Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies: A Field Guide (Myrna and David K. Langford Books on Working Lands)

The authors deliver on their promise to discuss Texas native pollinator plants that host Texas native butterflies. The challenge is that they selected a relatively short list of Texas native plants to feature in their book.Because of the limited list of native plants and because this book is about the entire state of Texas, many, if not most, of the plants discussed will not be native to your county. Texas’s many soil types and climates make it even more important to grow plants native to your county. That’s why it’s best to use these to attract butterflies that are also native to your county. Plants and butterflies have co-evolved over eons. Local butterflies recognize local plants for both larval hosting and nectar. While there are exceptions, the serious butterfly gardener wants plants native to their location. As a result, much of the book will not help you improve your butterfly garden.Your best option is to familiarize yourself with the Texas native plant database at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Cross-reference this with county-level plant data at the USDA Plant Database and the Biota of North America Program, to help you produce a list of plants most likely to succeed in your garden. Then cross-reference the resulting list with butterfly data from Butterflies and Moths of North America, which lists larval host plants by butterfly species. It also includes native range by species, so you can determine if you should invest time and resources growing plants for a given butterfly. Lady Bird Johnson assists by including larval host information for many plants, and provides a link to each species at Butterflies and Moths of North America. This way, you can compile a list of plants that will draw the most butterflies into your garden.

Great book. I ordered a 2nd copy for my sister who is finally interested in gardening because of her new found love for monarch butterflies:)

This is a beautiful and informative book; however the one criticism I could add is that since there’s space at the bottom of almost every flower description page, it would’ve been nice if they had added a small care sheet such as “this plant prefers full sun and well drained soil” etc. since most of us who buy these books want to garden with these plants. I think adding that would have made this book complete.

Very good book...pictures are Great and the imformation is helpful!!!

At last a book that provides information on which plants are larval hosts for butterflies. So often you get suggestions on plants that are nectar source, but not what one needs to attract butterflies to lay their eggs. As a naturalist that encourages folks to utilize plants that help support wildlife, you need all of the species in the life cycle. This is a great addition to my collection.

For the native gardener or landscaper, this book is invaluable!

This book is wonderful! It has great pictures of the plant, caterpillar and butterfly. If you are into growing plants for butterflies and live in Texas as I do, it's a must have book. Several people in my gardening group purchased it after I told them about it.

Reading and looking through this book made me realize we were mowing many plants needed to feed these beautiful creatures!😳 It has also been very helpful in identifying so many plants and trees around our place. It delivers what is promised!!