Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory
For more than 20 years, the Observatory has created and managed butterfly gardens for research, conservation and the enjoyment of visitors. If you would like to create your own butterfly garden, even a small one is helpful to many species. It just takes a sunny spot. Though garden centers have many good varieties, from our experience, here are some top butterfly garden plants that thrive in southeastern Virginia and are not particularly attractive to hungry deer:
Joe-Pye Weed ( Eutrochium dubium )
Bergamot ( many varieties of monarda )
Boneset ( Eupatorium perfoliatum )
Cup Plant ( Silphium perfoliatum )
Mist Flower ( Conoclinium coelestinum )
Mountain Mint ( Pycnanthemum muticum )
New York Aster ( Symphyotrichum novi-belgii )
Coreopsis (many varieties of coreopsis )
Goldenrod ( many varities of Solidago )
Butterfly Weed (many varieties of asclepias)
Lantana, not native, ( Lantana camara 'Miss Huff' )
Butterfly Bush, not native ( many varieties of Buddleia )
Abelia, not native ( Abelia grandiflora )
For more information, see our Butterfly Research page on this website, under 'What we Do and Why'. Also, please contact us if you would like more advice, and feel free to share your successes on our Facebook page!
PROTECTING WILDLIFE THROUGH FIELD RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND HABITAT CONSERVATION
Observatory volunteers help manage butterfly gardens at Kiptopeke State Park, at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge, and at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden. The observatory participates in the annual July Delmarva Tip Butterfly Count that is sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association (NABA). Click on the Calender of Events at the top of the page for this year's count date. In 1998 it established a Monarch Butterfly Migration Program that conducts fall surveys and tags Monarchs. Monarch numbers are declining at an alarming rate, due to a variety of factors. Several tagged Monarchs have later been found at their winter roost sites near Mexico City.
The Observatory has documented more than 70 species of butterflies and skippers at the tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore, where little butterfly work has been previously conducted. Pictured above are two rarities, Gulf Fritillary at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge garden and Juniper Hairstreak at the Kiptopeke State Park butterfly garden.
Other surprising finds have included White M Hairstreak, Great Purple Hairstreak and first Northampton County records for Zebra Swallowtail, Hayhurst's Scallopwing, Brazilian Skipper, Sleepy Orange, Crossline Skipper, Little Glassywing and Common Roadside Skipper. The Observatory's 15 mile diameter circle count area, for the Delmarva Tip July count, has recorded national high counts for the year for Spicebush Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Silver-spotted Skipper and Saltmarsh Skipper, despite the fact that a huge percentage of the circle is water!
RESOURCES
Butterflies and Skippers Documented by CVWO in Northampton County on Virginia's Eastern Shore
Pipevine Swallowtail (rare)
Zebra Swallowtail (rare)
Black Swallowtail
Giant Swallowtail (rare)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Palamedes Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Falcate Orangetip
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Southern Dogface (rare)
Cloudless Sulphur
Little Yellow (rare)
Sleepy Orange
Great Purple Hairstreak (rare)
Henry's Elfin
Eastern Pine Elfin
Red-banded Hairstreak
Juniper Hairstreak
White M Hairstreak (rare)
Gray Hairstreak
Eastern Tailed Blue
Spring Azure
"Summer" Azure (subspecies of Spring)
American Snout
Variegated Fritillary
Great Spangled Fritillary (rare)
Gulf Fritillary (rare)
Pearl Crescent
Question Mark
Eastern Comma (rare)
Mourning Cloak
American Lady
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
Common Buckeye
Red-spotted Admiral
Viceroy
Hackberry Emperor
Tawny Emperor
Little Wood Satyr
Common Wood-Nymph
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Long-tailed Skipper (rare)
Northern Cloudywing (rare)
Hayhurst's Scallopwing (rare)
Juvenal's Duskywing
Horace's Duskywing
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Common Checkered Skipper
Common Sootywing
Swarthy Skipper
Clouded Skipper
Least Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Tawny-edged Skipper
Crossline Skipper
Southern Broken-Dash
Northern Broken-Dash
Little Glassywing
Sachem
Delaware Skipper (rare)
Zabulon Skipper
Aaron's Skipper (rare)
Broad-winged Skipper
Dun Skipper
Common Roadside Skipper (rare)
Brazilian Skipper (rare)
Saltmarsh Skipper
Ocola Skipper