We finished off yesterday with a firm understanding of the value of the Keystone 5 for Lepidoptera. But is that all we have to plant?

Of course not. We want diversity, we want beauty, we want fragrance and grace and awe and wonder and joy. 

And looking back to the Karner Blue, I will plant Wild Lupines. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see them again?

The specific butterfly or moth that you would like to attract may require specialized plants. So do some research, see what the larval host is, what's their favourite food and provide lots of it. 

Have the beautiful diversity you enjoy, along with the keystone plants. Look at plants as more than beauty, see them as the workhorse they are, supporting pollinators and wildlife, managing and cleaning rainwater and the watershed, sequestering carbon, existing in complicated networks above and below the soil to produce a sense of place unique. 

Along with my Tallgrass Prairie restoration I’m going to have to look into planting more keystone species on our property. 

Some other genera that showed up were, in order of usefulness:

Genus: Malus

 apple, crabapples, pears 

• European colonists had introduced M. domestica to the Americas in the 1500-1600s, during the 1600s, French colonists established orchards in Canada

We have a crabapple tree in the front yard that is covered in bees in Spring but now I’m going to have to go see if I can find any caterpillars. 

Genus: Acer 

Maple 

I found variations in what constitutes an Ontario Maple - see the Tree Atlas for more info.

• Black Maple (Acer nigrum)

• Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

• Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum)

• Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum)

• Striped Maple (Acer pensylvanicum)

• Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

Our landlord planted some maples to replace the ash trees that came down last fall so that will provide some munchable leaves. Apparently the Boxelder Leafworm Moth feeds exclusively on Acer. You may have seen the gorgeous Rosy Maple Moth on social media, which also feeds on Oaks. I’m going to keep an eye out for it this spring. 

Genus: Carya

Hickory

• Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata)

• Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis)

• Pignut Hickory, if you can find it (Carya glabra)

The Hickory Tiger Moth and Polyphemus Moth are both quite pretty and rely on Hickory for their caterpillars to eat. 

Genus: Vaccinium

cranberry, blueberry, bilberry, lingonberry, and huckleberry

• Creeping Snowberry (Vaccinium hispidulum)

• Large Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

• Small Cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpum)

• Velvetleaf Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides)

• Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)

• Large Cranberry (Vaccinium oblongifolium)

• Small Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos)

• Large Cranberry (Vaccinium propinquum)

Genus: Alnus

Alder

• Green Alder (Alnus viridis)

• Speckled Alder (Alnus incana)

Genus: Ulmus

Elm

• American Elm

Genus: Pinus

Pines

• Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana)

• White Pine (Pinus strobus)

• Red Pine (Pinus resinosa)

• Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida)

Genus: Tilia

Linden

• Basswood (Tilia americana)

Genus: Picea

Spruce

• Black Spruce (Picea mariana)

• Red Spruce, getting quite rare in Ontario (Picea rubens)

• White Spruce (Picea glauca)

As a nerdy side note the study’s data set included

• 12,072 native Lepidoptera species 

• 2079 native plant genera

• 24,037 different host plant-native Lepidoptera interactions from across the contiguous United States

• Data from 83 counties 

• and a Lepidoptera list for the corresponding 25 states. 

At the end they say that the full dataset will be publicly available in a forthcoming data manuscript. If you want more information.