What Flowers Attract Black Swallowtails?

Annual Flowers

• Annual flowers add season-long color, which is important for attracting black swallowtail butterflies. As the butterflies fly overhead, they look down seeking the plants they need to sustain themselves. The more plants of one variety you have growing in a cluster, the easier it will be for them to spot. Marigold (Tagetes), zinnia (Zinnia), calendula (Calendula), bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea) and impatiens (Impatiens) are annual plants that black swallowtail butterflies visit. An annual plant is one that grows, flowers, sets seed and dies in one growing season.

Herbs

• Garden sage (Salvia officinalis), dill (Anethum graveolens), Russian tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), lovage (Levisticum officinale), parsley (Petroselinum crispum), anise (Pimpinella anisum) and rue (Ruta graveolens) are herbs that not only provide a nectar source when they are in bloom, but also are host plants. If you grow herbs for yourself, set aside a section of the garden specifically for the black swallowtail butterfly. Check the underside of herb leaves before harvesting them to make sure there are not eggs or caterpillars. Mix herbs into the flower border as well so the host plants and the nectar plants are growing close together.

Flowering Trees And Shrubs

• Butterfly bush (Buddleja), summersweet (Clethra alnifolia), redbud (Cercis) and lilac (Syringa) flower at different times of the year, offering a variety of larger plants from which the black swallowtail can drink nectar. Butterflies often seed trees or large shrubs on which to rest. This puts them out of harm’s way of people, small animals or other potential predators. Butterfly bush will bloom right up to the first fall frost as long as you deadhead the faded flowers. Deadheading is the technical term used by gardeners when they are referring to cutting off dead flower heads.

Flowering Perennials

• Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota), Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium) and violets (Viola) are perennial flowering plants that attract the black swallowtail butterfly. Plant all of these plants in your garden to provide a continual source of natural nectar from spring through fall. Often when butterflies seek a source of nectar in early spring and do not find one, they move on to the next flower garden. A perennial plant is one that comes back from its own root system year after year.