“If you build it, they will come…”
Florida has approximately 160 different types of butterflies. Attracting them is the easy part – having a garden in which these critters can spend most of their life is the trick to an endless source of entertainment for your family. Your Palm Beach yard is the perfect place to plant a butterfly garden because our climate allows for so many diverse plants.
Generally, plants that have sweet smelling flowers in warm colors such as yellow, red, orange and blue blossoms are the best for attracting our flighted friends. According to www.RockledgeGardens.com, some more common nectar plants are: Pentas (especially red), Porterweed, Salvia (native and non), Lantana, Firecracker, Firebush (native), Impatiens, Yarrow, Buddleia, Daisies, Gaillardia (native), Coreopsis (native), Mexican Heather, Verbana.
These nectar-rich plants are a wonderful start, but you will also need larval plants which are meant to be eaten by caterpillars because this is where the butterflies will lay their eggs. Butterflies are territorial and will fight to keep others away. They will only lay their eggs on specific plants such as dill or parsley for Black Swallowtails and Tropical Milkweed for Monarchs. One tip from www.RainForrestEducation.com was to cover these plants with nets once the caterpillars come to protect them from the hungry birds.
The North American Butterfly Association provides lists of Annuals and Perennials and Trees, Shrubs, and Vines that attract butterflies in South Florida. You can access the website at www.NABAbutterfly.com. The Guide is under construction and you can check their website for updates to the following lists.
Annuals and Perennials
| English Name | Scientific Name | Plant Type | Caterpillar food Plant For: |
| Alligator Flag | Thalia geniculata | Perennial | Brazilian Skipper |
| Blue Porterweed | Stachytarpheta jamaicensis | Perennial | Tropical Buckeye |
| Butterfly Milkweed | Asclepias tuberosa | Perennial | Monarch, Queen, Soldier |
| Partridge Pea | Chamaercrista fasciculate | Annual | Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, Little Yellow, Ceraunus Blue, Gray Hairstreak |
| Tropical Milkweed | Asclepias curassavica | Perennial or Annual | Monarch, Queen, Soldier |
| Turkey Tangle Fogfruit | Phyla nodiflora | Perennial | Common Buckeye, Phaon Crescent, White Peacock |
| Water Dropwort | Oxypolis filiformis | Perennial | Black Swallowtail |
Trees, Shrubs, and Vines:
| English Name | Scientific Name | Plant Type | Caterpillar food Plant For: |
| Corkystem Passionflower | Passiflora suberosa | Vine | Gulf Fritillary, Julia Heliconian, Zebra Heliconian |
| Faux Persil Balloon vine | Cardiospermum corindum | Vine | Gray Hairstreak, Miami Blue, Silver-banded Hairstreak |
| Holywood | Giaoacum sanctum | Tree | Lyside Sulphur |
| Hercules’ Club | Zanthoxylum cleva-herculis | Shrub or Tree | Giant Swallowtail |
| Lime Pricklyash | Zanthooxylum fagara | Shrub or Tree | Giant Swallowtail, Sicklewing Skipper, Schaus’ Swallowtail |
| Mexican Senna | Senna Mexicana | Shrub | Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, Orange-barred Sulphur |
| Spiny Hackberry | Celtis pallida | Shrub or Tree | Emperors, American Snout, Red-bordered Metalmark |
| Sugarberry | Celtis laevigata | Tree | American Snout, Question Mark, Tawny Emperor, Hackberry Emperor, Mourning Cloak |