Butterfly Garden
A garden that attracts butterflies can be beautiful, easy to maintain, and very rewarding. The most successful gardens provide food sources for both the adult butterflies and the larval caterpillars.
Plant a variety of flowers so that nectar is available across the seasons. Include the special leafy plants that the caterpillars of local butterflies eat. At the end of the growing season, leave dead leaves and stems in the garden, since these plant parts may harbor overwintering caterpillars or chrysalises. Enjoy hosting "flowers in flight" in your garden!
Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths at the JC Raulston Arboretum
The JC Raulston Arboretum's diverse collection of woody and herbaceous plants attracts a large variety of butterflies, moths, and skippers. Fifty-eight species have been observed at the JCRA over the years. The Arboretum is the first site the Wake County butterfly count, sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association, visits for their annual count in early August.
Species Seen at the JCRA
Pipevine swallowtail Black swallowtail Eastern tiger swallowtail Spicebush swallowtail Checkered white Cabbage white Clouded sulphur Orange sulphur Cloudless sulphur Sleepy orange Great purple hairstreak Juniper hairstreak White-M hairstreak Gray hairstreak Red-banded Hairstreak Eastern tailed-blue Summer azure American snout Gulf fritillary Variegated fritillary Pearl crescent Question mark American lady Painted lady Red admiral Common buckeye Red-spotted purple Viceroy Monarch Silver-spotted skipper Long-tailed skipper Dorantes longtail Hoary edge Hayhurst's scallopwing Juvenal's duskywing Horace's duskywing Zarucco duskywing Wild Indigo duskywing Common checkered-skipper Common sootywing Swarthy skipper Clouded skipper Least skipper Southern skipperling Fiery skipper Crossline skipper Whirlabout Southern broken-dash Northern broken-dash Little glassywing Sachem Zabulon skipper Yehl skipper Dion skipper Dun skipper Eufala skipper Brazilian skipper Ocola skipper
Sightings Graph
A list of the species and the time they visit the JCRA is included in a sightings document Tom Howard kindly provided the JCRA. The data in the charts are provided by observations of Harry LeGrand and John Connors (complier of the Wake County butterfly count).