Most of us enjoy watching the butterflies in our gardens, and it can be a magical experience for us and for our children.
We can explain to children about the different stages in a butterfly's development. The caterpillar stage is 3-4 weeks, and the chrysalis is 10-20 days. Older children may enjoy helping to research what plants to grow for the different stages in a butterfly's life.
For example, the caterpillars of the Eastern Black Swallowtail enjoy leaves of plants that belong to the carrot family, such as Queen Anne's Lace, carrots, celery, parsnips, and parsley. However, an adult Swallowtail butterfly likes nectar from loosestrife, phlox, thistle, and clover.
Like monarch butterflies, many other adult butterflies like milkweed, lupine, hollyhock, fennel, and dill. Many types of adult butterflies also enjoy the flowers on shrubs such as butterfly bush and lilac. To attract many types of adult butterflies to your garden grow perennials such as monarda and black-eyed Susans and annuals like lantana, cosmos, and globe amaranth.
Many butterflies that visit zone 6 gardens can also be found as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. It is amazing that a monarch butterfly, for example, looks so delicate but can fly from here to Mexico and back.
