Planting for butterflies

A few weeks ago I talked to Joel Ashton of the Butterfly Brothers (July 11 issue). If that sparked your interest in your garden butterflies, there is a new book out called “Planting For Butterflies, The Grower’s Guide To Creating A Flutter” by head gardener Jane Moore (Quadrille, £12).

“Planting For Butterflies” explains why butterflies are important and what their life cycle is. Butterflies are pollinators and, as insects, they’re also at the bottom of the food chain. They need two types of plant – nectar plants which they feed off as butterflies, and host plants. Host plants are where they lay their eggs, so that their caterpillars can feed from them when they hatch.

Specific types of butterfly favour different nectar plants, but our most common butterflies love lavender, sedum, Michaelmas daisies, valerian verbena bonariensis, scabious and, of course, buddleia.

As for host plants, that is a little more tricky. We may love butterflies, but we don’t want caterpillars on our cabbages.

Jane suggests planting a companion plant, such as nasturtiums, near (but not too near) the cabbages. The theory is that the butterflies prefer the nasturtiums to the cabbages and will lay their eggs on them instead.

“There’s some evidence to suggest that caterpillars which grow up on a particular plant will prefer that plant for laying their own eggs,” she says.

So, in theory, you could raise generations of cabbage white butterflies that prefer nasturtiums to your kale. It’s worth a try!

Otherwise, good caterpillar food plants include holly, ivy, some dogwoods and nettles. Jane says that if you don’t want nettles in your garden, there are likely to be some on wild land nearby, so you could focus on growing butterfly-friendly nectar plants instead.

It’s another reason to encourage local councils not to spray verges and let wildflowers flourish.