As I was sitting outside on the patio on a warm day, it suddenly occurred to me that something was missing. There wasn’t a single butterfly in the garden. Birds were singing, bees were buzzing, but no butterflies.
Where did they all go? Not too many years ago, black swallowtails, yellow swallowtails, monarchs, painted ladies and a host of other species I never did learn to identify were as numerous as spring flowers.
Also missing are the caterpillars. Once when I visited a neighbor’s garden, I complimented him on the number of parsley worms in his vegetables. When he said that he planned to spray them, I asked if I could take them home. He watched in amazement as I picked them off his plants and carried them away to add to the hoards already munching on my parsley, anise and Queen Anne’s lace. I grow these plants specifically so that the parsley worms, larvae of the black swallowtail, have something to eat. But I can’t remember the last time I saw a parsley worm.
Even tomato worms have disappeared. Not that I miss holes in the tomatoes. but a world without their adult phase, the hawk moth, (a moth that most everyone has at least once mistaken for a hummingbird), doesn’t bear thinking about. I would gladly sacrifice a few tomatoes to these oversized green horned worms for the sake of the hawk moths.
My garden is still the butterfly habitat it always has been. There are nectar-producing flowers for the adults, as well as food sources for the kids. I’ve placed bowls of water throughout the garden, and there are muddy places just beyond the fence line. Still no butterflies. Obviously, something is amiss.
I’m told a new species of wasp is preying on our caterpillar populations. But I suspect a bigger factor is suburban sprawl. New homeowners replace prairie with lawns and not much else. Butterflies don’t eat bluegrass.
When my neighborhood was surrounded by open spaces flush with wildflowers, butterflies were plentiful. If we don’t put some of their habitat back, the Butterfly Pavilion may be the only place we see butterflies. The occasional garden amid the suburban greensward does not seem to be able to attract and sustain a healthy population.
Like all creatures, butterflies require food at every stage of their lives, free of insecticides. Butterflies are insects after all. Surely every yard has room for a few of the following. For caterpillars: green ash, chokecherry, dill, parsley, fennel, hollyhock, sunflower and butterfly weed. For adults: zinnia, butterfly weed, cosmos, bee plant, marigold, aster, gaillardia, verbena, sweet clover, potentilla, lilac, rabbitbrush, butterfly bush, pansies and bee balm. At the very least, plant some clover in the lawn. A world without butterflies is unimaginable.
For information on attracting and keeping butterflies in Colorado, try these sites on the Internet:
– npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/co/toc.htm
– ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05504.html
– butterflies.org
Marcia Tatroe is a garden writer and lecturer. E-mail her at Rlaurora@aol.com.
