Butterflies

It was Dolly Parton who once said that love is like a butterfly and I have to agree well, kind of!
There is nothing I enjoy more than sitting out in my patch, enjoying the flit of flight and flash of
colour from some beautiful butterflies. While these are not always the first cab off the fauna rank
when we think of habitat gardening, butterfly gardening plays an important role in increasing
backyard biodiversity. As well as which its immensely rewarding, and its dead easy!
Okay, before we get started here, we have to understand a few things about butterflies and creating
bio-diverse butterfly habitat. For one, attracting and keeping butterflies hanging about in your patch
means that you need to provide tucker and shelter for them at every stage of their lifecycle. Yup,
that means from caterpillar right through to the attractive adult life phase so if you cant stand the
grubs, get out of the (butterfly) garden! As the American comedian George Carlin once said, the
caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity! Butterflies should be a welcome
addition to the garden, and, just like loads of native critters, they need all the help we can give them
to ensure that dont disappear from our gardens altogether. But, as we are helping them, they are
helping us, by pollinating a range of plants and providing a important link in the good old food
chain!
There are about 400 odd species of butterfly in Australia with a significant number of these living on
a wing and a prayer due to habitat loss, and removal of key food plants. The bulk of our Aussie
butterflies are confined to the tropics, but every state and territory has their own little collection of
Lepidoptera (fancy scientific name for the butterfly and moth family), a large proportion of which are
dead simple to attract to your patch. So, how do we do it? Well, by following a few simple design
principles, your garden will be beautified by butterflies in no time!
Designing Your Butterfly Garden
Assume the Position!
As with all types of garden, the first thing that has to be considered in the construction of a butterfly
garden is the position. Butterflies are delicate wee things, and are not huge fans of wind, but they
love the sun! Butterflies use the early morning sun to warm themselves and retreat to cooler,
shadier places during the heat of the day. A spot that is fairly sheltered and protected, but cops a far
bit of sun is ideal but there is a catch. These little stunners love moisture, not always that easy in a
full sun spot.
My suggestion is to dig a couple of small, shallow depressions, and periodically fill these up with
water the butterflies will thank you for it. In return, you may be fortunate enough to be treated to
a display of puddling, where butterflies land on these moist depressions and suck the water out of
the soil. This often happens en masse and is pretty impressive! Whack a couple of flattish rocks
into you butterfly garden to give your fluttering friends a place to land and sun themselves, and, if
you pay close attention, you may be able to watch the butterflies courting each other! Awwww
how sweet!
The Need for Feed
You know what I love a good feed! I always have, ever since I was a little tacker and so do
butterflies. The key to a really successful butterfly garden is to provide both food (and shelter) for all
stages of butterfly life; from the egg, to the caterpillar, to the butterfly and then over again.
Caterpillars like food plants, while the beautiful adults love a feed of nectar. So, what kind of plants
should we whack in? Well, there are some general rules of thumb that apply to most butterflies, but,
like people, some butterflies can be a bit fussy and have specific dietary requirements (more on
these later).
As always, it is important to avoid planting any plants that have the potential to be invasive.
Unfortunately, one of Australias worst garden escapees, Lantana camara, is also a fantastic
butterfly attracting plant, and they probably helped spread this plant throughout our bushland. But
our native butterflies are happier with some locally native tucker, so avoid the exotics, and go for
local plants!
Food Plants for Caterpillars and shelter for Eggs
Alright, we need to be honest here caterpillars have voracious appetites, and can eat every edible
part of their preferred food plants. If gardening for butterflies, it is important to overcome the fear
of caterpillars, and accept that some well munched plants are a sign of a good, working, butterfly
gardening. Great egg-laying and caterpillar-munching plants include:
Shrubs and Trees: Wattles (Acacia sp.), Bush Peas (Pultenaea sp.), Purple Fan Flower (Scaevola
sp.)
Grasses: Lomandra sp., Poa sp. (including australis, tenera, labillardieri,) and sedges like Gahnia sp.
and Carex sp.
Ground Covers: Purple Coral Pea (Hardenbergia violacea), Running Postman (Kennedia prostrata)
Mistletoes hosted by a number of Australian indigenous trees are also exceptional spots for butterfly
egg laying and food sources for many of our native butterflies. Be sure to check for your local
listings for specific food plants for local butterflies.
Flowers and Nectar Traps
Colourful, massed beds draw butterflies in and keep them happily moving through the garden. They
particularly like blue, yellow and red, but are attracted to a large range of colours, with bold clusters
of flowers more effective than single plants dotted through a garden. An excellent idea is to group
the plants together according to colour, creating big colourful clusters that butterflies just cant
resist. The shape of the flower is important too, with simple, flat flowers easier for butterflies to
extract nectar. Double flowers with their multiple petals are too complex. But daisies, native
pelargoniums and bluebells, saltbush plants, and pea flowers are especially useful.
Knowing which butterflies hang out in your neck of the woods is important in knowing which food
plants to provide, as a few of our rare and threatened butterflies only feed on a small number of
locally native plants. The list below is a selection of native plants found in many parts of Australia
that may attract butterflies to you garden, but, for specific feeding and nectar plants for your local
butterflies, check out the links at the endof this article.
Trees: Wattles (Acacia sp. including Silver, Black Wattle and Blackwood), Eucalypt sp.,
Allocasuarina sp. Tea Trees (Leptospermum sp.)and Banksia sp.
Shrubs: Bossaiea sp., Bursaria sp., Correa sp., Bottlebrushes (Callistemon sp.), Hop Goodenia
(Goodenia ovata), Hakea sp., Pimelia sp., Boobialla (Myoporum sp.) and Kangaroo Apples (Solanum
sp.)
Ground Covers: Purple Coral Pea (Hardenbergia violacea), Running Postman (Kennedia prostrata)
and Native Violet (Viola hederacea)
Wildflowers: Just about all of them! Your garden centre should be able to give you a good idea of
some local native beauties!
Climbers: Clematis sp., and Wonga Vine (Pandorea pandorana)
Can the Chemicals
Alright, we have the position and the plants sorted, so what else do we have to do to encourage
these flutter-bys to our patch? Well, its more a case of what not to do, especially when it comes to
chemicals in the garden. Not all of us are completely at ease with creepy-crawly-slimy-slith-
ry-furry-flying critters and insects in the garden, and tend to declare full-scale chemical warfare at
the first sign of insect inhabitants. In order to keep a bio-diverse, butterfly-friendly backyard, we
need to seriously consider what chemicals we are using, and why. Insects and invertebrates (little
tackers without backbones) are an incredibly important part of any ecosystem, and this includes
mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants and spiders. We have all heard of the butterfly effect, where a minor
action in one location can have devastating knock-on effects elsewhere. Well, apply this to your
backyard, where the sprinkling of ant granules or the spraying of pesticides could have a
detrimental impact on not only the target insect, but a whole host of important invertebrates. Think
carefully about chemical use, and, where possible (especially in butterfly gardens) avoid it
altogether. After all, a couple of holes in a few leaves is all part of nature!
And its that simple. There is no minimum size or space recommended for a butterfly garden, and, as
we all know, size isnt everything, its what you do with it. By planting a good mix of food and nectar
plants, providing water and moist soil, and avoiding butterfly-battering chemicals, your garden
should be a haven of fluttery activity in no time. Consider keeping a butterfly book, tracking the
sightings and activities of butterflies and caterpillars in your patch, and get the kids involved in
butterfly spotting and egg hunts. Happy butterfly gardening!