angustissima
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Mexican Yellow
Several skippers
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Shrub
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Frogfruit
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Phyla nodiflora
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Phaon Crescent (rare)
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ground cover
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Golden Dyssodia (aka Golden Fleece)
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Dyssodia pentachaeta
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Dainty Sulphur
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All-star!
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Kidneywood
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Eysenhardtia orthocarpa
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Marine Blue
Southern Dogface
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All-star! Small tree can fit most landscapes
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Longpod Senna
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Senna leptocarpa
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Cloudless Sulphur
Sleepy Orange
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Shrub
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Mexican Blood Flower (aka Mexican Milkweed or Mexican Butterfly Weed)
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Asclepias currasavica
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Queen
Monarch
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All-star!
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Passion Flower
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Passiflora species
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Gulf Fritillary
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All-Star! Perhaps the strongest larval attractant
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Pine-lead Milkweed
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Asclepias linaria
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Queen
Monarch
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Small shrub, provides nice texture
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Pink Muhly Grass (aka Texas Muhly, Gulf Muhly)
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Muhlenbergia capillaris
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Western Pygmy Blue
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All star! grass
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Side-Oats Grama
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Bouteloua curtipendula
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Orange Skipperling
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grass
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Trailing Dalea
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Dalea greggi
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Southern Dogface
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ground cover
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Velvet Mesquite
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Prosopis velutina
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Leda Hairstreak
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tree
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Nectar Plants
Common Name | Latin Name | Notes |
Autumn Sage | Salvia greggi | Also a good hummingbird plant |
Blackfoot Daisy | Melampodium leucanthum | White flowered nectar source; densely flowered groundocver/low perennial, but relatively short-lived - about 2 years. |
Blue Cornflower (aka Bachelor Buttons) | Centaurea cyanus | May be larval food source for some species |
Blue Mist | Eupatorium greggi | All-star! |
Butterfly Bush | Buddleia sp. | Can be higher water use |
Chocolate Flower | Berlandiera lyrata | Has wonderful choclate fragrance |
Coneflower | Echinacea Sp. | Many coneflower species are strong attractants, but require a bit more water than some of teh alternatives |
Frogfruit |
Phyla nodiflora
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Golden Dyssodia (aka Golden Fleece) | Dyssodia pentachaeta | All-star - it is also a larval food source for Dainty Sulphur. |
Lantana | Lantana camara | All-star! |
Mexican Hat | Ratibida columnifera | |
Moss Verbena | Verbena pulchella | |
Spreading Fleabane | Erigeron divergens | |
Trailing Lantana | Lantana montevidensis | All-star! ground cover; blooms almost all year, providing a nectar source when others are scarce |
Verbena | Verbena Goodingii | |
Wolfberry | Lycium berlandieri |
Note that there are other nectar sources and larval food plants that can be grown in the low deserts. However, the goal of this article was to outline the "top" choices. This means I selected the best attractants, and those that are relatively easy to grow. I also have a slight slant towards native plants, which especially makes sense when considering larval food plants - we are attracting native butterflies, after all. Lastly,
I've tried to avoid any invasive plants, though keep in mind that "invasiveness" can vary depending on your environment.
With all that in mind, a few others that didn't quite make the cut, but would function well supplementing the above include shasta daisies, Mexican sunflower, cosmos, snapdragons, and marigolds. In fact, even Russian Thistle (yes - the non-native tumbleweed) is an excellent larval food source for Western Pygmy Blues (though I wouldn't recommend growing it on purpose). So if you have a nearby vacant lot or neighbor that lets their weeds run wild, at least take solace in the fact that those thorny tumbleweeds are providing a food source for some butterflies!
Great post.Thanks for sharing such a useful information with us.
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