By Bob Root, UUCF’s Act for Climate Today! (ACT!).
We humans enjoy the beauty and wonder of the trees and flowers that we see in our yards and gardens. Therefore, we often select flowers for our gardens and trees for our yards that are the most appealing. If we’re also interested in supporting native insects that serve as pollinators and food for other wildlife such as baby birds, it turns out that there are specific plants that do just that. The trick is to provide your yard and garden with plants that serve both an esthetic appeal and support pollinators and food insects, if possible.
Here are some well-established plant-insect relationships that may help you make selection decisions:
- Milkweed supports monarch butterflies as a larval-host plant, and its flowers also feed many other insects.
- Oak trees support hundreds of moth and butterfly species, making them one of the biggest insect-supporting plants.
- Blueberry plants support a wide range of moths and butterflies.
- Goldenrod, especially stiff goldenrod, supports many pollinators.
- Spicebush and sassafras support spicebush swallowtail butterflies as a host plant.
- Pawpaw supports zebra swallowtails.
- Parsley and dill support black swallowtails.
So in general, for a good yard and garden to support insect life, they need nectar flowers for adult insects, especially butterflies, and host plants for caterpillars.
For more information, check out the Xerces Society’s Pollinator-Friendly Native Plant Lists, especially for the Mid-Atlantic region.