Native Gardening, Pollinator & Butterfly Information

Host Plants for Butterflies

  • Tropical Milkweed (which is Orange) - Monarch Butterflies, Non-native for OK, but okay to use, an annual
  • Swamp Milkweed - Monarch Butterflies, Good for Wet Areas
  • Butterfly Weed - Monarch Butterflies, Blooms in May good for Spring Migration
  • Showy Milkweed - Monarch Butterflies
  • Green Antelope Horn Milkweed - Monarch Butterflies, Blooms in April good for Spring Migration
  • Common Milkweed - Monarch Butterflies, Can be very invasive
  • Spicebush - Spicebush Swallowtail
  • Pipevine - Pipevine Swallowtail
  • Passionflower Vine - Gulf Fritillary and Variegated Fritillary
  • Parsley - Black Swallowtail
  • Fennel - Black Swallowtail
  • Bronze Fennel - Black Swallowtail
  • Rue - Black Swallowtail
  • Dill - Black Swallowtail
  • False Nettle - Red Admirals and Question Marks
  • Wooly Croton - Goatweed Leafwings
  • Snapdragons - Common Buckeye
  • Frogfruit - Common Buckeye
  • Hackberry Tree - Hackberry Emperor and American Snout
  • Elm Tree - Question Mark and Mourning Cloak
  • Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) - Gorgone Checkerspot

 Nectar Plants for Butterflies/Hummingbirds/Bees

  • Pentas especially the red color
  • Mexican Zinnia: Profusion Orange and Profusion White
  • Pincushion Flower
  • Purple Coneflower
  • Pale Purple Coneflower
  • Lantana
  • Mexican Sunflower
  • Butterfly Weed
  • Verbena bonariensis
  • Garden Phlox
  • Blue Aster Blooms in fall
  • Red Salvia
  • Purple Salvia
  • Bee Balm
  • Black-eyed Susan(all Rudbeckia are great plants for nectar)
  • Buttonbush
  • Golden Crownbeard Blooms in fall
  • Native Honeysuckle
  • Turk's Cap
  • Garlic Chives

Native Plant Information

Click here for Doug Tallamy's master lists of all plant species and the number of insect species each hosts , showing the stark difference between native and alien species (in Excel spreadsheet format).
The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture offers lots of great information on plants for pollinators. Click here for their Pollinator Library , with dozens of free publications on this subject. Click here  for how they created a pollinator friendly landscape at the Kerr Center.
One of the many great Kerr Center resources, Native Plants for Native Pollinators in Oklahoma  is a beautiful full color guidebook to native plants for pollinators in Oklahoma!
Information on 38 native plants and the pollinators that visit them, how to use in the landscape, where to find them and tips for growing.
The Monarch Joint Venture  has a library of free downloadable handouts  on monarchs, milkweed, establishing habitat, and monarch conservation topics.

Local Sources For Native Plants

Tulsa Audubon's annual Wildlife Habitat Garden Tour and Plant Sale  features local gardens and yards that have been turned into animal-friendly spaces, along with a plant sale from companies featuring native and wildlife friendly plants. Many of the plant vendors listed above are featured on this tour each year.
Missouri Wildflowers Nursery
9814 Pleasant Hill Road, Jefferson City, MO 65109
573-496-3492
mowldflrs@socket.net
 Seminole, OK
405-382-8540
Marilyn Stewart
marilyn@wildthingsnursery.com
Utopia Gardens
Drumright, OK
Jalene Riley
918-698-0468
utopiagardenstulsa@gmail.com
Pine Ridge Gardens
PO Box 200, London, AR 72847
479-293-4359
Mary Ann King
Duck Creek Farm
    PO Box 303, Mounds, OK 74047
Gary Schaum
Prairie Wind Nursery
929 Goodman Lane, Norman, OK 73026
405-579-8846
INFO@PRAIRIEWINDNURSERY.COM
Bustani Plant Farm
1313 East 44th Ave., Stillwater, OK 74074
405-372-3379
Steve Busanti
Cherry Street
15th and Peoria, Tulsa, OK
Every Saturday Apr. 1-Oct. 21 7-11am
Brookside
Whole Foods Parking Lot
41st and Peoria, Tulsa, OK
Every Wed., Apr. 12-Oct. 11 7:30-11am
Winter Market: Mar. 11 & Mar. 25 8:30-11am

Monarch Butterflies

Monarch Watch   is a nonprofit education, conservation, and research program based at the University of Kansas that focuses on the monarch butterfly, its habitat, and its spectacular fall migration.
Oklahoma Friends of Monarchs  is a Facebook group promoting Monarchs in the state of Oklahoma, supportive to those who are interested in providing habitat, or in bringing in Monarchs to raise. We are a network of resources for seeds, plants, and sharing eggs/caterpillars within the group.
Since Monarch conservation is a responsibility of Mexico, Canada and the United States, the Monarch Joint Venture  works throughout the U.S. to conserve and protect monarch populations and their migratory phenomena by implementing science-based habitat conservation and restoration measures in collaboration with multiple stakeholders. They have a library of free downloadable handouts  on monarchs, milkweed, establishing habitat, and monarch conservation topics.
Monarchs on the Mountain  is an annual celebration of the vital role eastern Oklahoma play sin the amazing migration of Monarch Butterflies. Held at Tulsa's Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness area.

Butterfly Gardening

When you create a garden, you usually grow plants
When you create a butterfly garden, you strive to grow butterflies

Location
  • Plant your garden in sun as butterflies need sun (they are solar powered) and plants produce more nectar in the sun.
  • In the hot Oklahoma days of July and August it helps to have some of your garden in partial shade during the afternoon as it can get too hot for butterflies in full sun.
  • Shelter from the wind in all or part of the garden is beneficial.

Plants: Types and Distribution
  • There are two categories of plants for butterflies. Nectar plants for adults and food plants for the caterpillars.
  • Choose mainly nectar plants to get started. A variety of butterflies will come to the same nectar plant, but food plants for caterpillars usually are specific for only one or a very small range of butterfly species. Native plants are best as they provide for both.
Nectar Plants
  • Choose plants that will do well in the local environment. Not all flowering plants are a nectar source for butterflies. Find out which ones work from local resources.
  • Plant your nectar plants in masses. It is better to have a large number of a few varieties rather than a few plants of a number of varieties.
  • Choose plants so that your garden will give continuous bloom once the butterflies find your space. Each variety does not need to be always blooming, but part of your garden needs to be blooming all the time.
Food Plants
  • To select the proper food plants you need to know what butterflies are present in your local area. Butterflies are selective on which plants they lay their eggs. So you need to know the butterfly species to know which plant to use.
  • An easy group to start with is providing parsley or bronze fennel for the Black Swallowtail. Then you can learn about the specific needs of other butterflies.
  • Except for rare instances, caterpillars use only native plants for food plants.
Miscellaneous Butterfly Attractors
  • Damp area in soil, rocks or mulch
  • Areas for basking in early morning sun.
  • Over ripe fruit or tree sap.
Don’t Use Chemical Pesticides
  • Pesticides kill insects and butterflies are insects.
  • Don’t worry about destructive bugs and in time the beneficial ones will establish a healthy balance in your yard.
Enjoy
  • Enjoy the show that results from the stage you have set.

Butterflies Your Are Most Likely To See In Your Tulsa Backyard


  Common Name Scientific Name  
  SWALLOWTAILS FAMILY PAPILIONDAE  
  •   Pipevine Swallowtails Battus philenor  
  •   Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxencs  
  •   Giant Swallowtail Papilio cresphontes  
  •   Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus  
  •   Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus  
  WHITES & SULPHURS FAMILY PIERIDAE  
  •   Checkered White Pontia protodice  
  •   Cabbage White Pieris rapae  
  •   Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice  
  •   Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme  
  •   Southern Dogface Colias cesonia  
  •   Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae  
  •   Little Yellow Eurema lisa  
  •   Sleepy Orange Eurema nicipp  
  •   Dainty Sulphur Nathalis iole  
  GOSSAMER-WINGS FAMILY LYCAENIDEA  
  •   Great Purple Hairstreak Atlides halesus  
  •   Juniper Hairstreak Callophxys gryneus  
  •   Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus  
  •   Red-banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops  
  •   Reakirt’s Blue Hemiargus isola  
  •   Eastern Tailed-Blue Everes comyntas  
  •   Spring/Summer Azure Celastrina ladon/neglecta  
  BRUSHFOOTS FAMILY NYMPHALIDAE  
  •   American Snout Libytheana carinenta  
  •   Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae  
  •   Variegated Fritillary Euptoieta Claudia  
  •   Silvery Checkerspot Chlosyne nycteis  
  •   Pearl Crescent Phyciodes tharos  
  •   Question Mark Polygonia interrogatiuonis  
  •   American Lady Vanessa virginiensis  
  •   Painted Lady Vanessa cardui  
  •   Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  
  •   Common Buckeye Junonia coenia  
  •   Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis  
  •   Viceroy Limenitis archippus  
  •   Hackberry Emperor Asterocampa celtis  
  •   Monarch Danaus plexippus  
  SKIPPERS FAMILY HESPERIIDAE  
  •   Silver-spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus  
  •   Southern Cloudywing Thorybes bathyllus  
  •   Horace’s Duskywing Erymns horatius  
  •   Funereal Duskywing Erynnis funerali  
  •   Common Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus communis  
  •   Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus  
  •   Sachem Atalopedes campestris  

Butterfly & Moth Species By County

In 1979 Dr. John Nelson, Professor Emeritus of Biology at ORU, published A Preliminary Checklist of the Skippers and Butterflies of Oklahoma in the Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. In that initial list he listed 149 species. Since then, the Oklahoma state list has grown to 200 documented butterfly species.
Dr. Nelson has retired and John Fisher now maintains the butterfly and moth lists for the state. The Oklahoma Butterfly Species by County list is updated as new records are reported and the Oklahoma Moth Species by County list is updated at least annually. In December, he sends lists of new county records to the Lepidopterists Society   for inclusion in their Season Summary data base and report of butterfly & moth records in the US & Canada.
Since many species only fly for a few weeks each year, a species may not be listed in a particular county simply because no one was at the right place & time to see it. For example, the Olive Juniper Hairstreak, Callophrys gryneus gryneus, was first documented in Osage County in June, 2002 and Tulsa, Pawnee, Creek, & Washington Counties in April, 2004. Does that mean the Olive Juniper Hairstreak was a new immigrant into these counties? Probably not, it does mean no one had seen, documented, and reported the Olive Juniper Hairstreak from these Counties before.
If you find a new county record, please report your find with a photo or specimen and the usual who, what, when, & where information to John Fisher at rgs455@cox.net  or John Fisher, 8009 W Parkway Blvd Apt 302, Tulsa OK 74127

Native Gardening, Pollinator & Butterfly Books

Here are some books suggested by Jim Thayer on getting started in studying butterflies. Many of these books are available for purchase at Tulsa Audubon events, Oxley Nature Center , Wild Bird Unlimited, or through Amazon.com. By using the Amazon links provided below Oxley Nature Center & Tulsa Audubon receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
Bringing Nature Home
by Doug Tallamy
Doug Tallamy is an entomology Professor at the Univ. of Delaware. His research goal is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. We have brought Dr. Tallamy to Tulsa several times in recent years, and his books are a favorite of native plant gardeners. We highly recommend this book!!
by Pat and Clay Sutton
by John Dole, Walter Gerard, & John Nelson
By Jim P. Brock & Kenn Kaufman
By Jeffrey Glassberg
by Thomas Allen, Jim P. Brock and Jeffrey Glassberg
By J. Richard and Joan E. Heitzman

National Information

Butterflies and Moths of North America  is an outstanding resource site now hosted by Montana State University's Big Sky Institute. Formerly hosted by the USGS's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center , the contents include photos, species descriptions, habitat, larval food plants, range maps, and conservation status.
 
Butterflies of America is a comprehensive online resource that will include information on taxonomy and identification, distribution and habitat, life history and bibliography for all butterfly taxa in America, including species, subspecies and undescribed geographic variants.
 
Butterflies and Moths of North America is an ambitious effort to collect, store, and share species information and occurrence data.
 
North American Butterfly Association (NABA), founded in 1992 is, by far, the largest group of people in North America (Canada, United States, and Mexico) interested in butterflies. It is a membership-based not-for-profit organization working to increase public enjoyment and conservation of butterflies.
OPTICS INFORMATION
Tulsa's Wild Bird Unlimited
Located at 61st & Yale, they offer a nice selection of books, binoculars and other optics.
 

Oklahoma Butterfly Watching Locations

Listed species are included because they are either abundant at a given location or are uncommon/rare or hard to find elsewhere.

Tulsa Audubon's Flycatcher Trail Outdoor Classroom & Demonstration Garden at Jenks High School
404 E. F. St., Jenks OK (north of stadium) The garden is open to the public
Swallowtails, Dion Skipper, Bell’s Roadside-Skipper, Falcate Orangetip
Duskywings
Gilcrease Museum Gardens
Keystone Dam Area
South bank below dam – Large Western Soapberry tree next to ORV area entrance
Soapberry Hairstreak
North bank below dam – Thistle patches along road ½ mi. east of Corps office
Gulf Fritillary, Monarch, Queen
Osage RR Trail  - wetlands  1/2 mi. north of 86 th  St North
Bronze Copper, Broad-winged Skipper
Arogos Skipper
Regal Fritillary, Arogos Skipper, Grey Copper
Great Spangled Fritillary, Diana Fritillary
Salt Creek North Recreation Area, Keystone Lake
‘Olive’ Juniper Hairstreak, Olympia Marble
Feyodi Creek Park
Phaon Crescent, Viceroy
Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Eufaula State Park
Butterfly garden near park office – Byssus Skipper
Red Rock Canyon State Park
East side of canyon along rim trail – Giant Yucca Skipper
Lake Murray State Park
Gardens near Tucker Tower – Great Purple Hairstreak
Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge
Soapberry Hairstreak
ODWC Wildlife Management Areas

Please remember that collecting is not allowed on Nature Conservancy Preserves, City of Tulsa Parks, Tulsa County Parks, Oklahoma State Parks, or National Wildlife Refuges.