Tips to attract and keep butterflies in your yard:
- Pesticides are a butterfly’s worst enemy. If absolutely necessary, apply only organic pesticides sparingly and selectively after sun-down, when most butterflies are inactive. Even better, attract beneficial insects and birds to your yard to keep pest populations under control, naturally.
- Create basking spots for butterflies by placing a few flat stones in sunny, sheltered locations.
- Leaf litter, fallen logs, or brush piles allow adult butterflies a safe place to hibernate.
- Leave garden cleanup until spring or do it carefully in the fall to avoid destroying the pupae of butterflies that overwinter on plant stems or leaf litter.
- Add some night-blooming flowers, such as Evening Primrose, Fireweed, Phlox, and Cardinal Flower, to attract night-flying moths.

Suggested Plants to Attract Butterflies:
To attract butterflies to your garden, there are two types of plants to consider: ones that draw the adult butterfly, and, more important, plants for the young larvae that will become those beautiful adults.Larval Food Plants of Vancouver Island Butterflies
* A great choice for butterflies associated with Garry oak ecosystems.
BUTTERFLY |
PREFERRED LARVAL FOOD |
Woodland Skipper |
*Native Grasses |
Two-banded Checkered Skipper |
*Grasses |
Clodius Parnassian |
Western Bleeding Heart |
Western Tiger Swallowtail |
Poplars, Willow, Birch, Bitter Cherry |
Pale Swallowtail |
Alder, Cherry, Ceanothus |
Anise Swallowtail |
Cow Parsnip, Fennel, Parsley, Angelica |
Pine White Douglas |
Fir, Pine, Hemlock |
Sara Orangetip |
Arabis, Mustard family |
Cabbage Butterfly |
Cabbage family, Mustard family, Saskatoon |
Margined Whites |
Mustard family - Arabis, Cardamine. |
Western Elfin |
Labrador tea, Salal, Arbutus, Kinnikinnick, Manzanita |
Moss’ Elfin (rare) |
*Stonecrop |
Western Pine Elfin |
Lodgepole Pine, White Pine, Fir |
Spring Azure |
Spiraea, Oceanspray, Dogwood, Viburnum, Cherry, Ceanothus |
Painted Lady |
Thistles, Mallows, Pearly Everlasting, Borage |
Cedar Hairstreak |
Western Redcedar |
Purplish Copper |
Dock, Sorrel |
Lorquin’s Admiral |
Spiraea, Willow, Poplar |
Red Admiral |
Stinging Nettles |
West Coast Lady |
Stinging Nettle, Mallows |
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell |
Stinging Nettle |
Mourning Cloak |
Willow |
Satyr Comma |
Stinging Nettle |
Mylitta Crescent |
Short-styled Thistle *Native specie only |
Plain Ringlet |
Grasses |
Common Wood Nymph |
Grasses |
To provide nectar for adult butterflies in your garden:
- Aster Clover
- Dogwood
- *Stonecrop
- *Yarrow Violet
- Goldenrod Phlox
- Wild Rose Spring Gold
- Wild Strawberry
- *Nodding Onion
- Saskatoon Berry
* A great choice for butterflies associated with Garry Oak ecosystems.