Butterfly Gardens in the Winter

Butterfly Habits

• Butterflies are not cold loving by nature. Those that spend their winter months as adults head for frost-free climates, returning to cooler regions of the North once the icy weather vanishes. This helps ensure their survival, as the nectar-bearing flowers they feed upon are scarce in the North during the winter months. However, on warm days, nonmigratory butterflies, such as brimstones, angle wings and tortoiseshells, may emerge from their winter hideouts in hopes of finding food to tide them over. Including winter-blooming plants, such as winter honeysuckle, winter jasmine or viburnum, in the garden's design encourages the presence of these visitors.

Plant Preferences

• Butterflies prefer plants bearing, large, flat-headed blossoms offering stable landing platform, or those producing clusters of narrow spikes and numerous, tiny flower heads to grasp while feeding. Daisies, marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers and cosmos are among the butterfly's favorite flowers. Long-term plantings are established by combining shrubs, such as the butterfly bush or spice bush, with perennials, such as asters, coneflowers, candytuft and beebalm. Use a combination of early, mid- and late-blooming flowers for the best results and include a few broadleaf evergreens, such as native azaleas and snowberries, for background greenery and year-round interest.

Butterfly Forms

• While some butterflies spend their winter as winged adults, others survive as caterpillars. Although they are not as beautiful in their juvenile form, including plants that can be enjoyed by over wintering caterpillars encourages the presence of adult butterflies in the spring. The most appropriate caterpillar foods vary from region to region, but for the most part, caterpillars enjoy dining on dill, parsley, red clover, borage, violets, snapdragons, nasturtium, hollyhocks and spicebush leaves. Plant them in the garden, if the weather permits, or grow them in containers that are moved into sheltered locations during bouts of inclement weather.

Winter Wildlife

• There is an understated elegance of a classic butterfly garden in full bloom. Those who live in areas known for long, arctic winters, may want to include an assortment of plants that attract a wider variety of wildlife, as butterflies inhabit their part of the world for such a brief time. Certain plants, such a sunflowers, coneflowers and cosmos, attract songbirds as well as butterflies. Once the nectar from the flowers is gone, the seeds provide the local birds with a food source that lasts throughout the winter.