City of Sunrise, FL
Home MenuBe A Butterfly Hero
Join the National Million Pollinator Challenge
The City of Sunrise is a certified Community Wildlife Habitat™ through the National Wildlife Federation since 2019!
Help us continue our efforts:
- Plant native and Florida-friendly plants
- Reduce the use of pesticides
- Certify your NWF Wildlife Habitat Garden
- Enjoy the butterflies!
As outlined in our Sunrise Sustainability Action Plan, Sunrise strives to protect vital resources - including water, air, and natural areas - and to promote a culture of sustainability in our community.
Our Be A Butterfly Hero Program advances those goals by supporting biodiversity and habitat. Butterflies aren't the only creatures that benefit, however! By encouraging the planting of native habitat gardens, we are providing vital natural connective corridors and important food sources for our other local species like bees, birds, and burrowing owls.
Planting a butterfly garden in South Florida is one way to help restore some of the habitat that has been lost to development and provide resources for wild butterflies to thrive and grow. It's easy to Be A Butterfly Hero; it is not the size of the space that matters, but the type of plants you choose!
Here's what you need:
- Provide food in the form of foliage or flowers that you are willing to have eaten by caterpillars or adult butterflies. Native plants that flower, have fruit and berries, nuts and acorns provide food for wildlife. Fun Fact: Butterflies taste with their feet!
- Have a water source. Even a small water feature or puddle area can be used by wildlife. Bird baths and fountains can be installed - but clean every few days to prevent mosquito breeding and bacterial contamination (simply scrub with a brush, no soap or bleach, please!). Is there a canal, lake, or pond close enough to see that doesn't cross a major roadway? If so, you already have a water source.
- Like us, wildlife need shelter. Make sure your space has bushy shrubs, ground cover plants, or a small wood or log pile. Some wildlife migrate for thousands of miles in their lifetime and need habitats to stop and rest wile on their journey. Monarch butterflies for example, will migrate a distance from Canada to Mexico!
- Ensure there are places to raise young. For butterflies, that means you'll need larval "host plants" which are the plants that caterpillars eat (see 3 plants below to attract 7 butterflies). If you have a shade tree in your yard, that counts as a nesting place. Besides providing vital habitat, trees also provide shade, fruits to eat, and help clean our water by filtering run-off.
Watch Episode 1: Butterfly Gardening from our new Good and Green Video Series to learn more about the 4 MUST HAVE's from the Sunrise Dan Pearl Library Butterfly Garden.
To help you get started, here are three plants that support seven different butterflies!
Plant these 3 flowering plants which are host plants...Milkweed - look for native milkweed plants like Butterflyweed or Swamp Milkweed, rather then the non-native Tropical Milkweed. Learn More Passion Flower Vine or Corkystem passion-flower Vine - pair with a Firebush to provide nectar for the Zebra Longwing Bahama Cassia - look for the native Senna Mexicana v. chapmanii species |
To Attract 7 types of butterflies!Julia |
If you want to attract Atala butterflies to your yard, you'll need to plant Coontie which is their larval host plant. For Giant Swallowtail which are the largest of the Florida butterflies, plant Wild Lime.
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Read our June 2023 Good and Green Newsletter pollinator month issue for useful links and how you can help pollinators - and if you like the content, make sure you subscribe! |