Butterflies can only drink liquids – they don’t eat solid food. So, fill a plate with fruit that’s going bad. Put it inside another plate filled with water so ants can’t get to it. Every day, make cuts through the seals that develop so the butterflies can access the juice.

Also put bright colored objects nearby. Butterflies see colors, especially red, purple, orange and yellow and are attracted by them.

For the larvae, “Plant some milkweed in your garden, and don’t pick off the caterpillars!” Inspiration Green tells us, and “Black Swallowtail larvae eat the leaves of dill, parsley, carrot, and fennel. Painted lady larvae eat thistle leaves.”

Pesticides are killing butterflies, but as most Monarch habitat occurs in agricultural environments, farmers and home gardeners can make a difference.