Whites and blues, coppers and sulfurs, sisters and swallowtails, viceroys and admirals, satyrs and nymphs, emperors and monarchs. If you have the yard space, you may be able persuade the butterflies to come to you. You need a sunny spot sheltered from the wind, and you should try to plant so that flowers bloom from spring to fall. But if you go as far as gardening for butterflies, you will find yourself drawn into environmental issues all over again. Pesticides that protect plants from insect damage can harm non-target butterflies.
Suburban development can eliminate the only local patch of a larval food plant.
Introduced species can out compete or eat up native species. Since even escaping to nature can put one into the middle of a fight, it may seem that there is no relief from the bad news. Well there is, even if it is only for a moment. Butterfly tracking, bird watching, hunting, hiking, fishing, rock climbing, flower finding, wading, and gardening can all pull us out of ourselves and slip us into nature for as long as it takes to reconnect, refresh and recommit ourselves for whatever battles we choose to fight. 1987 Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City MO 65102 - all butterflies recorded in the state photographed in color, includes nat his info.