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Home > Blogs > Birds and Butterflies > Archives > 2008 > July > 17 > Entry
What’s Host Plants got to do with it?
Visitors to Butterfly House often ask why they don’t see as many butterflies as they did when they were children. The main reason is the lack of habitat. Habitat is lost with new development or when too much chemical weed killers are used or even the neatly mowed road sides all remove butterfly habitat.
Butterflies need both a host plant and a nectar plant. The host plant is needed for adult butterflies to lay eggs on and then the caterpillars eat the leaves. Nectar plants are the flowers adult butterflies use as their food source. Almost everyone loves to have flowers, but not everyone is excited about their plants having holes in the leaves. Host plants or as I like to think, caterpillar food are very important. Without the combination of both plants (host and Nectar) there isn’t as many butterflies. Host plants also receive neglect from gardeners because the plant is often thought of as a weed.
Some inportant host plants include: Milkweed for monarchs dill/parsley/ fennel for black swallowtails violets for fritillary grasses for wood nymph thistle for painted lady nettles for red admiral
So when you plant your garden think about host plants. You may already plant parsley why not not plant an extra plant or two for the black swallowtail butterflies? Milkweed has really pretty pink flowers with a lovely fragrance why not plant some and you and the monarch caterpillars will enjoy it. They don’t care that it’s has weed in the name, you shouldn’t either.
A butterfly garden can be the easiest way to help increase habitat. Be sure to include both host (caterpillar foos) and nectar (butterfly food) plants. This will not only be a place for you to enjoy but a home for the butterflies.
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