It’s that time of year in Florida when things are starting pop up in the yard. Too often people grab the weed and feed or randomly pull plants without thought to how it could adversely impact our butterfly populations.
Many of the very plants that the chemical companies target as “weeds” are important larval hosts for our beautiful butterflies. A lawn is a pretty much a biological desert. Don’t fall for their misguided propaganda that you need to have a perfect carpet of green in front of your home. Leave that to the putting greens on the golf course.
Let these wildflower beauties grow and you just may find a marked uptick in the number of butterflies that choose to call your place home.
And don’t forget to leave an area of Bidens alba as a great nectar source that the butterflies simply can’t resist.
Come on over to the wild side. The pollinators will flock to show their appreciation.
Tales of a Central Florida Wildlife Garden 
I love this post! Highlighting “weeds” that serve as important butterfly (and moth) hosts is simply fantastic. I’m trying to think of some others you could add – violets come to mind, but nothing else is springing to mind right now.
By the way – do you know of any animals (including insects) that use dollarweed (Hydrocotyle)? We have a booming crop of it and I’m trying to find some upsides to that, beyond the pretty green color and shining leaves…..
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I’ll be doing a mock bishopweed one at some point this year. as for dollarweed you can see who all makes use of it (it’s apparently edible by humans too) in an article I did a while back: https://floridawildlifegardentails.wordpress.com/2016/08/07/covering-the-ground-why-fight-mother-nature/
Thanks again!
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Thanks for pointing me to your other post, Loret. That was exactly what I was looking for!
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KEEP IT WILD!!! I love this time of year when all the fun larval hosts pop up for the butters. Really nice illustrations, Loret! 👍🏻
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Thanks Ryan! Next I want to add the caterpillars photos!
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