Though the butterfly is fascinating and often breathtakingly beautiful, pollination could be its most valuable contribution to the ecosystem. The butterfly’s role in the pollination process is vital, for it enables flowering plants and trees to bear fruit, berries and vegetables. About 80 percent of all flowering plants depend on insects for pollen transfer among blossoms, and only bees perform more pollination than butterflies and moths.

Establishing a butterfly habitat is as simple as choosing the right plants. Your garden will need host plants, which caterpillars feed on, and nectar plants, the food of adult butterflies. “Butterflies like waves of plants, not onesies and twosies,“ said Peggy Singlemann, horticulture director at Maymont. “With a mass grouping, they don’t destroy your one plant. They have more food to choose from.“