A Butterfly Garden Grows in East Quogue

Has anyone ever said a butterfly wasn’t beautiful? So, while people labor to create beautiful gardens, why not create a garden that attracts butterflies?Patricia Mitchell of Quogue has been working on a butterfly garden at the East Quogue Wildlife Refuge. A photographer who gardens, she had offered her services to the refuge when she heard it had a butterfly garden that had not been maintained.“Marders in Bridgehampton--I've worked there--donated a lot of plants; they just came. So we’ll be putting already flowered plants into the ground,” Mitchell said.You don’t need the size of a refuge to establish a butterfly garden; any yard will do. But you need the right plants. Among the many nectar-producing flowers that attract butterflies: bee balm, black-eyed Susan, hibiscus, hollyhock, and phlox. You can also encourage wildflowers, such as thistles, verbena and ironweed.Just as importantly, there are plants that the caterpillars, which grow into butterflies, require: butterfly host plants, which ae very species-specific. The female butterfly will lay eggs only on plants her species of butterfly will eat. The caterpillar that will become a Black Swallowtail will take its sustenance from dill, parsley, fennel and carrot. The Monarch needs milkweed, the Painted Lady thistle, hollyhock and sunflower.Websites that can help you attract these glorious creatures of summer to your garden are: www.thebutterflysite.com; www.butterfly-garden.com; www.monarchwatch.org.