Help attract butterflies

If you enjoy seeing the fleeting flashes of colour that butterflies bring to your garden, you might want to increase the number of plants that attract them.

Adult butterflies will come to the garden for two reasons: to search for nectar in flowers – being useful pollinators as they go -and for females to find suitable plants on which to lay their eggs.

These plants are called hosts and different butterflies require different and specific plants to breed and ensure the emerging caterpillars start life on the right diet.

There is no denying there will be some leaf nibbling, but if you have a healthy garden, birds and insects will consume enough caterpillars to keep this under control.

One butterfly that should be mentioned specifically is the endangered Richmond Birdwing butterfly whose host plant is the birdwing vine (Pararistolochia praevenosa).

Many individuals and groups are planting this vine to ensure the survival of this species.

Just some of the plants that grow in our area that are useful to butterflies for food, habitat or breeding are: mat rush,  kangaroo grass, beach flax lily, various acacias, banksias, westringias and melaleucas, tuckeroo and native sarsaparilla.

Plant of the month is Westringia fruticosa or coastal rosemary, a very hardy, salt-resistant, spreading shrub with grey leaves and white flowers.

City Farm, opposite the Community Centre, on Tin Can Bay Road, is open to the public for plant sales on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday  from 8am-3pm, 07 54862304. ccfni09@gmail.com,  www.cooloolacityfarm.org

Please note: We are a cash-only organisation.