Common backyard butterflies may be becoming endangered insects

Have you missed something beautiful in your backyard a little more each year? Nature's flying jewels are becoming more scarce each summer. Numerous species are being eliminated to never more grace our flowers and mud puddles.

Several butterfly species are actually nearing extinction, and several have been listed on the endangered wildlife list. What will our summer yards - our lives - be like without nature's jewels?

If you want butterflies in your yard, or want to increase the numbers you already have, you can have your way by following a few suggestions.
"Good wildlife habitats provides the four basic life requirements of all terrestrial animals: food, fresh water, cover or shelter, and sufficient territory to carry out their life functions, particularly courtship and breeding," advises Billy McCord, "Gardening for Butterflies," South Carolina Wildlife, May-June,
1993.

***Inform all your neighbors about how you feel about pesticides. This includes what your neighbors choose to spray on their yard. Give them a choice...Tell them who to call in your area that can help them not kill birds, mammals and insects through a thorough spraying session.
***Encourage your state, your community to allow the sides of the highways to remain natural feeding local butterfly species all summer.
*** Allow the edges of your own lawn to grow literally wild, and remain uncut. Remember. Butterflies cannot dine on the perfectly manicured lawn.
***Encourage such plants as wild thistle and nettle to grow. These are among the most valuable food sources for butterflies.
*** Do not kill, poison, or eradicate Joe-Pye weed, ragweed, goldenrod, milkweed, knapweed, dandelions, mallow, majoram, bugle, wild thyme, clover, meadow sweet, vetch, currant, blueberry and tick trefoil. Many different species of butterflies enjoy feeding on these plants.
*** Provide numerous butterfly habitats on your property. Establish sunny areas. Also include shaded and partial shaded areas. In addition, provide a shallow pool for butterfly drinking.
*** Never use insecticides. Encourage your neighbors to not use pesticides on their lawns.
*** Trim shrubs in season to promote more growth. Pruning is best done in the spring rather fall.

Butterflies enjoy specific shrubs. To increase the numbers in your own back yard, planting from the following will help feed the butterflies visiting your yard.

"The most successful butterfly garden incorporates a selection of various flowering plants that ensure
blooms from early spring through late fall when adult butterflies are on the wing," McCord, "Gardening for Butterflies," South Carolina Wildlife, May-June 1993.

*** Alyssum--blooms summer to mid-fall.
*** Cosmos--blooms late summer to fall.
*** Hellotrope--blooms late spring into summer.
*** Marigold---blooms summer into fall.
*** Salvia--blooms summer through fall.
*** Zinnia-- blooms midsummer into fall.
*** Sweet William--blooms spring through early summer.
*** Asters--blooms late summer into fall.
*** Bee balm--blooms summer through fall--comes in red, lavender, and white.
*** Butterfly bush--blooms mid-summer into fall--white, pink, red
*** Butterfly weed---blooms summer through fall. Collect the seed from a fall ` plant, and relocate by
planting them where you want in the fall.
*** Coreopsis--blooms all summer.
*** Purple coneflower--blooms late summer into fall.
*** Lavender--blooms in the summer.
*** Phlox--blooms all summer-red, pink, lavender, white, and tangerine.
*** Black-eyed Susan--blooms mid-summer into fall.
*** Yarrow--blooms mid-to-late summer.

All of these domestic garden plants are easy to care for year-after-year, add color to your yard, and provide valuable nourishment for visiting butterflies.

"Though all adult butterflies feed by sucking fluids through a tubular proboscis, many species rarely if ever actually feed at flowers. These species dine on a variety of organic fluids from such sources as decomposing animals, fermenting tree sap, rotting fruit and even excrement.

"For this reason, including fruit-producing plants such as grapes, pears, apples or peaches in a garden helps attract more types of adult butterflies than only planting flowers. Fruit must be allowed to overripe and begin to rot or ferment to be attractive...

"Liquids containing sugar or fermenting sugars also attract butterflies and may be poured onto the open ground with some success. I have even seen butterflies gather at puddles of spilled beer or soft drinks," notes McCord, "Gardening for Butterflies," South Carolina Wildlife, May-June 1993.

Do not forget to keep or create a small mud-puddle in your backyard for butterflies. All adult butterflies require water particularly during hot, dry summer periods.

Usually morning dew and normal rainfall supply all the moisture needed, but when the weather is dry, butterflies appreciate a mud-puddle. Minerals, and especially nitrogen is gotten from sipping mud.
Butterflies also appreciate protruding rocks in ground level bird-baths. This gives them a place to sun and rest.


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P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education