List Of Butterfly Host Plants For Your Garden

A fun way to draw more adult butterflies to your yard is by planting butterfly host plants or food plants for the female butterflies to lay their eggs. The butterflies the lay their eggs on the plant and then the caterpillar or larvae will use the plant as its food source. Butterflies will usually lay eggs underneath the plant leaves, in a cluster or a single egg. Try planting a few butterfly host plants to see how it will increase your butterfly population!

Monarch Butterfly Host Plants

Planting these types of plants toward the back of the garden would be a good idea so you are not bothered by the chunks of leaves missing from your plant! Also, plant many of the host plants in the same area to ensure you have enough food for your caterpillars, view also native plants for birds. If a caterpillars are eating too much of one area on a plant, simply pick them up and move them to another plant, or to a part of the plant that is not as visible. Be sure to wear gloves when handling the caterpillars as some of them have forked spines and may or may not sting.

Butterfly Host Plants Florida

As you can see from the list below, planting one food source can draw a variety of butterflies. Violets for example can draw at least five different butterflies to your garden. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, just an example of what to get your wheels turning when designing your mixed border garden plans, view also butterfly nectar food plants.

Butterfly listing by butterfly host plant:

Butterfly	Host Plant	Plant Height	Bloom Time
Gray Comma, Striped Hairstreak	Azalea	3ft - 4ft	spring - early summer
Checkered White	Alyssum, Sweet	3in - 9in	spring - summer
Coral Hairstreak, Red-Spotted Purple, Spring Azure, Striped Hairstreak, Tiger Swallowtail, Viceroy Butterfly	Black Cherry Tree	100 ft	spring
Gray Hairstreak, Monarch	Butterfly Weed	2ft	summer
Brazilian Skipper	Canna	6 ft	summer - frost
Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Carrot	1ft	summer
Common Sulphur, Orange Sulphur, Dogface Butterfly, Gray Hairstreak, Fairy Yellow, Eastern Tailed Blue, Northern Cloudywing	Clover, white	6in	spring - frost
Dotted Checkerspot	Foxglove	3ft	spring - summer
Common Checkered Skipper, Painted Lady, Common Streaky Skipper	Hollyhock	4ft - 6ft	summer
Baltimore	Honeysuckle, Japanese	20ft - 30ft	early summer
Spring Azure	Honeysuckle, Trumpet	12ft - 15ft	summer
Tiger Swallowtail	Lilac, common	12 ft	spring
Common Checkered Skipper, Gray Hairstreak, Painted Lady Butterfly	Mallow, Common	6in	summer
Monarch, Queen, Viceroy Butterfly	Milkweed Plant	1ft - 3ft	early summer
Red Admiral, Satyr	Nettle	6in - 1ft	early summer
Variegated Fritillary	Pansey	6in - 1ft	late fall - early winter
Eastern Black Swallowtail	Parsley	18in - 2ft	early spring
Eastern Black Swallowtail	Queen Anne's Lace	2ft -3ft	summer - early fall
Painted Lady	Thistle	2ft	mid-summer
Baltimore, Hickory Hairstreak, Mourning cloak, Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly	White Ash Tree	70ft - 80ft	spring
Gulf Fritillary, Mexican Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, Zebra Longwing	Passionflower	20ft - 40ft	summer
American Snout, Atlantis Fritillary, Gulf Fritillary, Meadow Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary	Violet	6in	late spring