It goes without saying that planting a variety of pollinator-friendly plants in your garden will attract a variety of lovely, helpful, and flying visitors. However, have you given any thought to how to especially attract monarch butterflies? Seeing these orange-and-black insects flying about your blooms in the summertime, refueling on nectar, is always exciting. Observing their little caterpillars hatch on milkweed and become somewhat bigger every day until they form their green-and-gold cocoons may be even more thrilling. A few weeks later, if you’re very fortunate, you could see the mature butterfly emerge and make its maiden flight. Use these seven suggestions to create a more inviting habitat for monarchs in your yard.
- Concentrate on Milkweed
Which flowers are the favorites of monarch butterflies? The solution is simple: milkweed. The greatest thing the typical gardener can do to support monarchs is to plant this hardy perennial. Since milkweed is the primary food source for monarch caterpillars and the plant on which butterflies lay their eggs, it is the most vital element of a healthy monarch habitat. Seek for plants belonging to the Asclepias family (these might include Asclepias incarnata, Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias speciosa, or Asclepias curassavica, depending on your locality). It is usually better to use native milkweed plants since you want to mimic the kinds of habitat that monarch butterflies would find their way through your region during their normal migration. Either start your plants from seed or get them from a trustworthy grower who doesn’t use commercial fertilizers or pesticides. - Avoid Using Chemicals in Your Monarch Garden
It’s no secret that the extensive use of herbicides and pesticides has seriously endangered other essential pollinators and led to the reduction in the monarch population. A lot of pesticides are not selective, so when you use them to kill one kind of bug, you also kill any other kind of insect that comes into touch with the chemical, including beneficial insects. Since butterflies are particularly vulnerable, it’s imperative to keep any contaminants out of your monarch habitat. Use non-toxic, organic approaches to manage weeds and pests without harming pollinators. - Plant Food Sources Rich in Nectar
The adult monarchs just sip nectar from the blooms; the caterpillars eat the whole milkweed plant. Thus, these adult butterflies need a greater food source. Plant as many nectar-rich blooming species as you can in your yard, keeping in mind that different bloom dates will provide a steady supply of food. This will attract a variety of other butterflies, birds, and pollinators in addition to the monarchs who will be flying about in quest of food. Joe Pye Weed, lantana, liatris, echinacea, blooming sages, verbena, buddleja, bee balm, black-eyed susans, and yarrow are a few plants that produce an abundance of nectar. Not to mention milkweed. - Plant Vibrant Native Plants
Although many decorative blooming plants are excellent at attracting monarchs and other pollinators, you should try to include as many native plants as you can. Not only do monarchs need a varied food source in the spring and summer for breeding, but they also need it in the autumn for migration. Native plant species are an essential part of any butterfly garden because they are well suited to provide a sequence of timely, nectar-rich flowers from spring to autumn. Bonus: Since they have been growing in your surroundings long before you arrived, plants that naturally flourish in your location will need very little upkeep to live.
And fill your landscape with a spectrum of vibrant flowers. Despite how lovely this arrangement may be, resist the impulse to scatter colors across your design plan uniformly. Rather, arrange your plants in groups to create huge color drifts. This puts a multiplicity of nectar-filled flowers within easy reach and provides butterflies and other useful insects with a visual target, particularly those weary migratory monarchs.
- Supply Mineral and Water Sources
Puddling is a common way for butterflies, particularly males, to get additional moisture and vital minerals. They seek for moist areas, such dirt, sand, stones, or organic matter that has been dampened by irrigation, dew, or rain, and they extract the liquid by sucking it out. (This is particularly typical during dry spells and intense heat waves.) Sadly, your avian companions don’t really need a pond or fountain; what they really need is moisture, not standing, deep water. You will only see butterflies hydrating on the margins of puddles, which are usually too deep for them.
Fill a shallow dish with garden soil and/or tiny, low pebbles to make an easy-to-build butterfly puddling pool if your garden does not naturally have any shallow damp patches. Put it in a full-sun spot next to your nectar plants, and fill it up with new water every day (or arrange it such that a drip system will provide it with some daily hydration). Periodically add minerals by dusting the surface with salt, compost, or tiny bits of rotting fruit.
- Keep going
Like other insects, butterflies have cold blood, hence they depend on the sun’s warmth to keep their body temperature stable. They are only active during the hottest hours of the day because of this. They’ll have a warm spot to rest and regenerate if you add flat, smooth rocks and other heat-retaining materials in your garden’s sunny sections. Wet rock surfaces also provide butterflies a place to pool so they may absorb vital minerals and warm themselves at the same time. - Provide Safety and Shelter for Monarchs
Plant protection plants all around your monarch habitat to keep butterflies safe from inclement weather. Strong, woody stemmed trees, shrubs, and vines with thick foliage are ideal for this, provided the plants are robust enough to provide cover for butterflies during a storm. In addition, monarch caterpillars love to pupate on this kind of plant; they may go up to 40 feet from their host milkweed in search of a safe spot to construct their chrysalis. These brilliant green beauties with gold flecks may be found in the most unlikely locations, such as along trellises, behind hanging pots, tree branches, or flower stalks. Just before the butterfly hatches, they become transparent, revealing the black butterfly curled within!
When you’re moving plants or buildings in your yard, or when you’re trimming brush and fallen branches, always be alert. Move a chrysalis carefully if you come across one that is exposed or at risk of being injured. Chrysalises are collected by many monarch enthusiasts, who then move them to confined monarch habitat kits where they may grow and hatch in complete safety.
