Butterflies' friend

Southern Living, Sep 1999 by Druitt, Liz

Starlings to the left of you, swallows to the right-what's a butterfly to do? In Thomasville, Georgia, the best plan by far is to head for the glorious garden of Julie Neel, as butterflies have been doing for the last 40 years.

Julie began featuring butterfly plants in her home garden to increase the butterflies' chances to propagate in safety. Then, as she explains, "Our daughters became interested. It was fun for them as children. They're still involved, and now I get to take my granddaughter, Eliza, out to count butterfly eggs in the garden."

Julie was asked to select the state butterflies for both Georgia (Tiger Swallowtail) and Florida (Zebra Longwing), basing her choices on the criteria that a state butterfly must not be harmful to agriculture and must occur throughout the state so all residents can enjoy it.

Her current project involves working with the Joseph W Jones Ecological Research Center in Newton, Georgia. She's helping to establish both a butterfly garden and an outdoor classroom for teachers who want to share the butterfly experience with their pupils. Julie also gives special slide programs on butterflies for kids and adults.

In addition to being generous to wildlife, this expert is generous with information for the beginner. "If you have a small garden or are just getting started," she says, "put in some nectaring plants first. Butterflies will come to eat, and once you identify your butterflies, you'll know which larval host plants to add. For example, passionflower vine supports Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. And you can put in plants for butterflies to lay eggs on. Feed the adults first; then you can go on to support their whole life cycle." The best of all nectaring plants, in Julie's experience, are butterfly bush (Buddleia sp.), lantana, verbena, and pentas.

"It's very important not to use pesticides-very important. And I've found out through the years that you don't need them. I feed the birds, even though they're the greatest predator of caterpillars, and I put in plants to attract other sorts of predators. Everything just balances out-really. I sure have got scads of butterflies this year!"

Two things Julie does do are scatter her larval host plants apart and mass the groups of nectaring plants together. The first gives the caterpillars a natural edge over the birds and avoids having tattered skeletons of caterpillar-chewed foliage turn her beautiful wrap-around-the-house garden into a ragged mess. Grouping the fragrant, nectaring plants, on the other hand, saves energy for butterflies seeking supper. And that part is easy too. As Julie points out, "Lantanas and porter weeds [Stachytarpheta sp.] that grow 6 feet across truly provide their own mass!"

Planting the right flowers is a start, but Julie has even more advice for making a butterfly haven out of your garden. It takes very little work to provide a "puddling place" for butterflies to drink. Julie's puddling place is a simple plastic container filled with builder's sand and aquarium gravel to make it nice and shallow. She keeps a watering can nearby so she can sprinkle it whenever she passes. Butterflies aren't looking for deep water-just a little moisture. They're also looking for nutrients and salts. Adding a small amount of pure mushroom compost to the damp gravel gives the ideal flavor, and then all you need are a few nice basking rocks where your butterflies can enjoy the sun on their wings.

Color, fragrance, sunny rocks, and a salty puddle. Paradise enough.