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The butterflies are late this year. Changes are afoot. These lovely harbingers of spring are now coming more mid-summer. If you want butterflies to visit you, you need to lure them in with their favorite plans. All butterflies have one favorite plant they depend on for them to complete their entire life cycle. These plants are the butterfly’s host plant. We all know about native milkweed (not tropical please) and Monarchs.
Love American Painted Ladies? Plant Asters and Mallows (native hibiscus that will return year after year).
Love a Buckeye? Plant blue vervain.
  Grey hairstreaks love mint – which can be a runner for sure; but Mountain mints are a different looking plant altogether, and can add beauty to any formal or informal garden. Mountain mints also provide nectar for butterflies on a travel (migration) schedule.
Got a trellis or lattice work porch that needs a little color? Plant native passion vines for the beautiful orange with true silver markings under their wings, Gulf Fritillaries.
 .jpg) Swallowtail butterflies come in yellow or black, large or small. Giant swallowtails (yellow) love your citrus trees, so don’t worry if you see a large splotch of ‘bird poop’ on the leaves. That’s actually a caterpillar, and he won’t eat much. The black swallowtail’s host plant is fennel, dill or parsley. Tiger swallowtails generally lay eggs in trees, like black cherry, sweetbay magnolia, all of which grow abundantly in our neck of the woods.
 Your Yard is a Universe: It is within your power as individual gardeners to make a real difference. Plants some natives! Got questions? Got pictures? Send them to me! nelliebell232 @gmail.com. Need seeds? I’m collecting now, so check the free seed library in our park’s pollinator garden in late August, refrigerate for 6 weeks, then plant in October or November.
-Nell Howard, Park Committee
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