Inviting Butterflies to the Garden

My Grama Alta's yard was a treasure trove of fluttering butterflies dancing through the mid-morning sunlight. Happy, smiling - full of wonder at their intricate patterns and glorious colors - my sister and I were thrilled to spot little brown moths, elegant orange and black monarchs, species with orange oval markings or butterflies with translucent wings the color of lime sherbet. Lime were my favorite! It was normal to have butterflies.

It didn't occur to me.
My Grandma Alta had invited the butterflies to her garden.

As I'm guaranteed to attract my handsome Italian hubby with a spread of warm bread, pepperoni pizza and Basil Tomato Mozzarella Caprese; my Grama Alta had attracted the butterflies by planting a border of delicious nectar producing flowers.

A Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on the nectar of a pink and yellow Lantana.

Until a few years ago we had no butterflies. I hadn't invited them. It wasn't intentional. I just didn't realize they had nowhere to go and nothing to eat at my garden party.

Butterflies like to lay their eggs on Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata), so this is where we began. I say we, because my hubby is super excited about this project and picked out the milkweed himself.

1.  I filled a large pot with a mix of 3/4 native dirt and 1/4 sand.
2.  Planted the milkweed in full, hot sun near a sprinkler that would splash a few cups-worth of water into it every morning.
3. It's THRIVING in these "horrible" conditions because it's desert-adapted and prefers clay soil and sand for drainage and full sun. If you have a rock or xeriscape yard, consider adding a dozen of these no-maintenance plants.

This first season, I must admit I was an uneducated butterfly mom and rinsed the yellow aphids with such vigor I feel relatively certain I knocked away the butterfly eggs as well. Next year, I'll know better and rinse gently.

I also planted Silky Gold Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in part-shade. It prefers morning sun only. I dug a large hole and mixed the soil with half sand before backfilling it. This will assure the soil drains thoroughly after each watering. This plant DOES NOT like to stay wet and will die in full sun.

I planted quick-growing Passion Vine (Passiflora alatocaerulea) in part-sun. When hungry, hungry caterpillars hatch, they love to munch these leaves. Plus the vine produces stunningly beautiful flowers.

Can you spot the holes where caterpillars have begun to feast? Sometimes they strip the vine bare. No worries. It's just part of the ebb and flow in the garden. If it doesn't survive, I'll plant a new one.

Passion vine will extend springy tendrils to catch onto a trellis or arbor as it climbs.

I've planted different varieties of Lantana in every corner of my garden so after butterflies emerge from their cocoons they enjoy nectar from a wide spectrum of color.

I think Lantana flowers look like fourth of July fireworks.

Spent blossoms produce little seed clusters which eventually turn black and drop to the ground. Lantana reseeds easily and the new sprouts can be dug up and transplanted around the yard (full to part-sun).

I also provide a "seep" or safe water supply for butterflies. I poured sand on the ground under my hanging pots. As water drips from the pots in the morning, it saturates the sand. Once it stops dripping, butterflies can safely land on the sand and drink from it without wetting their wings or falling into a puddle.

Each spring, thousands of Monarchs flutter on a 3,000 mile journey, leaving the warm overwintering sites in California and Mexico for summer breeding grounds throughout the US and Canada. Believe it or not, they scour metropolitan Arizona, like weary travelers, on the lookout for shelter, food and water. I've heard rumors there's a gardener in Central Phoenix who began planting milkweeds, chaste tree, fairy duster, coreopsis, sunflower, wooly butterfly bush, lantana and zinnias several years ago to create a backyard Monarch Waystation. Rumor has it - on certain spring days you'll find her standing in her city garden surrounded by a hundred butterflies which flutter freely, enjoying this stop on their journey. Can you imagine? I plan to add more flowers, shelter plants and at least a dozen more milkweed to see how many butterflies will come.

I'm excited the butterflies have begun to find Miracle Haven.

To find more easy-to grow desert milkweeds:
http://swmonarchs.org/milkweed.php

Visit Phoenix Home & Garden magazine to learn more about beginning a butterfly garden:
http://www.phgmag.com/garden/desert/201201/a-monarch-garden/