If you want to start a butterfly garden, pick a dependable host plant such as the Purple Passionvine or Maypop.
Purple passionvine is the larval host for so many butterflies including the Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, Mexican butterfly, Julia, Red-banded hairstreak, and Crimson-patch longwing.
When you start a butterfly garden, you want to attract as many different kinds of butterflies as possible. The trick to starting a butterfly garden is to know which butterflies like the shade and which like the sun.
The beauty of the Purple Passionvine for starting a butterfly garden is the fact that it grows in both sun and shade. To attract the Gulf Fritillary to your butterfly garden, plant the Passiflora incarnate in the full sun. To attract the Zebra Longwing to your butterfly garden plant the Purple Passionvine in the shade. You may want to start several butterfly gardens in different areas of your yard or at a school or church.
From personal experience starting a butterfly garden, I can tell you, the Zebra Longwing – the Florida state butterfly – likes A LOT of shade. Zebra Longwing can be elusive. But I believe as the plants and trees in my yard become more mature, the Zebra Longwing will come to stay.
Purple passionvine blooms in the spring and summer and boasts edible fruits. In fact, the plant’s nickname is “Maypop” because its yellow fruit pops when crushed.
It’s fun to start a butterfly garden with plants that not only look exotic but have an interesting history.
The 10 petal-like parts of the passionvine are said to represent Jesus’ disciples excluding Peter and Judas. Evidently the fringes of the flower represent Christ’s crown of thorns while the knob-like stigmas stand for the nails of the cross. The crucifixion is sometimes referred to as the passion of Christ.
According to the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Maypop is threatened in Ohio and rare in Indiana. There are actually 400 species in the genus Passiflora.
When starting a butterfly garden, try to incorporate plants that are native to the US such as the Maypop with 3-inch lavender showy flower.
The deciduous tropical vine is widely distributed in the southeast U.S.
I bought my Maypop from Florida Native Plants in Sarasota because I can always trust they cultivate the true natives for my butterfly garden.
One thing you will find about the Maypop is that it is a fast grower which sends out tendrils that grab hold of support structures. It has not trouble clinging to just about any surface. It needs virtually no support.
If you are starting a butterfly garden, pick plants such as the purple passionvine that do not require a lot of watering. Purple passionvine needs average moisture, but is native to the United States and can survive during droughts. It will die back in the winter and return in the spring more beautiful than ever.
Purchase the purple passionvine as an anchor to your butterfly garden – and then fill in with nectar plants. The caterpillars will munch on the leaves – but the purple flowers are so beautiful, you won’t mind at all. When starting a butterfly garden, let the purple passionvine grow on a fence or trellis in your butterfly garden as an exotic-looking backdrop.
