eNature: Butterfly Gardening

These are some of the common, showy butterflies of this region and the food plant (or plants) appropriate for caterpillars of each species.

Butterfly Species		Caterpillar Plants

	Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis astyanax	Willow, poplar, cherry
	Great Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele	Various violets (Viola)
	Silver-bordered Fritillary Boloria selene	Various violets (Viola)
	Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa	Willow, poplar, elm
	Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice	Clovers
	Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor	Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia)
	Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes	Various members of the carrot family
	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus	Willow, poplar, alder
	Monarch Danaus plexippus	Milkweeds (Asclepias)

Nectar Plants

These are the best flowers to plant in this region to attract a wide variety of butterfly species. The plants listed here have been shown to be tolerant of the local climate and particularly attractive to the butterflies mentioned above.

Butterfly Weed (native)		Asclepias tuberosa
Hoary Mountain Mint (native)		Pycnanthemum incanum
Purple Coneflower (native)		Echinacea purpurea
Lanceleaf Coreopsis (native)		Coreopsis lanceolata
Moss Pink		Phlox subulata
Lilac		Syringia vulgaris