Many gardeners want butterflies in their garden. Here you can find out which plants you can use to attract the colorful butterflies and how butterflies can actually feed themselves.
For many people, butterflies are the epitome of elegance and beauty. Children in particular are fascinated by the colorful animals and are happy when they can observe the pretty butterflies in the wild. So it's no wonder that many gardeners want to attract butterflies to their garden. This works best if you offer the moths a good supply of food in your garden. But what do butterflies actually eat and which plants can actually be used to lure the animals? In this article you can find out what food butterflies need and how the animals can be given additional support.
How do butterflies feed?
Most people know what a butterfly looks like and how it develops from a caterpillar into a beautiful animal. What butterflies eat is unknown to many. In fact, the type of food varies greatly from one to another
butterfly species dependent. Butterfly species that are native to us, such as the brimstone butterfly, feed mainly on nectar. The butterflies take their food with their long proboscis, which they can simply roll up between meals. By feeding in this way, butterflies can utilize numerous plants for others beneficials how bees are not accessible - this makes the butterflies also an important pollinator for many plants. Moths also mainly eat nectar as food. Most butterfly species fly from March to April and are then in search of food. Between November and February, on the other hand, there are only six butterfly species that overwinter as moths in Germany. Normally, these are in the hibernation, only when the weather is exceptionally warm, you can see isolated moths in search of food during this time.
However, there are also butterflies that prefer a different diet. Some, like the Lesser Peacock Moth, eat nothing at all in their short lifespan and have stunted proboscises. Other butterflies prefer plant sap or fallen fruit as food, some even feed on the honeydew of the aphids to use. In tropical regions there are exotic moths that use tears, sweat or even blood as a source of food - but this food is not common for butterflies in Germany.
Which plants are particularly good food for butterflies?
If you want to lure butterflies into your garden with food, you quickly realize that different species prefer very different food plants. Painted Lady butterflies especially like alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and red clover (Trifolium pratense), but can also be found on the eponymous thistle (Carduus acanthoides) down. Brimstone butterflies, on the other hand, prefer plants like the loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) or the knapweed (Centaurea). The diet of moths also depends on the respective butterfly species: hawk moths use their long proboscis to nibble on the hidden nectar from bindweed (Calystegia sepium) and phlox (phlox), the gamma-ray owl, on the other hand, visits flowers of all kinds.
In order to attract as many different species of butterflies in the garden as possible, it is worth using different ones butterfly friendly plants how heather (Calluna vulgaris), sorrel (Rumex) or dandelion (Taraxacum) that are accepted by numerous species. In order not to have to look for all the plant seeds yourself, it is helpful to look for butterfly-friendly seeds – such as the Plantura butterfly meeting - fall back, which includes the most popular butterfly plants. Since the butterfly club blooms throughout the season, it offers an ideal food source for butterflies in your garden. In addition, you can add perennial plants that provide food for butterflies. Some of the most popular food sources for butterflies include willows (Salix) and sloes (Prunus spinosa), but also the nectar of blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) and summer lilac (Buddleja) is often used by butterflies as food. In general, the more plant species you have, the more butterflies you will find in your garden.
In addition to food for butterflies, it is of course also important to provide them with something to drink. But what do butterflies actually drink? In fact, butterflies meet their fluid needs primarily by ingesting liquid nectar and other plant juices. Only on particularly hot days or to balance out their mineral balance do butterflies occasionally seek out small puddles to drink water from.
Can you feed butterflies?
In general, the best food for butterflies is what they collect themselves from a colorful flower meadow so a garden full of butterfly-friendly plants is the best way to feed butterflies. However, if you find a butterfly that is obviously exhausted and weak, you can refresh it with additional food. To do this, dissolve one part sugar in four parts water and dip a sponge into the cooled sugar solution. The butterfly can now take its food from this through the long proboscis.
Bowls or plates with sugar water, on the other hand, should be avoided, as the liquid could get onto the wings of the butterflies and, in the worst case, cause them to stick together. Butterflies also like juicy oranges: Simply cut the fruit into one-centimetre-thick slices cut and drape on a kitchen towel so that excess fruit juice does not stick to the wings of the animals. The butterflies then suck the sweet fruit juice from the offered slice on their own.
In summer, the colorful butterflies can be found everywhere. But what about in winter? Our article will tell you all about it hibernation of butterflies.
