OPINION:Attracting butterflies to your garden
By planting the appropriate indigenous plants, it’s easy to both attract butterflies and encourage them to breed in your garden.
Butterflies have a magical quality to them, and everyone loves seeing these brightly-coloured delicate creatures dancing and flirting from flower to flower. South Africa boasts over 650 different species of butterfly, and by hosting them in our gardens we can ensure that these living jewels continue to thrive in our threatened environment.
When starting out, you’ll have to accept that your beloved plants will have their leaves eaten by caterpillars. But this is worth the sacrifice as the damage to plants is minor and in fact encourages more and abundant growth and flowering.
In nature, butterflies and their larvae form part of a food chain and they fall prey to many creatures. So you’ll get the additional benefit of attracting other wildlife to your garden such as birds, lizards, frogs, spiders and praying mantises.
It’s important to understand the basic butterfly lifecycle. It starts with an egg which is usually laid on or near a specific larval (caterpillar) host plant. Different species have unique dietary requirements so host plants vary accordingly. When the egg hatches, a caterpillar emerges. It will feed on the foliage and once it reaches its full size will move into the pupa stage, where it transforms into a butterfly.
Butterflies obtain most of their energy from the sugar-rich nectar from flowers. Again, different species have specific food preferences, favouring indigenous plants.
Here are just some of the common plants which you can grow in your garden to attract butterflies.
Groundcovers: Arctotis stoechadifolia (Trailing Marigold), Asparagus species (Asparagus Ferns), Asystasia gangetica (Creeping Foxglove), Gazania species (Gazanias), Plectranthus species (Spur-flowers)
Small shrubs and herbaceous plants: Barleria obtusa (Bush Violet), Pentas lanceolata (Pentas), Hypoestes aristata (Ribbon Bush), Freylinia tropica (Blue Honeybell Bush)
Trees and shrubs: Acacia species, Buddleja species, Harpephyllum caffrum (Wild Plum), Kiggelaria africana (Wild Peach); Mackaya bella (Forest Bell-bush); Mundulea sericea (Cork Bush), Rhamnus prinoides (Dogwood), Vepris lanceolata (Ironwood)
Content submitted by Glenice Ebedes from Grounded Landscaping.
