Over time, you will notice which butterflies breed when, and will be able to anticipate larvae on the host plants at particular times of the year. Below is a table of butterflies that depend on the host plants that we have included in our garden.
Pelargonium species are some of the most rewarding host plants to grow - it took no time at all for this little Geranium Bronze butterfly to find our pot of Pelargonium peltatum. We hadn't even finished putting the garden together and she was already inspecting it for a place to breed!
Painted Lady Butterfly
Host Plant: Sorghum bicolor
Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly
Host Plant: Clausena anisata
Patrician Blue Butterfly
Host Plant: Lantana mearnsii
Common Blue Butterfly
Host plant: Plumbago auriculata
Yellow Eyed Pansy Butterfly
Host Plant:
Asystasia gangetica
Barleria spp.
Blue Pansy Butterfly
Host Plant: Asystasia gangetica
Common Diadem Butterfly
Talinum caffrum
Brown Commodore Butterfly (not pictured)
Garden Inspector Butterfly
Host Plant: Plectranthus spp.
Gaudy Commodore Butterfly
(Not pictured: Marsh Commodore)
Eyed Pansy Butterfly
Striped Policeman Butterfly
Host Plants:
Croton gratissimus
Schotia brachypetala
Pirate Butterfly
(Not pictured but same host plant = Gaika Blue Butterfly)
Host Plant: Chaetacanthus setiger
African Monarch Butterfly
Host plant:
Gomphocarpus fruticosus
Stapelia sp.
Twin Spotted Blue Butterfly
Lantana mearnsii
Salvia spp.
Cabbage Tree Emperor Moth
Host Plant: Cussonia sp.
You could include a “mud-patch” pot, with mineral-rich, muddy soil. Keep it wet, as this makes it easy for the butterflies to take up the nutrients. Check on this regularly to see that it does not dry out and become useless to butterflies.
Completely avoid pesticides in the butterfly container garden. Only purchase plants from your nursery that you know have not been sprayed with poisons.
If you decide to make your own butterfly garden in containers, we'd love to hear from you about what species visited or came to live in the garden.
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