By Mary Free, Extension Master Gardener
Pollinator Week recognizes the significant role that pollinators play in maintaining healthy ecosystems, in producing our food, and in enhancing the beauty and enjoyment of our landscapes.
Support native pollinators by adding native plants to your garden, patio, or balcony. Conflicted about which plants to choose? A stroll around a public or Master Gardener demonstration garden—MGNV cares for nine demo gardens in Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia—might help you decide as you observe the growth habits of a variety of native species and pollinator interactions with them.
During your stroll, take note of the butterflies flitting about. They are not just lured to nectar-filled flowers. Besides nectar plants, which provide energy for adults while they mate and reproduce, lepidopterans need host plants on which their caterpillars can eat and grow.
Several weeks ago, at the Master Gardener Tribute Garden, a female azure (Celastrina) butterfly fluttered around a shrubby St. John’s-wort (Hypericum prolificum) covered with developing buds. She probably emerged from her pupa and mated the previous day. This day she was hunting for a host for her offspring and had found a promising candidate.
Watch the video to see her standing astride a Hypericum bud. She circles the bud, tapping her feet, which possess taste organs that allow her to sample this potential food source for her larva. Reassured of the plant’s suitability, she curves her abdomen downward and oviposits on the bud. She then basks briefly before flying off to search for another suitable bud. If she is to give her offspring the best chance for survival, then she must choose wisely and in a short period of time, as this day or the next would likely have been her last.
Unlike most caterpillars that feed on leaves, azure larvae feed on the flower parts and fruit of woody plants, including dogwoods and New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus). Many butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, of which azures are members, have a mutualistic relationship with ants that will protect and shelter the eggs and later the larvae in anticipation of receiving honeydew produced by the caterpillars. Adult azures feed on a wide variety of flowers.
Learn more about lepidopterans, their life cycles, behaviors, and how to attract them to your garden. To attract specific butterflies, consult Nectar and Host Plants for Selected Mid-Atlantic Butterflies and Moths. To find plants that thrive in our region, visit Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic and discover which plants are the Best Bets to Attract Pollinators.
Happy Pollinator Week!
References
Bartlett T, Cotinis, Nanz S, Moisset B, McLeod R, Thomas AW. 2004 (last updated 20 March, 2024). Genus Celastrina – Azures. BugGuide.
Pavulaan H. 2014. 16 June 2014. A case of sympatric Celastrina ladon (Cramer), Celastrina lucia (W. Kirby) and Celastrina neglecta (Edwards) (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae) in Northern Virginia, with additional records of C. lucia in Virginia. The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Society. 7(7):1-10.