Caterpillar Host Plants

Nectar feeds adult butterflies; host plants are what their caterpillars can actually eat. Most native butterflies and moths are specialists, able to digest only a narrow set of species they evolved alongside — the Monarch on milkweed is the familiar example, but the pattern is the rule, not the exception. A garden full of nectar and empty of host plants supports adults passing through without producing a single new generation. Host plants also feed birds. Nearly all terrestrial birds rear their young on insects rather than seed, and caterpillars are the single most important item in that diet, so these species do double duty. Expect chewed leaves. That damage is the plant doing its job, and it is worth siting these species where a ragged midsummer look will not bother you.