"We have modified our environment so radically that we must now modify ourselves to exist in it."
" -- N. Weinerk"

If Your Black Thumb Scale (1-10) = 10:
Plant Lantana
& Verbena
Butterfly Magnet Scale 1-10 = 5-6:
Easy to Grow Scale 1-10 = 10:
(Images of different lantanas and verbenas)
I'm not sure it's POSSIBLE to kill Lantana. If you plant it, it will groooow!
Brazilian Verbena (Verbena bonariensis) is the butterfly favorite. If unavailable, Blue Princess verbena has been a proven performer in test gardens.

If Your Black Thumb Scale = 9:
Plant Lantana, Parsley, Dill, Fennel, and Brazilian Verbena (Verbena bonariensis)
Butterfly Magnet Scale = 8:
Easy to Grow Scale = 9-10:
This is better as Dill, Parsley and Fennel feed both butterfly and caterpillar.
I'm not sure whether my caterpillars prefer dill or fennel. I do know that I have the most success growing fennel.
Christine Scheer ("Butterfly Memoirs," Texas Gardener, May/June 1999, pp 34-36) finds her caterpillars prefer fennel to dill.
Admittedly it may be the varieties of each that they prefer.

If Your Black Thumb Scale = 7:
Plant Buddleia davidii, Brazilian Verbena, Tithonia, Parsley, Dill, Fennel, Milkweed, Coneflower, Lantana, Cosmos, and Single Zinnias.
Butterfly Magnet Scale 1-10 = 10:
Easy to Grow Scale 1-10 = 8:
This is THE optimum! You do not have to be Mrs. GreenThumbs, Neil Sperry, Jerry Baker, or Martha Stewart to grow these. Easy! EASY!

If you're willing to try...plant Pawpaw (Asimina) trees. Zebra Swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) need them for larval food. Zebras are endangered because of habitat destruction. Any form of Pawpaw (Asimina)...Big-floweer, common, dwarf, netleaf, slim-leaf, small-flower, or woolly, will do.

read on. . .if you want...but you've already got it covered:

P.S. Grasshopper damage: Under normal conditions, grasshopper population is kept in control by naturally occurring grasshopper diseases, insect predators and parasites, and many types of birds. Due to the hot, dry, Texas summers in 1996, 1997, and 1998, the grasshopper population grew into a HUGE problem this summer...One understands why Disney chose grasshoppers as the villians in "A Bug's Life." Grasshoppers have decimated just about everything. The grasshoppers haven't even nibbled my Lantana, Verbena, or Autumn Sage. And although hoppers wiped out my Cosmos, the Zinnias are still a flutter with butterflies.

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Friday, Apr. 2, 1999
A welcome mat for butterflies

  Q: My students want to plant a few plants to attract butterflies. We do not have a large area. Could you suggest a few plants?

A: Plant lantana or verbena, or both. These plants will attract a few kinds of butterflies and will flower from spring to fall. I have seen butterflies working the flowers of these plants in the perennial trial garden in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden and many other places. I think if you have just a small area, these two plants are your best choices.

The Texas Agricultural Extension Service selects three bedding plants to promote each year. Trailing lantana and Blue Princess verbena have been featured in the past as "Texas Superstars." These plants are proven performers in test gardens throughout Texas. The perennial trial garden in the Fort Worth Botanic Garden is one of these test gardens. After testing many plants and selecting which ones to feature, the Extension Service works with growers, and retailers have the plants ready for sale at a specified time.

Plant verbena or lantana in mass plantings in full sun. The plants will spread like a ground cover. They can trail over tall containers or hanging baskets. Prune both verbena and lantana between bloom cycles to encourage more flowers and to control the growth.

There are many other exciting plants for a butterfly garden. Some plants (nectar plants) attract many butterflies to feed on their nectar; others attract only very specific butterflies. Some plants (larva plants) attract butterflies to lay their eggs so their babies (caterpillars) will have plenty of food. The Butterfly Society has given us a list of these plants that grow in this area. If you would like a copy of this list, send a SASE with your request to the extension office, 103 Commerce St., Fort Worth, TX 76102.

  Dotty Woodson is the Tarrant County extension agent/horticulture with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Send her your questions at 103 Commerce St., Fort Worth, TX 76102.

The Domestic Web Goddess's favorite Papillon Professor -- Dan Petr

The importance of providing both Nectar and Larval foods for butterflies; Least hassle Nectar/Larval combos

Plants to repel pests but attract butterflies; Nectar/Larval combos for particular butterflies

Geyata Ajilvsgi's comprehensive profiles of selected butterfly personalities, identification, range, habits and food preferences

Nectar and Larval foods for butterflies that for the most part also attract hummingbirds and are drought-tolerant, low maintenance

Oscar the Grouch's Worst Mung Recipe -- Yum! Yum! Spew!

Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening by Naomi Mathews .
Informational website with lots of links.

The Butterfly Garden Club wants to send you a free packet of seeds in an attempt to boost butterfly habitat awareness. Send one self-addressed, stamped envelope with two first-class stamps to
Butterfly Garden Club, Box 629, Burgin, KY 40310.

Many of the plants in my The Neglectful Gardener site are butterfly favorites.

Lantana is a oft-repeated drought tolerant plant listed in Geyata Ajilvsgi's Butterfly Gardening for the South .

If you're willing to try...plant Pawpaw (Asimina) trees. Zebra Swallowtails (Eurytides marcellus) need them for larval food. Zebras are endangered because of habitat destruction. Any form of Pawpaw (Asimina)...Big-floweer, common, dwarf, netleaf, slim-leaf, small-flower, or woolly, will do.

Regal Fritallaries are endangered, too, but I know not how to help them...yet.

Tourism Metamorphosis May Save the Monarchs' Refuge in Mexico

The World Conservation Monitoring Centre maintains the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals as a searchable database listing of endangered and threatened species

The EE-Link Endangered Species site at the University of Michigan.

The Butterfly WebSite

Tired of mosquitoes? Concerned about insecticides hurting your hummers, butterflies, caterpillars, world? Adore Michael Keaton in black? Protect the underdog! Put up housing for bats. Creepy? Not after you check out the Bat Conservation International website. OK, I still don't think bats are cuddly, but who cares? The ecosystem needs us to recognize them as the beneficial, gentle, pest-slurping creatures they are. The Purple Martins do a great job, but somebody's got to take the night shift.

Best Online Butterfly Resource Anywhere!

Texas Butterfly Festival

The Inn at Chachalaca Bend
A Bed & Breakfast for Birding Enthusiasts with the largest butterfly garden in South Texas

Tea Herb Farm
Lots of seeds and plants for specific uses, and a link to the world seed bank.

Magic Wings

Imperiled Pollinators : National Wildlife Federation's "What You Can Do About the Pollination Crisis" and "Create a Pollinator Garden"

My black swallowtail notebook

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