Butterflies & caterpillars and their food

What to plant in your garden to attract butterflies.

Butterfly	Food Plants
Brimstone	Aubretia, buddleia, lavender, purple loosestrife, runner bean, scabious
Comma	Bramble, buddleia, devil’s-bit scabious, Sedum spectabile
Common blue	Bird’s-foot-trefoil, buddleia, lavender, marjoram
Gatekeeper	Bramble, buddleia, candytuft, thyme
Holly blue	Bramble, escallonia
Large white	Aubretia, bugle, buddleia, candytuft, common thistle, lavender, nasturtium, ragged robin
Meadow brown	Bramble, buddleia, field scabious, lavender, marjoram
Orange tip	Aubretia, bugle, honesty, sweet rocket
Painted lady	Aubretia, buddleia, hebe, lavender, common ragwort, red valerian, scabious
Peacock	Buddleia, common ragwort, common thistle, hemp agrimony, scabious
Red admiral	Aubretia, buddleia, common thistle, ivy, privet, rotting fruit
Small tortoiseshell	Aubretia, buddleia, candytuft, common ragwort, common thistle, Michaelmas daisy, scabious
Small white	Aubretia, buddleia, common ragwort, lavender, ragged robin
Speckled wood	Buddleia, honey dew from aphids, marjoram
Wall brown	Buddleia, lavender, red valerian

Caterpillars

Thistles can be planted in the garden to attract caterpillars

Although sixty species of butterflies breed in the British Isles, many can't readily find the food their caterpillars need in our gardens, as they usually feed on native plants. Each species of butterfly has to lay its eggs on or near the caterpillars' food plant. Some caterpillars you may enjoy having as residents in your garden 'restaurant', others may be less welcome, especially if they take a liking to your prize cabbages!

It is easy to see the adult butterflies as they flit around the garden, but you have to look closer for their eggs, pupa and caterpillars (larva). Often the first signs of these are holes appearing in the leaves of your plants. The eggs are generally around 1 mm tall, difficult to identify and are either laid singly or in clusters on the backs of leaves or stems. The caterpillars are the eating machines, and are easiest to identify when fully grown.

Many of the caterpillar food plants below are well suited to being planted in wilder areas of the garden where they can munch away in peace, but remember caterpillars will appreciate a warm, sunny and sheltered spot.

Caterpillars will often pupate and overwinter on dead vegetation, so try to avoid being too tidy with your garden, particularly where you know there have been caterpillars around.

Caterpillar	Food Plants
Brimstone	Alder buckthorn, purging buckthorn
Comma	Currant, elm, hop, stinging nettle
Common blue	Clover, birds-foot trefoil, lesser yellow trefoil, restharrow
Gatekeeper	Bents, cocksfoot, couch, fescues
Holly blue	Bramble, gorse, holly, ivy
Large white	Plants in the cabbage family, nasturtiums, wild mignonette
Meadow brown	Grasses, especially Poa pratensis
Orange tip	Arabis, charlock, cuckoo flower, garlic mustard, hedge mustard, honesty, ladies smock, watercress
Painted lady	Thistles, burdocks, mallows, stinging nettle
Peacock	Stinging nettle
Red admiral	Stinging nettle, hop
Small tortoiseshell	Stinging nettle
Small white	Plants in the cabbage family, nasturtiums, wild mignonette
Speckled wood	Annual meadow grass, cocksfoot, couch
Wall brown	Most of the common grasses