Plants
used as nectar sources by the Adult West Coast Lady Butterfly
 The
West Coast Lady butterfly likes sages such as the ground cover
Salvia
gracias (photo right). Salvia gracias is excellent
for rock walls and steep hot banks. It has attractive light
purple flowers. It is very drought tolerant. Sages are very
popular with butterflies as well as hummingbirds. Deer don't eat
them unless there is nothing else to eat. (If you have deer that
will eat this you should grow rocks.)
Another popular butterfly plant is the Narrow
Leaf Milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis. ( photo
below)This Milkweed is an insect magnet in the summer. All sorts
of butterflies visit it and lots of interesting beetles, bugs,
and other flying things. This is defiantly the most hopping
(crawling, creeping, buzzing etc.) place to be in the summer. It
needs water and with spread wherever the ground is wet. If you
have a dry native landscape, you can put it near a drippy bird
bath and it should stay put. It is also a larval food plant of
the Monarch
butterfly.
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Plants used by the Larva of the West Coast
Lady Butterfly
The West Coast Lady Butterfly larva feeds on
plants in the mallow (Malvaceae) and nettle (Urticaceae)
families.
Some of the Mallows that are enjoyed by the
larva are
Sidalcea spp. and Spheralcia
spp. There are many species of Spheralcia that are
beautiful in a garden setting.
California
Checker Mallow, Sidalcea malvaeflora sparsiflora is a
small delicate perennial that likes moist shady areas. It does
well under traditional garden conditions.
Desert
Mallow, Sphaeralcea
ambigua, (photo below) is a two to three feet tall
perennial. It likes hot dry full sun landscapes, as it is native
from Baja California to Utah. It is showy
with lots of orange flowers and gray foliage. It has a very long
flowering period especially if it gets a few summer rain showers
( a.k.a. you with your garden hose).
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