Why Plant Butterfly Host Plants
Male Orange Tip Butterfly
Wildlife and butterfly friendly gardening is a growing topic of interest and these days most gardeners enthusiastically plant nectar-rich “pollinator friendly” planting schemes. One easily overlooked requirement is to plant for the less glamorous caterpillar stage too, but without these essential host plants, butterflies cannot reproduce.
By catering for the entire butterfly lifecycle in this way you will support your local butterfly population as well as attract more butterflies into your garden.
This article looks at what host plants to grow to support Orange Tip butterfly caterpillars.
Orange Tip Butterfly Habits
Orange Tips are springtime butterflies that can be seen in a range of habitats. They frequent marshes, river margins and damp meadows but can also be found skipping along hedgerows and visiting gardens, especially if there is a wildlife pond nearby. Orange Tips lay their eggs singly on a flower stem and usually avoid plants with pre-existing eggs so you need a generous patch of larval food plant to go round. The reason for this is that the caterpillars of this species are cannibalistic.
Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard or hedge Garlic
Orange Tip Butterfly Host Plants
Preferred Caterpillar Host Plants
Orange Tip’s favourite host plant is Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo Flower or Lady’s Smock, which loves boggy areas, damp meadows and pond margins. In fact the term “pratensis” means meadow in latin.
Alternative Caterpillar Host Plants
If like me, you have a drier garden Orange Tips will also lay their eggs on Hedge Garlic/Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) which is often seen along the side of country lanes and hedgerows. Do be careful and check the latin name when ordering this caterpillar plant as several different plants share these common names.
Less Common Caterpillar Host Plants
Cardamine pratensis or Cuckooflower is the Orange Tip’s favourite host plant
Sisymbrium officinale - Hedge Mustard, Barbarea vulgaris - Winter-cress, Brassica rapa - Turnip, Sinapis avensis - Charlock, Cardamine amara - Large Bitter-cress and Arbis hirsuta Hairy Rock-cress. Although Orange Tips will lay their eggs on Lunaria annua - Honesty and Hesperis matronalis - Dame's-violet garden plants, caterpillar survival is believed to be quite poor on these so these are best avoided except as accompanying nectar sources.
General Caterpillar Host Planting Tips
Caterpillars usually rely on our native wildflowers for evolutionary reasons, which often may not be readily purchased in your local general garden centre and when they are, may not be the right cultivar or pesticide free (even with a pollinator friendly label so do take care to ask). The good news is that there are plenty of excellent specialist native plant and seed stockist online, a few of which are listed below.
Plant your caterpillar plants in generous clumps as butterflies are often quite picky about which stems they will use. Site them in or near a sunny sheltered position (depending on the plants requirements) ideally with a good, seasonally appropriate, source of nectar close by. Again native plants are often preferred, when using non-natives pick single varieties rather than doubles as the latter have less nectar.
Companion Orange Tip Butterfly Nectar Plants
Most of the Orange Tip’s caterpillar host plants serve as nectar sources, but these pretty springtime wildflowers are also an option:
Lychnis flos-cuculi, Ragged Robin
Selene dioica, Red Campion
Stellaria holostea, Greater Stitchwort
Anthriscus sylvestris, Cow parsley
Lunaria annua, Honesty
Hesperis matronalis, Dame's-violet
British Native Wildflower Stockists
There are plenty of online specialist suppliers these days, do ask about pesticides and double check latin names before ordering.
Emorsgate - Wildflower seed specialists based in Norfolk
Naturescape - Nottingham based native plant and seed specialist with a good selection of plugs