DATE: Sunday, July 13, 1997                 TAG: 9707110108

SECTION: HOME & GARDEN           PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 
                                            LENGTH:  194 lines

BRING ON THE BUTTERFLIES: ATTRACT WINGED BEAUTY TO YOUR YARD WITH RIGHT PLANTS AND A LITTLE CARE

FLUTTERING FROM bloom to bloom, fragile butterflies add elements of beauty, movement and mystery to the garden.

In wonderful shades of orange, golden yellow, iridescent blue and white, these small wonders are like graceful flying flowers. The butterfly's ephemeral quality and its fascinating rebirth from a silky chrysalis woven by a hungry caterpillar are among nature's miracles.

To have big yellow tiger swallowtail butterflies or colorful painted ladies flitting through a garden takes little effort on the part of the gardener, and the rewards are huge. With a small investment in plants that butterflies love to feed on, such as lantana or butterfly bush, you can make your yard a way station.

Close to 50 butterfly species can be seen in Hampton Roads. If you put out plants to which both butterflies and their caterpillars are attracted, you can have gardens as enticing as those at the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk.

The zoo's butterfly gardens were started about five years ago with a grant from Norfolk's Harborfront Garden Club, said zoo horticulturist Mark Schneider. With the loss of woods and fields to development, butterflies have lost much of their natural habitat, and the zoo's gardens are a conservation effort as well as an aesthetic one.

Butterfly gardens brighten areas in and around the zoo's animal exhibits, and containers and hanging baskets with nectar plants dot the landscape. Butterflies and insects of many kinds add constant motion to the flowers.

Next Sunday, would-be butterfly gardeners will have a chance to buy plants like those at the zoo and also to see some prime examples of butterfly gardens in Virginia Beach.

``Butterflies and Flowers, A Summer Garden Tour,'' will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 20. Sponsored by the Butterfly Society of Virginia, it includes five gardens in the Oceanfront area.

If you are thinking about planting a butterfly garden, go on the tour and talk to the experts, advised Schneider, a former president of the butterfly society.

For starters, he recommends planting lantana and butterfly bush. Easily acquired and easy to grow, they are the two best nectar plants for butterflies.

In the zoo, Schneider plants an orange and pink lantana variety called ``Miss Huff's Hardy,'' which winters over in Hampton Roads. For gardeners without much room, don't despair. ``Lantana does well in hanging baskets,'' he said.

Butterfly bush, or buddleia, can be pruned like a shrub or can grow into a small tree. It comes in whites, purples, blues, pinks and yellows. Its long spiky flowers with dozens of little nectar cups bloom from early summer to frost. You can see a variety of them at the zoo.

Although the zoo grows monarda, which is highly recommended as a butterfly nectar plant in most books, Schneider has never seen a butterfly light on it, despite its large, delicate red and white blooms. Monarda has a short blooming season in Hampton Roads, and Schneider wonders if butterflies like it more in climates where its blooms are longer lasting.

``At the zoo, we grow it as an ornamental,'' he said.

Most butterflies, regardless of species, are attracted to lantana, butterfly bush and other nectar plants, such as verbena, phlox, zinnia and globe amaranth. They also like many native plants, such as Joe Pye weed and goldenrod. Butterflies like large, colorful flowers that provide a good landing pad and flowers with lots of little cups from which they can sip sweet nectar, Schneider said.

Not so for the picky, hungry caterpillars that will undergo metamorphosis and emerge as butterflies. The caterpillars are particular about what they will eat, and they don't often share.

For example, the black swallowtail butterfly must lay its eggs on plants in the carrot family, such as parsley and fennel, so its brilliant green, black and yellow caterpillar will have a proper feast when they hatch. The monarch butterfly, on the other hand, lays its eggs on milkweed plants, such as butterfly weed and common milkweed, to sate its black, yellow and white striped caterpillar.

Butterfly weed with its orange blooms on draping stems is a good butterfly plant, because the monarch caterpillar will eat its leaves and most butterflies will sip its nectar, Schneider noted.

Native trees are host plants for other caterpillars. Tiger swallowtail caterpillars go for wild cherry trees, and spicebush caterpillars prefer sassafras. The wild passionflower vine is host to the beautiful orange gulf fritillary.

Besides growing the nectar and host plants that butterflies and caterpillars enjoy, a butterfly gardener has to keep a few other things in mind. For example, insecticides are verboten, because what kills bad insects will also kill butterflies.

``One thing you cannot do is spray in a butterfly garden,'' Schneider said ``You have to look for other ways.''

He recently released a passel of ladybugs to fight aphids in the zoo's gardens. Earlier in the season, he released lacewings, which are good for combating a variety of insects. Schneider, an organic gardener, has found that sea kelp works well as a fertilizer for butterfly plants.

Butterflies also need water. They do what is described as ``puddling,'' because they can't light on water to drink. Butterflies come up to the edge of a puddle to drink or they stick their proboscises into damp earth and extract moisture.

Schneider recommends a shallow pan filled with sand and water, no higher than the sand, as a good puddling place.

Lastly butterflies need a ``place to hang out,'' Schneider said. That basically means a garden with some shelter where butterflies can rest out of the wind, under leaves or the eaves of a building or other protected spots.

``Butterfly houses are nice,'' he said, ``but they don't provide any purpose.''

Location of a butterfly garden is important for other reasons. ``Most butterfly gardens are in full sun,'' Schneider said. ``In most cases butterflies need the heat to warm their wings.'' From the human perspective, it's nice to plant the garden where it can be seen from inside and out.

There are many books about butterflies, but not all are written for this area. The best way to learn is by talking to people, Schneider said.

``Go on the garden tour,'' he said. ``Come to zoo.''

And find out how to bring a whole new dimension to your garden. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

A delicate sulfur butterfly alights on a purple coneflower...

Photo

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

A dusky wing butterfly feeds on nectar from a lantana blossom in one

of the butterfly gardens at Norfolk's zoo.

Graphics

TAKE A TOUR

What: Butterflies and Flowers, A Summer Garden Tour, sponsored by

the Butterfly Society of Virginia

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday, rain or shine

Where: Virginia Beach; four gardens in Bay Colony and one at the

North End

How much: Block ticket, $5 (Butterfly Society members, $4);

single garden, $2

VISIT A BUTTERFLY GARDEN

The following private gardens in Virginia Beach will be open from

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Sunday for ``Butterflies and Flowers, A

Summer Garden Tour,'' sponsored by the Butterfly Society of

Virginia:

Bay Colony Gardens:

Barbara & Maurice Jackson

1125 Ditchley Road (Plant Sale)

Lee and Hugh Moomaw

1113 Ditchley Road

Claire and Michael Cassada

1312 Bruton Lane

Anne Gilliam

1208 York Lane (Refreshments)

North End Garden:

Dottie & Jim Bain

7201 Holly Road

Here are some public butterfly gardens you can visit. Call the

numbers listed for information on hours and admission costs.

Butterfly Gardens

Virginia Zoological Park

3500 Granby St.

Norfolk

441-5227

Wildflower Meadow

Norfolk Botanical Garden

Azalea Garden Road

Norfolk

441-5830

Butterfly Theme Garden

Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center

1444 Diamond Springs Road

Virginia Beach

363-3900

Native Plant Garden and Wildflower Meadow

Virginia Marine Science Museum

717 General Booth Blvd.

Virginia Beach

437-4949

Butterfly Garden

Virginia Living Museum

524 J. Clyde Morris Blvd.

Newport News, Va.

595-1900

WHAT TO PLANT

Here are some plants that provide nectar for butterflies and some

host plants for caterpillars, culled from a list compiled by the

Butterfly Society of Virginia:

Nectar sources: Butterfly bush, Vitex or chaste tree, Abelia

chinensis, Clerodendrum trichotomum, lantana, verbena, garden

phlox, sedum, butterfly weed, purple coneflower, Joe Pye weed,

goldenrod, zinnia, impatiens, pentas, cosmos, Mexican sunflower,

vinca.

Host plants: Parsley, fennel, milkweed, violet, sassafras, spice

bush, paw paw, wild cherry, passion vine, wisteria.

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