We need 'em, or at least the butterflies do.
The best way to plant a "butterfly garden" is to focus on the native plants that butterflies lay their eggs upon. Butterflies tend to be host plant specific. For instance: no milkweed = no monarchs.
Wetlands in Ohio are in decline. We have lost over 90 percent of the wetlands our state once had. When you lose the wetlands, you lose the wetland's plants and the suite of butterflies that use them.
He's got some real rarities here, like Dion and Duke Skippers. Their habitat is in pretty good shape, but he worries about the Baltimore Checkerspots. The deer eat their host plant Turtlehead. If the butterflies can't find enough plants to lay their eggs upon, he'll soon lose his Baltimore Checkerspot population.
So Jim is helping out Mother Nature, just a bit.
About the size of a silver-dollar, that chicken wire won't slow them down a bit. Unfortunately, the deer were probably standing in the undergrowth licking their lips as Jim placed the new plant.
The data from these weekly walks is compiled and sent to the Ohio Lepidopterists. If you are interested in butterflies, join this fine group to learn more about the citizen science going on in Ohio and the many programs and field trips available to members.
We might even visit the Davidson Butterfly Preserve.