Butterflies
May 6, 2019
Painted Lady
The Vanessa cardui Painted Lady shown here was in our garden on July 18, 2017 in Parkdale, Calgary on the Sedum floriferum ‘Weihenstephaner Gold’ (Russian stonecrop), a hardy and prolific ground cover that attracts pollinators.
On April 27, 2018, a large Nymphalis antiopa Mourning Cloak butterfly danced around me, landing for awhile on the wheelbarrow. The wingspan of these impressive butterflies can extend as much as 10 cm (4″). Their dark maroon wings are edged with pale yellow and between the two is a line of “bright, iridescent blue spots”. The butterfly seemed to be writing a long, complicated but quite beautiful calligraphic message to me in the breeze. Apparently they are the first butterfly to emerge in spring because they overwinter. They are among the butterflies that have the longest life span. It’s Latin name Nymphalis means “of or pertaining to a fountain (Latin). In Greek mythology, Antiopa was an Amazon.
Butterflies need ample pollen and nectar and their larvae food plants are often different from the flowering plants adults need. For example, Mourning Cloak caterpillars like willow (Salix spp.), cottonwood (Populus spp.), and other trees. According to the North American Butterfly Association (NABA), the Greater Fritillary caterpillars prefer the leaves of violets. While native violets are preferable they also like the leaves of pansies. Hardy pansies like the Viola tricolor var. hortensis Pansies grow so well in Parkdale that they even flower through the snow. They start early and continue to blossom late in the season. Violas provide a dependable ground cover for caterpillars and are and the only food of the caterpillar stage of butterflies like the Great Spangled Fritillary, Calgary’s largest fritillary butterflies (Bird 1995, Bercha 2003-).
Butterflies cannot hover like bees to feed (this makes bees very efficient at pollinating) so they need a landing platform.
Some species of butterfly, like the very common Boloria bellona Meadow Fritillary, forage on daisy-like flowers, like the hardy Aster novae-angliae New England aster, the Aster alpinus Alpine aster, Echinacea Coneflower. and Tanacetum coccineum painted daisies. Annuals include the easy-to-grow Cosmos. Meadow Fritillary, like the Mourning Cloak are double brooded. (Bird 1995, Bercha 2003-)
Butterflies gather on the tall Eupatorium maculatum Joe Pyeweed with its massive clusters of pink blossoms and Monarda fistulosa Bee Balm and on the Achillea millefolium Yarrow. To attract butterflies, the more brightly coloured yarrows such as the yellow or magenta yarrow might be preferable to the plain white yarrow.
The columbine, with four species that are native to Alberta — Aquilegia brevistyla (Blue Columbine), A. flavescens (Yellow Columbine), A. formosa (Red or Sitka Columbine), and A. jonesii (also called Blue Columbine) and a fifth that that is native to eastern Canada but also grows well here, Aquilegia canadensis (Canadian Columbine) or Eastern Red Columbine, also attract butterflies (Fedkenheuer 2014).
Notes
- David Misfeldt, who works for the City of Calgary as boulevard maintenance technician, is the originator and lead on the creation of a “pollinator-friendly corridor” that runs along Canyon Meadows Drive from Macleod Trail to Bow Bottom Trail. Misfeldt has partnered with about 300 student volunteers. In 2017, they began to create the “bee boulevard” with native grasses, shrubs and flowering plants, including the Asclepias spp Tuberosa Butterfly Plant upon which Monarch butterflies depend. Sarah Johnson from Simon Fraser University and Lincoln Best from the University of Calgary conduct field studies in the bee and butterfly-friendly corridor. See (CBC 2019)⠀Misfeldt also helped design a bee park, near Acadia Drive S.E. and Canyon Meadows Drive S.E.
References
Charles Durham Bird. 1995. Alberta Butterflies. Provincial Museum of Alberta, 1995. 0773216723. 349 pages.
Robert Bercha. (2003-) Insects of Alberta.
An excellent and well-used resource on the plants preferred by the various butterfly species in Calgary is the information-rich website documented with photographs of individual butterfly species, Insects of Alberta http://www.Insectsofalberta.com/butterflies first created in 2003 by Calgary-based Robert Bercha (rbercha@shaw.ca) Bercha, who is a professional geologist, amateur entomologist and passionate photographer. Robert Bercha was awarded the Frederick S. Carr Award by the Entomological Society of Alberta in 2014 “for his contributions to the furtherance of entomology in Alberta. His research interests include Zygoptera, Bombini and Vespinae in Alberta.”
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility (CBIF). “Butterflies of Canada”.
This site provides a list of butterfly larval (caterpillar) food plants. This is archived from the original.
CBC News. “City staff buzzing about endangered bee discovery as boulevard preps for another season.”
Al and Pat Fedkenheuer. June 19, 2014. “Columbines can add burst of colour — and butterflies — to your garden”. Calgary Herald.
The Fedkenheuers are owners of the Calgary-based ALCLA Native Plant Restoration Inc., and “have been growing and out-planting Alberta native plants for more than 30 years” . The Fedkenheuers list four species of columbine that are native to Alberta — Aquilegia brevistyla (Blue Columbine), A. flavescens (Yellow Columbine), A. formosa (Red or Sitka Columbine), and A. jonesii (also called Blue Columbine) and a fifth that that is native to eastern Canada but also grows well here, Aquilegia canadensis (Canadian Columbine) or Eastern Red Columbine. fedkenhp@telus.net
North American Butterfly Association (NABA). Caterpillar Food Plant: Violets.
More photos:
Another Calgary garden 