Gardening for Butterflies in Johannesburg

There are 29 different families of butterflies known to occur in our region. Butterflies belong to the order Lepidoptera.

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Adult butterflies feed primarily on flower nectar and they are significant pollinators.
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There are three golden rules for attracting butterflies to your garden:

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1. DO NOT use pesticides
2. Plant the correct larval host plants
3. Plant lots of nectar/food plants

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Tips on how to look after butterflies

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  • Have lots of shrubs and trees to provide shelter for the butterflies from the wind.
  • Plant a variety of colours, shapes, sizes and flowers for all seasons.
  • Plant indigenous and endemic.
  • Muddy puddles are the best water source for butterflies, as they get minerals from the soil.
  • Leave a patch of your garden unattended and overgrown.


Fun Facts

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  • Butterflies are sun loving creatures with their wings acting like big solar panels, their body needs to be a certain temperature in order to fly. This is why you won’t find them out on a day that’s colder than 20 degrees Celsius.
  • Male butterflies are territorial and will defend small territories such as perches and hilltops by “chasing” intruders out.

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Butterflies

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  • taste with their feet
  • smell with their ears
  • eats with its nose
  • breathes through its stomach

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Types of butterflies and their families

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African Clouded Yellow

African Migrant

African Monarch Browns (satyridae)

African Orange Tip

Broad Bordered Yellow Swallowtails

Brown veined white

Citrus Swallowtail

Common Hairtail

Common hottentot Monarchs & Milkweeds (danaidae)

Diadem

Eyed bushbrown

Fig tree blue

Foxy Charaxes Blues, Coppers and Bronzes (lycaenidae)

Garden acrae Nymphs (nymphalidae)

Garden Inspector

Geranium Bronze

Greenbanded Swallowtail

Grizzled skipper

Hennings argus

Highland bushbrown Acraes (acraeidae)

Lucerne Blue

Painted Lady

Patrician Blue Whites

Skippers (hesperiidae)

Yellow Pansy

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Larval host plants

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All butterflies have different specific needs when it comes to plants and laying their eggs. Below is a useful list of plants for our area:

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Wild Peach

Acacia Karoo
Aptenia cordifolia

Barleria Species (Obtusa, Natalensis, Rotundifolia)

Black Eyed Susan

Bushmans Tea

Cape Ash

Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis)

Cape Rattlepod

Chaetencanthus

Clerodendrum glabrum

Crassula species

Creeping Foxglove

Delosperma

Dicliptera

Dyschoriste species

Felicia species

Figs Trees (Broom Cluster, Strangler, Red Leaf Rock)

Forest Bell Bush (Makaya bella)

Galpinia transvaalica

Gazania

Geraniums

Helichrysum

Indigenous grasses

Food/Pollen plants

Justica

Kalanchoe

Lantana rugosa

Leadworts (Plumbago)

Milkweed

Monkey Pod

Natal Mahogany

Nuxia congesta

Pappea capensis

Pelargoniums (Graveolens, Hortorum)

Pentas Lanceolata

Plectranthus Species (Neochilus, Aliciae, Cilianthus, Hadiensis)

Polygala Virgata

Pycnostachys Urticifolia

Ribbon Bush (Hypoestes)

Salvia Species

Scabiosa Africana

Senecio Species  

Veld Violet

Weeping Boerbean

Wild Purslane (Portulaca quadrifida)