Port Washington Garden Club

"The best way to make sure you're removing a weed and not a valuable plant? If it comes out of the ground easily it's a valuable plant."

Anonymous

This Month in the Garden (August 2009)

Butterflies are frequent visitors to Port Washington gardens from the Mourning Cloaks that emerge from winter hibernation in March to the Monarchs that gather to migrate south in late August and September. They’re drawn to flowers like those of buddleia which provide them with nectar, their only food.

Gardeners will see more butterflies, however, if they limit their use of pesticides and grow plants to feed the insects’ caterpillars. Many of these plants are common to ornamental and herb gardens and are robust enough to tolerate the hungry caterpillars. If gardeners provide the plants necessary to complete the insects’ life cycle and learn to tolerate a few damaged plants, their gardens can be filled with what many call “flying jewels.”

These butterflies are frequent visitors to Port Washington gardens. They’re paired with some of the plants they depend on to feed their offspring.

Monarchs	feed on members of the milkweed (Asclepsia) family (Asclepias tuberosa or butterfly weed is the most common form found in gardens)
Black Swallowtails	feed on Queen Anne’s lace, parsley, dill, and carrot foliage
Tiger Swallowtails	feed on the leaves of lilac, ash, birch, and chokecherry trees
Viceroys	these Monarch mimics feed on the leaves of willows, poplar and stone fruit trees
Mourningcloaks	these butterflies which overwinter in Wisconsin feed on willow, poplar, and birch leaves
Red Admirals	feed on nettles and false nettles
Fritillaries	feed on violets
Painted Ladies	feed on thistles, mallows, and hollyhocks

This Month in the Garden Archive:

November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009

Port Washington Garden Club, PO Box 492, Port Washington, Wisconsin 53074
Registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization