Butterfly Garden
Our Butterfly Garden contains native and Florida-friendly plants that attract and provide shelter for butterflies. Butterflies are excellent pollinators and these plant species are crucial to the continuation of butterfly populations.
The welfare of butterflies is increasingly compromised by the loss of habitat.
A well-planned butterfly garden appeals to many different butterflies and caters to both the adults and their larvae (caterpillars). Their larvae rely on specific plants called host plants for food and are often greatly limited in the number of plants on which they can feed.
All butterflies have a life cycle consisting of four distinct stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. Female butterflies lay their eggs on or near an appropriate larval host plant.
Butterfly gardening brings you closer to nature and educates you on the importance of caring for the environment. Enjoy our plants, butterflies, and caterpillars and get inspired to plant the right plants, and spread your “butterfly awareness” to people you know.
Plant List for OJT Butterfly Garden - 2023
Nectar plants
Compact Firebush – Hamelia patens compacta – N -Nectar – Orange
Florida Tickseed – Coreopsis leavenworthii (also C. floridana, C. lanceolate) – N – Nectar – Yellow
Lanceleaf Tickseed – Coreopsis lanceolata – N – Nectar – Yellow
Butterfly sage – Varronia globosa – N – Nectar
Florida Porterweed – Stachytarpheta jamaicensis – N – Nectar – Purple Tropical sage – Salvia coccinea – Red – N – Nectar – Red. Pink, White Ruby Red Pentas – Pentas lanceolata – FF -Nectar – Red
Pineland Heliotrope – Euploca polyphylla aka Heliotropium polyphyllium – N – Nectar – White and Yellow
Dixie aster – Whitetop aster – Sericocarpus tortifolius – N – Nectar
Button sage lantana – Lantana involucrata – N – Nectar
Scorpion tail – Heliotropium angiospermum – N – Nectar – white
Starry rosinweed – Silphium astericus – N – Yellow
Narrowleaf sunflower – Helianthus angustifolius – N – Nectar – Yellow Blue sage – Salvia azurea – N – Nectar – Blue
Tampa verbena – Glandularia tampensis – N – Nectar – Purple
N – Native
FF – Florida friendly
Larval plants
Florida Petunia – Ruellia caroliniensis – N – Larval and Nectar – Purple – host for Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) and White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) butterflies.
Creeping sage – Salvia misella – N – Larval and nectar – Blue – host for Fulvous Hairstreak
St. John’s Wort – Hypericum tenuifolium – N – Larval and Nectar – host Gray hairstreak
Privet cassia – Senna ligustrina – N – Larval and Nectar – host plant for Cloudless sulphur, sleepy orange, and orange-barred sulphur
Oblongleaf Twinflower – Dyschoriste oblongifolia – N – Larval and Nectar – host plant for Common buckeye
Lake Twinflower – Dyschoriste humistrata – N – Larval – host for Common buckeye Purple thistle – Cirsium horridulum – N – Larval and Nectar – host for Little Metalmark Wild plumbago – Plumbago zeylanica – N – Larval and Nectar – host for Cassius blue Plumbago – Plumbago auriculata – FF – Larval and Nectar – Blue – host for Cassius blue
False nettle – Boehmeria cylindrica – N – Larval and Nectar – host for Red admiral, Questionmark and Eastern comma butterflies
Bushy aster – Sympyotrichum dumosum – N – Larval and Nectar – host for Pearl crescent Snow squarestem – Melanthera nivea – N – Larval and Nectar – host for Florida white
Coontie – Zamia integrifolia – N – Larval for the rare atala butterfly (Eumaeus atala florida) which is restricted to South Florida and the echo moth (Sierarctia echo)
Pink swamp milkweed – Asclepias incarnata – N – Nectar and Larval for monarch, queen and soldier butterflies
N – Native
FF – Florida friendly