American Lady Butterfly

During the summer while my volunteer White Wood Asters are blooming I can count on seeing bunches of American Lady Butterflies (Vanessa virginiensis) sipping the nectar. I see there are oodles of larvae host plants listed for American Lady Butterflies. Asters are one of the plants listed.

Purple Coneflowers will also attract them and make for a fun picture with the American Lady’s intricately designed ventral (or bottom) side of their wings visible.

Here the American Lady is on the blooms of Bugle Weed. This beautiful butterfly enjoys the nectars of flowers but also it’s attracted to the juice of rotting fruit and tree sap. I’ve been able to entice American Lady Butterflies to my back porch by putting out fruit that will eventually go into the compost. It’s fun to experiment and see who shows up.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

2 thoughts on “American Lady Butterfly”

    1. Hahaha! You are so right! You two must live in bear territory like I do. No telling when they’ll show up, unless you put out something like i suggested, something they’d LOVE to eat! So glad to see that you enjoy reading my ramblings.

      Thanks bunches for reading my posts!
      Bren

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