Did you know that butterflies will only lay eggs on certain plants? We call them host plants, and here are some popular ones.
Plant Passion Flower Vine in the sun to attract the speedy orange gulf fritillary. Or place it in more shade to attract our state butterfly, the zebra longwing. It also has a super funky flower.
Plant Parsley, Fennel, Rue, and/or Dill to attract black swallowtails. Plus, you’ll also benefit from growing delicious herbs.
Plant Citrus Trees for giant swallowtails. So if you suddenly see bird droppings all over your citrus tree, look again! The giant swallowtail caterpillars look this way as a defense mechanism.
Plant the distinguishable Dutchman’s Pipe Vine for pipevine and polydamas butterflies. We had a swarm of them in our Butterfly House last year, they ate the entire vine, but look how nicely it came back.
And, of course, plant Milkweed to attract monarchs. It’s their only host plant, so you might need a lot to keep these common caterpillars happy.
Stop by soon to shop even more host plants!