NEWS (April 16): Butterfly expert: ‘Build it and they will come’

By Gwen Strough

April 16, 2008 10:55 pm

— PENDLETON — “Most people just think about pretty flowers when they envision a butterfly garden,” said master gardener Loretta Heiniger. But a complete butterfly garden should include pretty flowers (nectar plants) as well as host plants, she told her audience last Saturday at Pendleton Community Library. Co-sponsored by the Pendleton Garden Club, the program focused on ways to attract butterflies and contribute to their conservation.
“Every butterfly was once a caterpillar,” Heiniger noted in explanation of why host plants are important. By planting the appropriate host plants, a gardener is guaranteed to get butterflies, she said. “But be prepared that the plants will be eaten by the larvae!”
Different species of butterfly larvae prefer different types of plants. For example, the easiest way to attract black swallowtails to your doorstep is to plant a pot of parsley, fennel or dill.
Since her personal favorite is the monarch butterfly, Heiniger said, she provides an abundance of milkweed in her garden. “A monarch caterpillar will die if it doesn’t have milkweed,” she said. “There is no substitute.”
Likewise, different species of adult butterflies are attracted to specific colors and blooms. To attract multiple types of adult butterflies, Heiniger said, it is important to plant several types of plants in the yard and garden.
It is best to plant a mix of annuals and perennials, Heiniger said, because annuals have the advantage of blooming all summer, providing color to attract the butterflies. She said zinnias and cosmos are successful annuals that have continuous blooms and provide good, flat landing patterns for butterflies.
Cone flower, one of the most common perennials, is a butterfly favorite. Black-eyed Susan and coreopsis are good choices as perennials, too. Butterfly bush grows tall and, although it doesn’t have a flat bloom, attracts black swallowtails, which tend to hang on the small flowers that make up each bloom. Stick verbena, another plant with height, works well at the back of a garden.
The red admiral butterfly is particularly attracted to stinging nettles. Tiger swallowtails are common to this area because broadleaf trees and shrubs are host plants to their larvae.
New England asters are plentiful along the roadsides. They bloom when the monarchs are migrating, and quite often several butterflies can be seen on one plant, Heiniger said.
She didn’t have giant swallowtails in her yard for 40 years, but five years ago, she spotted one and attributes it to the fact that she began concentrating on providing more nectar plants in her garden.
Since most flowers bloom better in sunny locations, butterflies are more likely to be spotted there, too, since they are attracted to colorful landscapes. For that reason, Heiniger said it is better to plant a butterfly garden in the sun.
She also cited an example of a Daleville resident who planted an entire field of milkweed in order to attract monarchs. Yet, very few butterflies appeared. The reason? “He hadn’t planted any nectar plants. So, in that sea of green, there was no color for butterflies to detect as they flew over the field,” she explained.
She noted that rotted fruit attracts butterflies, too. “If you set out a piece of rotted watermelon or apple, you’ll see butterflies,” she said.
Rocks are a good addition to a garden, because butterflies light on them to soak up the warmth from the sun and dry their wings. And, although butterflies don’t drink water, Heiniger said they are often attracted to damp places because, she speculated, they are seeking minerals.
“The most important thing of all is this: Do not use pesticides,” she said.
Last summer, Heiniger headed up a project to plant a butterfly garden, consisting of about 1,500 plants, at Mounds Park in Anderson. To minimize the need for continuous weeding, she and a team of volunteers initially covered the ground with five to six layers of newspapers, and a top layer of mulch. Even though the weather was dry, she said the plants thrived because they were native species.
During Saturday’s program, Heiniger demonstrated the life cycle of a monarch, beginning with an egg which hatches to a caterpillar. She said most butterflies lay their eggs singly, but a few lay them in clusters. Depending on the species, the eggs hatch within three to 12 days.
When the larva is about two inches long, it finds a place to pupate and becomes very quiet for about a day. Attaching itself to a plant or object, it hangs in the shape of the letter “J.” After about 12 hours, the color turns green, the skin on the head begins to split, and a chrysalis is formed.
Within a week to 10 days, the adult butterfly crawls out, hangs upside down and begins pumping fluid from the body into the wings, which continue to grow. Within about 15 minutes, it is full-size. After about an hour, the wings are dry enough for the butterfly to fly.
It takes nearly a month for a monarch to change from an egg to an adult. The hotter the weather, the faster the metamorphosis. Most adults live about two or three weeks.
Heiniger provided interesting trivia about various butterfly species. For example, the wings of the giant swallowtail are photographic opposites when comparing the top of the wings to the bottom. It is the largest butterfly found in this area.
Butterflies don’t fly unless the temperature is above 70 degrees, and they have to use more energy when flying in the wind.
Various species of butterflies spend the winter in different ways. Some stay in this area of the country. Monarchs are the only butterflies that migrate all the way from Canada to Mexico. As of Saturday, they’d made it as far north as Tennessee, Heiniger said.
There’s an easy way to differentiate between a butterfly and a moth. Butterflies have skinny antennae. The antennae (and body) of a moth is hairy. Most moths fly only at night. Butterflies fly during the day.
At the close of Saturday’s program, Heiniger told her audience that she never ceases to be amazed by butterflies. “For example, the whole monarch story is just incredible. How can a butterfly with such fragile wings fly thousands of miles?” she asked.
-------------
As part of the Madison County Master Gardeners’ series, Loretta Heiniger will present a program about Native Prairie Plants on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Anderson Public Library.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.