Do You Have a Fritillary in Your Garden?

IF YOU do, you will be fascinated by its beauty. What is a fritillary? It is one of the thousands of different kinds of butterflies that beautify our world and one of the over 750 species that can be found in the United States and Canada. The one shown here, a great spangled, was photographed in a garden in the lush countryside of the state of Virginia. The great spangled shows silver spangles on the underside of the hind wing. The gardener had deliberately sown a patch of garden with wildflowers that grow high and attract butterflies​—there were yellow rudbeckias and mauve phlox.

The fritillary family displays wide variety, with such evocative names as alberta alpine, arctic, gulf, lavender, polar, purple bog, silver meadow, and zerene.

If you would like to attract butterflies to your garden, try growing a wildflower patch. Perhaps you can buy a packet of wildflower seeds that will grow into a painter’s palette of colors to draw these delicate creatures to you. If you live in the appropriate region of the world, the buddleia bush will bring in butterflies like a magnet. Then get a camera and binoculars, and have fun!