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

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