Butterfly Gardening on the Prairie

BUTTERFLY GARDENING ON THE PRAIRIE

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With over 170 different species of butterflies in Kansas, there are ample opportunities to have an interesting butterfly garden. What follows is a suggested list of plants to use in central Kansas.

Native Wildflowers	Cultivated species
Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae) New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americana) Thistle (Cirsium sp.) Coreopsis (Coreopsis sp.) Coneflower (Echinacea sp.) Blazing Star (Liatris sp.) Spearmint (Mentha spicata) Beebalm (Monarda fistulosa) Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) Verbena (Verbena sp.) Ironweed (Vernonia sp.)	Daisy (Chrysanthemum sp.) Phlox (Phlox sp.) Marigold (Tagetes sp.) Lantana (Viburnum sp.) Zinnia (Zinnia sp.)
	Woody Plants
	Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) Privet (Ligustrum sp.) Spirea (Spirea sp.)

As with any butterfly garden, remember to:

Provide a water source. Not a pond, but a puddle area around a water drip or a patch of damp ground.
Provide basking surfaces. Logs and large rocks both work well.
Provide shelter from the wind. Keep the airspace above the garden relatively still to make the butterflies more comfortable.
Stay away from biocides of all kinds. Butterflies are very sensitive to pesticides and herbicides probably don't do them much good either.
For caterpillars, grow the food plants your local species prefer. A row of fennel or parsley will practically guarantee the appearance of Black Swallowtail caterpillars.
Plant large swaths of any given plant, not single specimens. The abundance of color will attract the butterflies and the abundance of flowers will keep them there.

For more information on Butterfly Gardening, visit the Butterfly Site's Butterfly Gardening web page!

To download a Butterfly Gardening brochure for your area, try this North American Butterfly Association web page!

Nebraska is just north of Kansas, and the Nebraska Extension has a very good Butterfly Gardening web page.

Have fun!