The Right Plants to Attract Those Winged Works of Art

Now is the time to install plants that will attract butterflies so that these beautiful insects can spend the summer visiting flowers, drinking nectar, pollinating plants and adding animation to your garden.

All you need are water, host plants are nectar plants -- and no insecticide or herbicide use -- and you have a butterfly garden.

For the water, a very shallow source should suffice, such as a puddle with smooth pebbles placed so there is a dry area for the butterflies to stand on as they drink. You can use a receptacle such as a birdbath. If the water does not circulate by means of a pump, change it every three to four days to discourage mosquitoes.

A prefabricated, three-tiered fountain arranged with small flat rocks is the perfect watering hole for the butterflies in our yard. It also serves birds, deer, raccoons and foxes.

Most homeowners first consider nectar plants to attract butterflies to their gardens. Nectar plants are the showiest because of their flowers, but without host plants for the caterpillars to eat, you will have no butterflies.

That's because a butterfly's garden life begins with host plants that provide the foliage eaten by the caterpillars, which hatch from adult butterflies' eggs. They feed, grow, pupate, then unfurl into adults.

Butterflies lay eggs on plants they know are preferred by their offspring. Generally, the host plants don't suffer -- caterpillars of only one butterfly are known to be a crop pest, and that's on only one group of plants. The cabbage butterfly lays its eggs on young plants in the cabbage family, and its young feed on the heads as they form. Other types of caterpillars do nibble on desirable plants -- black swallowtails like parsley and its relatives, for instance -- but they rarely reach pest densities.

We use our property as a test plot for plants, and one of our greatest successes has been attracting butterflies. There were several host plants already growing, so we had a head start.

Such plants are generally less showy than nectar plants. A mass of milkweed near our home attracts the monarch. Oaks host the gray hairstreak; wild cherry, Edward's hairstreak and red-spotted purple. Spicebush and sassafras are homes for the spicebush swallowtail. Painted ladies lay eggs on thistles and asters. The American coppers feed on sheep sorrel, a common herb that grows in thickets of this region. Willow, ash and cherry are preferred habitats for the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly.

These winged jewels can make their appearance anytime in the growing season, depending on their hibernation pattern. They could spend the winter as a chrysalis, egg or adult, which means that throughout the growing season, some caterpillar may be feeding while an adult is breeding or drinking nectar somewhere in your garden.

Here are some of the nectar-producing flowers that will keep butterflies occupied all summer:

· Black-eyed Susan is Maryland's state flower. Its golden yellow flowers will feed butterflies throughout the summer.