eNature: Butterfly Gardening

These are some of the common, showy butterflies of this region and the food plant (or plants) appropriate for caterpillars of each species.

Butterfly Species		Caterpillar Plants
	Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes	Various members of the carrot family
	Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis astyanax	Willow, poplar, cherry
	Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton	Penstemons, plaintains, ashes (Fraxinus), viburnums
	Great Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele	Various violets (Viola)
	Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa	Willow, poplar, elm
	Painted Lady Vanessa cardui	Various mallows, thistles
	White Admiral Limenitis arthemis arthemis	Willow, birch, poplar
	Striped Hairstreak Satyrium liparops	Oak, willow, blueberry, cherry
	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus	Willow, poplar, alder
	Monarch Danaus plexippus	Milkweeds (Asclepias)

Nectar Plants

These are the best flowers to plant in this region to attract a wide variety of butterfly species. The plants listed here have been shown to be tolerant of the local climate and particularly attractive to the butterflies mentioned above.

Butterfly Weed (native)		Asclepias tuberosa
Yellow Wild Indigo		Baptisia tinctoria
Black-eyed Susan		Rudbeckia hirta
Thistles (some native)		Cirsium species
Common Milkweed (native)		Asclepias syriaca
Boneset (native)		Eupatorium perfoliatum
Lanceleaf Goldenrod (native)		Euthamia graminifolia