![]() | Butterfly Garden? | ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley & Helen Schwencke |
There are two aspects to a butterfly garden:
Attracting Butterflies to breed
There are a few plant families that are foodplants of
a number of Butterfly species, particularly
Grasses (POACEAE) | 50 Australian butterfly species |
Reeds (CYPERACEAE) | 25 Australian butterfly species |
Mistletoes (LORANTHACEAE) | 25 Australian butterfly species |
For other butterflies, you need native plants from a variety of other plant families.
Here are
Helen Schwencke's Top 10 Butterfly food-plants:
The caterpillars of some exotic butterfly species were already adapted
to feed on exotic plants in our gardens, like
![]() Danaus plexippus Monarch NYMPHALIDAE | ![]() Gomphocarpus fruticosus Milkweed APOCYNACEAE |
![]() Pieris rapae Cabbage White PIERIDAE | ![]() Tropaeolum majus Nasturtiums BRASSICACEAE |
Attracting Butterflies to feed
![]() Buddleia davidii | ![]() Pentas lanceolata | ![]() Lantana camara |
Further reading :
Frank Jordan & Helen Schwencke,
Create More Butterflies,
Peter Valentine,
Gardening for Butterflies.
Kremp Florist,
Butterfly Gardening Articles
![]() FAQ | ![]() butterflies | ![]() FAQS | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() FAQ |
(updated 29 November 2009, 9 February 2025)