Provide essential food and shelter for swallowtail butterflies at every stage of their life cycle.
By planting these host plants, you’ll support caterpillars as they grow, witness the magic of metamorphosis, and release new born butterflies into your garden. It’s an easy, rewarding way to nurture nature.
A female Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) in my butterfly tent
Raising your butterflies
Choose your own butterfly-raising adventure! Let nature take its course by watching caterpillars develop right in your garden, or boost their chances of survival by raising them in a protected enclosure. I’ll tell you everything I know about how to do it in my included guide.
Eastern Swallowtail caterpillars have white, green, and black stripes with yellow dots, similar in look to a Monarch. Giant Swallowtail Caterpillars are brown and white splotched, camouflaged as bird droppings. The younger versions of both are dark with a light “saddle” in the middle of their body.
Add some nectar sources for your butterfly garden
Zinnias are the MVPs of the summer garden. This seed mix includes six big, beautiful colors. So easy to grow you will be a fan for life. If you live in a scorching summer like Texas, planting them in some afternoon shade will help them through the hottest days.
JOY MAX QUALITIES:
THE must-grow summer flower. If you’ve never grown flowers from seed before, this is the gateway drug. Zinnias are so easy to grow, and while they do have a few challenges later in their growth cycle, you’ll be able to overcome them with just a little TLC.
This flower can take the heat although you will need to water it frequently in the summer if you want lush, healthy flowers through multiple 100℉ days.
Large 3-6” blooms in six bright & punchy varieties: Orange King, Cherry Queen, Violet Queen, Polar Bear, Canary Bird, and Pink Luminosa.
Open-Pollinated. When plants start to look spent, let the last flowers dry out and collect the seeds for next year.
This easy-to-grow orange behemoth blooms late in the season, attracting migrating Monarch butterflies. It's perfect for mass plantings in tough spots in the garden since it thrives in poor soil. This plant can grow quite large, so it's best to place it in the back of your border.
JOY MAX QUALITIES:
Easy-to-grow and fun for kids
Food source for migrating monarch butterflies
Huge orange wall of flowers. Attracts all sorts of pollinators and hummingbirds
Great in the heat. Very hard to kill. Tolerates infertile soil and neglect.
Open-pollinated
Cactus-style zinnia wildness but stacked! Grow a range of wild, shaggy shapes & colors in orange, peach, pink, red, yellow, and white hues. Stunning in the garden and an amazing cut flower. Blooms are huge, between 3-6.”
JOY MAX QUALITIES:
THE must-grow summer flower. If you’ve never grown flowers from seed before, this is the gateway drug. It’s so easy to grow, and while it does have a few challenges later in its growth cycle, you’ll be able to overcome them with just a little maintenance
It will surprise you with its many different blooms, even on the same plant
Large 3-6” blooms in so many colors and shapes
Semi-double to double quilled.
Open-Pollinated