They enjoy watching them flit from flower to flower and delight in witnessing ugly caterpillars transform into beautiful flying insects. One way to foster this connection between your child and nature is to help him or her plant a butterfly garden. As a gardener you may not want to hear this, but if you want lots of adult butterflies in your garden you must put up with their voracious children. Female butterflies fly from plant to plant, landing briefly on leaves to taste them with their feet. When a plant tastes right, they stay long enough to deposit one or more eggs.
Butterflies are choosy because their offspring are picky eaters.
When the eggs hatch, the kids caterpillars will be hungry. Some caterpillar hosts may already grow in your yard or neighbourhood. Other hosts are easy to grow, like butterfly weed, one of the milkweeds munched by monarchs, and parsley and dill, in the carrot family, which is nibbled by black swallowtails. If you place a couple of large flat stones where the sun s rays can heat them, you ll see them sun themselves on cool summer mornings. Male butterflies appreciate a nearby saucer of wet sand or dirt from which they can sip salts and minerals.