Butterflies 

Butterflies are found in a range of places in London. Some are quite rare - like the richly-coloured purple emperor only found in the canopy of old woodland. Others, like the meadow brown, can be found in long grass in many parks and gardens.

The chalk meadows to the south of London are particularly delightful, look here for marbled whites, and dark green fritillaries as well as the rare and elusive small blue. Some butterflies, like the Camberwell beauty and the red admiral, only come to this country during summer, spending winter in the warmer climate of continental Europe.

Moths 

Watch out for spectacularly large and elegant hawkmoths, which develop from caterpillars the size of a little finger, or the small intensely red and black burnet moths, which fly by day. Supply night time nectar for late fliers with evening primrose, nicotiana, honeysuckle, and nightscented stock.

Designing a butterfly border

Put your butterfly border against a south-facing wall to absorb heat and give tired butterflies a chance to warm up. In the sun at the front of the border you can put a ‘basking stone’ - a large upturned flowerpot, or make your own artificial boulder from a mix of two parts coir, two parts sharp sand and one part Portland stone.

Nettles are important to the caterpillars of peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma. A sunny spot is essential so butterflies can find them. Put them in a big pot if you don't want them in your border. Cut back in late June to get new growth for the second brood of caterpillars. They make an excellent compost activator too.

Which plants are best for butterflies?

Always choose single flowered varieties. A mixture of flowers attracts more helpful insects and less pests. Link sunny borders around the edge of your garden for choice browsing.

Aim to have plants in flower from February to November, all the time when hungry butterflies are on the wing. Avoid planting for only one season at the expense of others, and expect to find most butterflies in summer.

 

Nectar plants

Spring	Summer	Autumn
Blackthorn	Ragged robin	Golden rod
Bramble	Birdsfoot trefoil	Devil's bit scabious
Willow	Raspberry	Honeysuckle
Valerian	Teasel	Nasturtiam
Honesty	Hemp agrimony	Ice plant
Forget-me-not	Common fleabane	Michaelmas daisy
Aubretia	Yarrow	Verbena
Hebe	Cranesbill
Woundwort	Purple loosestrife
Alyssum	Knapweed
Wallflower	Thistle
Primrose	Chives
Hyacinth	Wild thyme
	Buddleia
	Field scabious
	Lobelia
	Phlox
	Lavender
	Mint
	Privet
	Statice
	Marjoram
	Runner bean
	Ivy
	Heather

Caterpillar food plants

Plant	Caterpillar
Bird's foot trefoil	Common blue
Dock or sorrel	Small copper
Garlic mustard	Orange tip, painted lady, green-veined white
Cuckoo flower	Orange tip
Stinigng nettle	Small tortoiseshell, comma, peacock, red admiral
Hop	Comma
Holly and ivy	Holly blue
Common or alder buckthorn	Brimstone
Nasturtium	Large and small white
Honesty	Orange tip
Sweet rocket	Orange tip
Annual meadow grass	Meadow brown, gatekeeper, wall
Cocksfoot	Large skipper, ringlet, meadow brown, speckled wood, wall
Sheep's fescue	Meadow brown, grayling
Timothy	Skippers, marbled white
Yorkshire fog	Skippers