Surfing social media you can find some interesting posts about all sorts of things including butterflies. This chart came from a post from Plants and gardening on facebook. The handy chart could be especially useful this summer when all your plants are blooming and growing and you begin to wonder "What is that bug" in my garden?"
First, it's not a bug - it's a caterpillar-the larval stage of a butterfly or moth. Aside from being beautiful as they glide through your garden they serve as important parts in the ecosystem. They serve as pollinators, a food source in the insect food chain, and as bio indicators regarding ecosystem health.
Your back or front yard gardens can help support butterfly populations. You hear a great deal about planting native plants in gardens because they will survive better in a climate that they are used to growing in. That's a good rule of thumb for plants and for butterflies and other beneficial things that fly or crawl in gardens. The Houston Arboretum has a great list of both nectar and host plants to help support butterflies in your garden. There are a number of garden centers who have native plants to help keep your garden a place where butterflies will visit and thrive.
The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) provides a wealth of information on how to encourage butterflies to visit your garden, how to establish a butterfly garden, get it certified, and butterfly counts. The Houston Museum of Natural Science's Cockrell Butterfly Center and Brown Hall of Entomology are great places to see butterflies and bugs up close and personal as the flyand crawl through the indoor rain forest and bug habitats. Be sure to read the FAQ's about what is and is not allowed in the center. If you're looking for online information regarding everything about Monarchs visit Monarch Watch. It's a great place to find out how you can help monarchs from your own home.
I hope the handy chart above and the links in this article help you understand that all caterpillars and bugs are not bad - in fact they're all part of our ecosystem and you can help keep it healthy right from you're own home.