Welcome! What a great thing to teach the kids, and no better way then to let them see the process. My five-year-old is sooo into the caterpillars and everything, everyone calls him the butterfly dude. He is what got me started. We've released about a hundred butterflies this summer, which is a one-day release number for many on this forum but we are proud of it anyhow!

It is true, if the species are in your area, if you plant it they will come! You'll need to check and see what's common in your area, start with butterflies and moths of the us (see link below). I'm sure you have monarchs at some time of the year, which are rather easy to raise.

There are lots of helpful and extremely knowledgeable folks on this forum that will give you plenty of advice.

Good luck!
Kelly

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterflies and Moths New Hampshire

If there is any 'trick' to attracting moths and butterflies, it's in the garden itself. You want to plan a garden with a diverse variety of plants, including some that can provide shade. Learn how to foster a healthy soil, because that is an important key in growing strong and vigorous plants without a lot of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. (Pesticides, of course, are a no-no in a butterfly garden.)

It's fun growing annuals and perennials that will attract a wide variety of pollinators...and we all have our favorites. Once you decide which caterpillars you wish to try to raise, then you can select the host plants for those butterflies and moths.

And yes.....the butterflies/moths come first. You'll have to entice them to your garden for food and shelter and provide them with the host plants upon which they will lay their eggs.

I don't grow host plants myself, other than some Asclepias for the Monarchs, and I don't raise caterpillars. But there are so many great folks here who will help you decide which caterpillars are the easiest to raise, and how to best go about it.

Welcome to the wonderful world of raising butterflies!
I'd also recommend reading the books -

1. The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Burris & Richards
2. The Butterflies of West Virginia and their Caterpillars by Thomas J. Allen

I know you don't live in West Virginia, but of the good beginner books that tell about host plants for each species of butterfly, with pictures of their caterpillars as well as the adults, West Virginia is the closest to you and has most of the same butterflies that you would have in New Hampshire. If somebody ever writes a book like it about New Hampshire/New England butterflies, that would be even better.
The first book is a wonderful starter book with host and nectar plant information, plus wonderful picture of eggs, caterpillars and adults, most of whom occur in N.H.
Sherry

Hi Deanna,

Definitely start planting some nectar plants. I live in NH too.

The biggest nectar draws for me are ascelpias incarnata (butterflyweed),Purple Coneflower, Coreopsis is a must in the spring, boneset, and blanket flower. In the early spring, early butterflies appreciate white clover in the lawn and dwarf cinquefoil. The fall is also important--new-england asters are a must and New York ironweed as well as other native asters and goldenrods.

Many butterflies in our neck of the woods overwinter for part of their life cycles. Not all butterflies migrate like monarchs do. That's a whole other story.

My daughter at 15 months or so knew how to look for a caterpillar from watching me all of the time. She gets excited about taking care of them and releasing them and seeing them in the yard.

Have fun, and it's a beautiful thing to foster delight and wonder of the natural world in a child.

Thanks so very much for all the helpful advice. I should clarify something...when I said "raising" I really meant more of the, "Hey, we found a caterpillar, so let's put it in a container and watch what it does!" kind of raising. Baby steps, you know! Once we get our feet wet I'd love to get really gung-go about it. It's so very wonderful! My mother lives in Costa Rica, and I'll never forget seeing a blue morph flashing it's beautiful color in the sun as it flew up from the stream by her house. So amazing. I've bookmarked the butterfly link, and a quick google search gave me the U of NH extension site listing NH plants good for our butterflies. YEA!!! Why don't I think of the local extension office sooner?!

We have not been very successful with all our attempts before now. We killed all our tomato hookworms, and we found the absolute neatest cocoon where we used to live that looked like rough jagged bark, but we never found what emerged from it. I'll be posting here next year when we finally get our first caterpillar. Our garden is still being created, so I have plenty of opportunities to plant butterfly-lovers!

Monarchs are about the easiest of butterflies to raise from eggs. Here is a website that is very informative, yet very simple to follow. Just make sure you follow it completely.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raising Monarchs

UNH Extension's list is a good guide. I forgot to mention Bee Balm--everything from skippers to swallowtails love it.

I made a mistake in an earlier post--the common name for Asclepias incarnata is Swamp Milkweed--it's a big draw for many butterflies, and the foliage feeds Monarch caterpillars. Butterfly weed is the common name for Asclepias tuberosa.

I've raised Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and Giant Swallowtails with Kindergartners for years. I've designed a website that should prove helpful.
My Butterfly Guide

deanna, to properly 'raise' caterpillars, you'll need to know quite a bit about the right kind of containers (jars won't work), what the species of caterpillar needs in order to stay alive until ready to pupate, disease control, etc.

It doesn't need to be overly complicated, but you'll need to learn some thing rudimentary steps so that your captive caterpillars survive to adulthood rather than die.

Your tomato hornworms needed plenty of fresh, clean tomato leaves and a large container with garden soil in it. They don't make cocoons, but pupate in the ground, out of sight. Caterpillars also don't drink water (per se) but get their moisture from foliage.

Bernergrrl, thanks for clarifying. I was trying to figure out which swampweed and was thinking Asclepias syriaca was what I needed. I appreciate you giving me the scientific name.

tdogmom, great site and I've got it bookmarked.

rhizo_1, you're the first person to explain my hookworms to me. At the time we caught them, all the caterpillar information on the web was very generic. Basically it said, "Put them in a charge, throw in leaves and a twig, watch them spin and fly!" I love details, and I appreciate the insight.

Hornworms, not hookworms. (smile) Named for the small 'horn' on their little butts. You can look up a great deal of good information by using 'tomato hornworm' or 'tobacco hornworm' as your search words. It's the tobacco hornworm that is much more common.