Native plants in your area are essential for supporting the larval stage of local native insects. Female butterflies and moths often need specific genera of native plants to lay their eggs.
These larvae are not always pretty, and they sometimes even get a bad rap for “damaging” the plants that host them. Yet the remarkable relationship between host plants and the larvae they support is the result of a long process of coevolution. So, if you notice curled leaves, webbing, droppings, holes, and gnaw marks, know that you, too, are hosting these remarkable transformations in your garden!
More than 90% of herbivorous insects feed exclusively on a narrow range of native plants, which makes them especially vulnerable to their disappearance. Like the monarch with milkweed, these are specialist insects, and the plants they depend on are their host plants.
Some native species go even further, serving as host plants for dozens of specialist insects. Known as keystone plants, they support a large share of the local food web and play a critical role in ecosystem stability. Like the central stone in an arch, they hold ecological networks together. Without them, insect diversity and abundance drop, weakening the entire food chain.
These relationships between host plants and specialist insects are the result of hundreds of thousands of years of coevolution. That is why conventional ornamental plants, often imported from Asia or Europe, fail to support these insects, as they have been introduced too recently.
Adding host plants to your landscapes means restoring these close relationships between native insects and plants.
👉 To learn more about the invisible relationships between native plants and our ecosystems, read our article on the topic.
👉 To learn more about keystone plants, read our article on the topic.
Discover Host Plants
Canada Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) -Purple Butterfly (Limenitis arthemis)
Canada Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) - Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus)
Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) - Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio canadensis)
Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) - Black Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polyxenes)
Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) - Golden sweat bee (Augochlorella aurata)
Grey-headed coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) - Silvery Checkerspot butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis)
Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides) - Spring Azure Butterfly (Celastrina lucia)
Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) - Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) - American Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis)
Tall meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens) - Canadian owlet (Calyptra canadensis)
White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) - Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas phaeton)
Sources
Akène. (n.d.). Articles of Akène's blog. https://akene.ca/blogs/publications
Tallamy, Douglas W. (2020). Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard. Timber Press.