Preparing for butterfly season

How to help our monarchs

By Jacqui Knight, aka the Butterfly Lady

Photo: Sally Phillips

Scilla peruviana or Peruvian lily, the plant stolen from the butterfly habitat last month.

The butterfly habitat in the Blockhouse Bay Recreational Reserve is going ahead in leaps and bounds. The monarchs have returned from overwintering and are laying eggs on the swan plants.

“It would be joyous if it wasn’t for the ratbag or ratbags who stole plants from there recently,” said Jacqui Knight, the co-ordinator. “Our volunteers work hard to maintain and beautify the area and the person or people responsible for the loss of the plants obviously doesn’t understand gardening. It was the wrong time of year to be moving them”.


​But there are more supporters than there are ratbags. For example, Lee from Garden Visions recently donated several hours of his time and experience, landscaping to make the habitat safer.

We want to do everything we can to ensure that butterflies continue to be an important part of our natural environment. But some people need to have a better understanding of Nature and how it works.

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All monarch photos: Sally Phillips

Some tips for those of you who want to help monarchs:

• Plant what is an appropriate number of swan plants and ensure they are healthy.
• Add flowers for nectar. Consider doing the on-line course that the MBNZT runs – or our one-hour on-line seminar to learn more. Find out more from our website, www.nzbutterflies.org.nz. Details from time to time are in our e-news.
• Caterpillars reared too close to one another are more susceptible to disease. They will be stressed when there is a shortage of food. Plan ahead if you have too many, finding foster homes for them or buying in more plants.
• Do not try and ‘save’ weak monarchs. A butterfly needing to be helped out of the chrysalis may be diseased. Just as we can’t see the viruses that cause influenza floating around in the air there are many unseen things in the monarchs’ ecosystem which will reduce the number so that the strongest survive.
• Don’t raise your butterflies indoors, i.e. where it’s comfortable for you and your family. People like it warm in winter, cool in summer. Butterflies are cold-blooded and don’t need our comforts… they are used to the wild. After all, they are wild animals, not pets like our dogs and cats. When it’s comfortable for us monarchs get the wrong messages about the weather and seasons.
• Use common sense: no pesticides whatsoever, good hygiene. Focus on the healthy monarchs and euthanase (freezing is best) any that are weak or sickly.