Before I get the common questions about “need food for Monarchs” and… “What do the admiral butterflies need for their caterpillars?”, I thought I’d put the warning out now: 

Monarchs are coming out of “hibernation” – in fact I have already seen quite a few mating, so… it’s all on! 

Swan plants (bit boring in my opinion!) can be sown right now – Kings Seeds and other seed merchants have these popular plants in stock; Moths and Butterfly trust also stocks a heap of different seeds for Monarchs; Germination is good at warmer temps: 21 degrees is recommended. 

Fabulous Asclepias species with colourful flowers are also suitable host plants – more my gig! 

Whatever you sow: aim for heaps of plants and keep some of them in large pots as “spares” for when famine breaks out. 

Potted plants (covered with fine netting) are out-of-bounds for ovipositing female butterflies; they are also – later in the season – a movable object to confuse the GPS systems of marauding wasps! 

Good horticultural practice makes the plants grow bushy and dense, creating heaps of foliar food: pinch out the terminal buds from the tallest growing tips, which allows lower dormant buds to develop more bushy appearance 

Admiral Butterflies love nettles to lay their eggs on; if you have a safe space you can try the native Ongaonga stinging nettle; just be careful they are ferocious (Hence their name Urtica ferox) 

Red admirals are keen on that tree nettle (ferox) but will also feed on perennial nettle (dioica) 

Yellow admirals tend to go for the smaller nettle species as food for the caterpillars. 

I have both admirals in abundance, her in the Halswell Quarry; The reds seem to overwinter here too. 

Red admiral (left) – Yellow admiral (right) 

For our blues, sow some Trifolium, Medicago or Lotus species, and for coppers and boulder coppers: plant the appropriate species of Muehlenbeckia. Details can be found of the Moths and Butterflies Trust website: https://nzbutterfly.info/ 

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