Identify and Attract a Painted Lady Butterfly

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What Does a Painted Lady Butterfly Look Like?

painted lady butterfly on aster — Painted lady on aster flowers

A painted lady butterfly has an orange and black patterned upper wing with white dots and four or five black dots along each hindwing. Underwings have a dark brown and tan segmented design with four or five dots on the hindwing’s edge. Their wingspan is 2 to 2 7/8 inches.

Meet the lovely American lady butterfly.

Painted Lady Habitat

You can spot a painted lady butterfly in nearly every habitat, but they prefer open grassy areas, gardens and fields. Painted ladies live on every continent except Australia and Antarctica, and many oceanic islands. They are among the most widespread butterflies in the world!

Painted Lady Host Plants

This butterfly uses a variety of host plants (more than 100!), but prefers thistle, hollyhock, mallow and many legumes.

What Does a Painted Lady Butterfly Eat?

304400983 1 Kris Pembroke Bnb Pc 2022 — Painted lady feeding on thistle

You may see them sipping nectar from thistle, aster, cosmos, ironweed and blazing star. Check out more summer blooming nectar flowers that attract butterflies.

Painted Lady Caterpillar

Painted lady caterpillars are gray-brown or almost black with a yellow stripe down their bodies and spikes along their sides and backs. They show some color variation when in caterpillar stage. Before the pupae stage, look for caterpillars creating silk tents on thistle, one of their favorite host plants.

Here’s how to identify a red-spotted purple butterfly.

Painted Lady Flight and Migration Facts

Painted ladies can fly at speeds close to 30 miles per hour and cover up to 100 miles in a day.
These butterflies have been found at altitudes as high as 22,000 feet, the highest of any butterfly species.
European painted ladies migrate to Africa in fall, crossing the Mediterranean and often continuing across the Sahara Desert. Their offspring then return north to Europe in spring.

Next, meet garden royalty: the viceroy butterfly.

Sources

Butterflies and Moths of North America – painted lady
Home Ground Habitats – painted lady butterflies
UCLA Newsroom – UCLA aflutter over the butterfly effect
BioKIDS – Vanessa cardui
Raising Butterflies – painted lady

Author

Lori Vanover

Lori Vanover is the senior digital editor for Birds & Blooms. She has a bachelor of science degree in agricultural and environmental communications from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Lori is certified as a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener and is also a member of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology. In her spare time she enjo...

Reviewer

Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman

As a teenager in the 1970s, Kenn Kaufman hitch-hiked all over North America in pursuit of birds, an adventure later chronicled in his cult-classic book Kingbird Highway. After several years as a professional nature tour leader, taking groups to all seven continents, he transitioned to a career as a writer, editor, and illustrator. His 14 books incl...

Fact Checker

Kirsten Schrader

Now Birds & Blooms' content director, Kirsten has been writing about birding and gardening for 17 years. Her writing and editing roles have spanned the print and digital landscape. Although she has traveled to see amazing birds throughout the U.S., Kirsten has one dream bucket list bird—the male painted bunting.