Improve Butterfly Habitat with Trees

Many gardeners enjoy plants that attract butterflies and there is no shortage of beautiful flowering plants to supply nectar for all our pollinators. One critical part of making habitat for butterflies that we may need to improve upon is supplying plenty of host plants for butterfly development. While we enjoy the flight of a butterfly through our garden, we really want to offer features that keeps them around.

Your landscape likely includes a few host plants and maybe you even have a citrus tree or plant parsley every season. What many people don’t realize is how many native trees serve as host plants for butterflies.  Some of these plants like specific environments while others can grow in a wide variety of habitats.

The Black cherry (Prunus serotina) and Cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana) serve as host to a large number of butterflies. A more well know species that uses the native cherries for development is the Tiger swallowtail. Although we might consider these trees weedy, they can serve as hosts to hundreds of species of butterflies and moths along with providing berries for wildlife.  The black cherry will be deciduous while the cherry laurel is evergreen. Both have flowers in late winter or early spring.  Just be aware that the cherry laurel fruit can have some toxicity in different developmental stages.

The Winged elm (Ulmus alata) is gaining in popularity as a landscape tree. The Question mark butterfly will lay eggs on plants under the elm and then caterpillars crawl up to feed on elm leaves. The reason we don’t see this butterfly on flowers as much is that it also feeds on manures, carrion, and rotting fruit. Resting butterflies have wing patterns that make them look like leaves.

If you have a site with moist soil or can supply routine moisture, consider the Sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana).  It will attract the Tiger, Palamedes, and Spicebush swallowtails for development.  Flowers on the tree are not as large as those on Southern magnolia but you still have similar appearance and even a pleasant fragrance.

A couple of understory trees are the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) and Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum).  Look for the Zebra swallowtail to find the Pawpaw while the sparkleberry will serve as host to hairstreak butterflies.

Even though landscapes may have limited spaces for every host plant, we can preserve some spaces around borders for native trees. These plants will make a positive impact for butterflies and pollinators.