Wild your garden
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In this action resource page, find out how to 'wild' your garden, from creating a dead hedge to managing invasive plants.
While just about any flower with nectar can be a treat for butterflies, it is a slightly different story for caterpillar food or 'host' plants. In fact, most butterfly species have just a short list of host plants. Often this is because caterpillars need particular chemicals from that plant to bring out their warning colouration as butterflies.
Some butterflies and caterpillars overwinter, so shelter in the garden, such as thick growths of ivy, is also important.
Plants for butterflies
| Species | Host plant |
| Comma | Stinging nettle, hop, currants |
| Common blue | bird’s-foot-trefoil |
| Dingy skipper | bird’s-foot-trefoil, horseshoe vetch |
| Green-veined white | Hedge mustard, cuckooflower, nasturtium |
| Holly blue | Holly, ivy |
| Large skipper | Cock's-foot, false brome |
| Large white | Cultivated varieties of Brassica oleracea, such as cabbage and brussel-sprouts, nasturtium, wild mignonette |
| Meadow brown | Grasses: fescues, meadow-grasses and bents |
| Orange-tip | Cuckooflower, garlic mustard, honesty |
| Painted lady | Thistles, stinging nettle |
| Peacock | Stinging nettle |
| Red admiral | Stinging nettle, hop |
| Ringlet | Cock's-foot, false brome, tufted hair-grass, common couch |
| Small copper | Common sorrel, sheep's sorrel |
| Small skipper | Yorkshire-fog |
| Small tortoiseshell | Stinging nettle, small nettle |
| Small white | Cultivated varieties of Brassica oleracea, such as cabbage, nasturtium, wild mignonette, hedge mustard, garlic mustard |
| Wall brown | Cock's-foot, false brome, Yorkshire-fog, wavy hair-grass |
Beth Hukins
Grow a secret garden for butterflies
Growing host plants for caterpillars in the garden is not necessarily guaranteed to attract the relevant butterflies, but butterflies do breed in gardens, so it is worth experimenting with different host plants to see which species might find your garden suitable.
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