Herbal Blessing: BUTTERFLY HERBSCAPE

Today is Spring Fairy Fun Day and fairies love butterflies - they even have butterfly-shaped wings!! Why not plan to please the fairies and yourself by attracting butterflies to your garden - plant a Butterfly Herbscape!

Butterflies around your garden indicate a vital, healthy ecosystem. A variety of herbs help attract butterflies, so provide a unique habitat which aids in their preservation and teaches us how to live without pesticides even if we have to lose a few plants to hungry caterpillars.

Butterflies need two types of plants, one type as a host for depositing eggs and providing food for developing larvae and caterpillars, and another type as a source for nectar for adult butterflies. A butterfly garden needs a sunny location and don’t forget to include a mud puddle or damp sand pit, a log pile stacked crosswise plus a flat rock for sunning along with some of the following herbs especially those that are highlighted:

HOST PLANTS
Angelica (Angelica archangelica) Swallowtail
Dill (Anethum graveolens) Swallowtail
Borage (Borago officinalis) Painted Lady
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Monarch
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) Swallowtail
Hops (Humulus lupulus) Gray Hairstreak, Comma,
Question Mark, Red Admiral
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) White Peacock
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza spp) Skipper
Lovage (Levisticum officinale) Swallowtail
Mint (Mentha spp) Painted Lady, White Peacock
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) Cabbage White
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) Swallowtail
Rue (Ruta graveolens) Swallowtail
Sage (Salvia spp) Gray Hairstreak; Painted Lady
Violets (Viola odorata) Fritillaries
Wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) Painted Lady
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Painted Lady

NECTAR PLANTS
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Bee balm (Monarda didyma)
Calendula (Calendula officinalis)
Catnip/Catmint (Nepeta spp)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp)
Joe Pye-Weed (Eupatorium spp)
Lavender (Lavandula spp)
Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)
Red Clover (Trifolium pretense)
Rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis)
Thyme (Thymus spp)