Presentation: Gardening for Butterflies
Channel: San Francisco Public Library
Date: 2022-01-29

A partnership with the California Native Plant Society, Yerba Buena Chapter.

San Francisco is home to many beautiful butterflies. Butterfly babies (caterpillars) evolved with and depend on eating local native plant leaves (host plants). We discuss growing a butterfly buffet for baby and adult butterflies, including plants that thrive in containers. Butterflies and host plant relationships are available for California plants on the Calscape database and for butterflies and plants across the United States on the National Wildlife Federation plant database.

 Susan Karasoff gardens in San Francisco’s clay soil. Karasoff brings an “only the easiest plants survive” approach to gardening. She grows a buffet of colorful native edible and pollinator plants, specifically gardening to feed caterpillars, bees, hummingbirds and people. Karasoff’s plant lists are available on the California Native Plant Society - Yerba Buena (San Francisco) website on the biodiversity resources page.

http://cnps-yerbabuena.org/