In the northeastern US, having a butterfly garden is one of the finest life experiences possible. We need more open spaces where sun-loving butterflies can make their living. Forests cover much of the northeast. Butterflies prefer open meadows and gardens where they can sunbathe.
Some people like to research how to build their own butterfly gardens. Other people want to hire a professional company to construct it for them. There’s something to be said about skipping the headaches of years of trial and error. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
Butterfly species naturally accent gardens in the most symmetrical pairing ever. And you can learn a lot about how evolution actually works by studying butterfly species in the garden world. For example, Viceroys and Monarch species have a stunning display of the evolutionary behavior called mimicry. Monarchs defend themselves by eating Milkweed, which is saturated in tannins. This makes the Monarch species taste terrible. Birds won’t eat them. Songbirds recognize the bright poison alert by the orange and black coloring. Viceroys used to just defend themselves by looking like Monarchs. Subsequently in the past 20-50 years, Viceroys actually began eating allelopathic flora. Now they taste bad too. The Mimicry has come full circle.
