How to Attract Black Swallowtail Butterflies

Black swallowtails have bright blue spots on their lower wings.

Butterflies are not only beautiful to watch, but they also pollinate the flowers in your garden during summer. Black swallowtail butterflies are mostly black, with rows of yellow spots along the edges of their wings and iridescent blue spots on their lower wings. They can be seen from southern Canada to northern Mexico, in eastern U.S. states as well as places like Arizona, California and New Mexico. Attracting these beauties to your garden just requires providing the plants and habitat that support all stages of their life cycle.

Things You'll Need

• Fennel, parsley, dill, Queen Anne’s lace and common rue
• Native nectar plants
• Flat stones
• Shallow pan
• Coarse sand

Instructions

1. Plant native plants with pink, red, purple, orange or yellow blossoms in a sunny spot in your landscape. Nectar-producing plants such as butterfly bush, zinnia and cone flower will attract the adult black swallowtails to your garden, where they will feed and reproduce. According to the National Wildlife Federation, butterflies usually only feed in the sun, so make sure your nectar plants get sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.

2. Provide host plants where Black swallowtails can lay their eggs and the hatched-out caterpillars can feed. Black swallowtail caterpillars prefer fennel, dill, parsley, Queen Anne's lace and common rue, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Space smaller groups of these plants throughout your landscape.

3. Lay flat stones around the garden so butterflies can alight on them to rest and warm their wings. Provide a water source by placing a shallow pan partially in the ground and filling it with coarse sand. Keep the sand wet so the black swallowtails can drink and extract needed minerals.

Tips & Warnings

• Butterfly season varies by area, but as soon as it is warm enough, start looking for the black swallowtails. In the northern part of their range, expect to see two flights between April and October. In the southern areas, there could be three flights.

• All parts of the rue plant are considered poisonous, so don't plant it in your yard if you have children or pets that could eat it. The plant can also cause skin irritation.

• Butterfly bush is considered invasive in some areas of the U.S.

• Don't use insecticides in your garden; they can kill the butterflies you want to attract.

References

• National Wildlife Federation: Garden for Wildlife -- Attracting Butterflies
• Butterflies and Moths of North America: Black Swallowtail
• The Butterfly Lab: Black Swallowtail
• NC State University Cooperative Extension: Ruta Graveolens -- Rue