Host plants for the monarch
The garden plants whose leaves monarch caterpillars eat, and a bed the planner designed around them.
The monarch (Danaus plexippus) is a butterfly at risk. Like every butterfly and moth, it can lay its eggs only on the plants its caterpillars can eat, its host plants. A garden with nectar flowers feeds the adults as they pass; a garden with host plants is where the next generation is raised.
Assessed as endangered in Canada by COSEWIC, the committee that advises on species at risk, in 2016. In the United States the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing it as threatened in December 2024.
These six garden plants are recorded by NC State as hosts for its caterpillars. Expect chewed leaves: that is the point. Do not spray, and leave fallen leaves under the plants in winter, where many caterpillars and pupae spend it.
6 plants: 6 perennials.
The host plants
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Butterfly weed
24 in · late June to early August
Flat clusters of vivid orange flowers in midsummer, covered in butterflies, on a low, bushy plant with a deep taproot.
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Whorled milkweed
24 in · late June to late August
Needle-fine leaves in whorls up slender stems, topped with small clusters of greenish-white flowers through summer.
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Swamp milkweed
4 ft · early July to early August
Clusters of rose-pink, vanilla-scented flowers on tall, willowy stems in midsummer, then slender pods.
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Common milkweed
4 ft · late June to early August
Tall stems of broad leaves with drooping balls of dusky pink, heavily scented flowers, then warty pods of silky seed.
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Purple milkweed
3 ft · early June to mid July
Domed clusters of rich rose-purple flowers, the deepest colour of any native milkweed, on sturdy stems in early summer.
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Swamp milkweed 'Ice Ballet'
3½ ft · early July to mid August
A white-flowered swamp milkweed: flat clusters of pure white, vanilla-scented flowers on upright stems, followed by slender pods of silky seed.
A bed for the monarch
The planner designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed for zone 6 and full sun when this page was made, keeping butterfly weed, common milkweed and purple milkweed on it.
The plants
- 1 Butterfly weed × 3, orange
- 2 Common milkweed × 4, pink
- 3 Purple milkweed × 4, purple
- 4 Bearberry × 4, pink
- 5 Verbena 'Homestead Purple' × 6, purple
- 6 Dwarf Hinoki cypress × 1, dark green leaves
- 7 Northern sea oats × 4, tan
- 8 Tatarian aster 'Jindai' × 3, purple
- 9 Daffodil × 5, yellow
- 10 Triteleia 'Queen Fabiola' × 12, blue
- 11 Hyacinth 'Delft Blue' × 7, blue
Planned as a naturalistic planting: low grasses and groundcovers, the matrix, make up 52% of the planted ground. The flowering is at its height from late June, with 5 kinds out together. The scheme leans cool (pink, purple and blue) and uses orange and yellow for warmth, with tan to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 4 Good, 3 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Common milkweed spreads aggressively. Northern sea oats spreads aggressively.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
All 6 plants
Middle of a bed 3
- Butterfly weed 24 in · late June to early August
- Purple milkweed 3 ft · early June to mid July
- Whorled milkweed 24 in · late June to late August
Back of a bed 3
- Common milkweed 4 ft · late June to early August
- Swamp milkweed 4 ft · early July to early August
- Swamp milkweed 'Ice Ballet' 3½ ft · early July to mid August