Tips For Creating A Butterfly Garden
Posted on 30 April 2008
© 2007 Andrea Anderson
Here are some helpful tips to create an environmentally friendly butterfly gardens:
- Butterflies will begin to lay their eggs in late spring so begin an early spring planting on butterfly attracting plants with bright colors and strong scents. Remember, butterflies are seasonal and migratory. Butterfly season begins typically as soon as the temperature in an area reaches around 70 degrees fahrenheit and ends when it begins to cool to lower temperatures in the fall. So be sure to plant a variety of different brightly colored butterfly attracting plants early so that there is a continuous food supply for both adults and larvae during the season. White or lighter colored plants do not attract as many butterflies as brighter deeper colored plants so make sure to plant sources which are brightly colored if you want lots of butterflies.
- Host plants are where butterflies lay their eggs and where they begin as larva (or caterpillars) and should always be planted in a part sun/part shaded undisturbed areas so that eggs and larvae (caterpillars) are protected. Always be sure to plant more host plants than nectar plants because host plants are consumed quite rapidly. Remember, host plants are not for beautification they are fuel/food for the caterpillars. Do not plant host plants near other plants which you may want to harvest or enjoy in the future as they will most likely be completely consumed by your caterpillars. Plant your food sources and your aesthetically valuable plants some distance away from your butterfly attracting host plants and/or (at the very least) plant a non butterfly attracting plant or plants between them to keep other plants from being damaged.
- Nectar plants are what adult butterflies feed on and should always be planted in warm sunny areas where there is a wind break (something blocking the wind). Tall nectar plants will attract larger butterflies, shorter nectar plants will attract smaller butterfllies.
- Be sure to create natural undisturbed areas. Avoid insecticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers.
- Use groundcovers rather than grass. Butterflies are far more attracted to small flowering colorful groundcovers than they are to a tidy grass lawn. Plus, groundcovers are often prettier and easier to maintain. So, use groundcovers rather than grass,whenever possible.
- Be sure to deadhead plants to encourage new growth and more blossoming because more blossoms mean more nectar and more nectar means more food for the butterflies.
- Butterflies also need water and mineral nutrients. Be sure to provide shallow puddles rich with gravel, rocks and clay as well bowls of water rich fruit (such as melons) in a warm sunny location, in order to provide water and minerals they need.
Butterfly Host Shrubs/Trees/Flowers for Caterpillar Stage
- Milkweed (Asclepias)
- Pipevine (Aristolochia)
- Monkey Flower (Mimulus)
- Yerba Santa (Eriodyction Californicum)
- Onion (Allium)
- Lily (Lilium)
- Oak (Quercus)
- Penstemon (Penstemon)
- Bean (Phaseolus)
- Cabbage/Mustard (Brassica)
- Clover (Trifolium)
- Elm (Ulmus)
- Hollyhock (Alcea)
- Hop (Humulus)
- Nettle (Urtica)
- Passionflower (Passiflora)
- Poplar (Populus)
- Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)
- Violet (Viola)
- Aster (Aster)
- Lupine (Lupine)
- Turtlehead (Cheone)
- Artemisia (Artemisia)
- Apple (Malus)
Butterfly Nectar Shrubs/Trees/Flowers for Adult Stage
- Abelia (Abelia)
- Buckeye (Aesculus)
- Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)
- Blueberry (Vaccinium)
- Pear (Pyrus)
- Plum or cherry (Prunus)
- Redbud (Cercis)
- Silverling (Baccharis)
- Spiraea (Spiraea)
- Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
- Viburnum (Viburnum)
- Cosmos (Cosmos)
- Impatiens (Impatiens)
- Mexican sunflower (Tithonia)
- Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
- Sunflower (Helianthus)
- Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
- Verbena (Verbena)
- Zinnia (Zinnia)
- Ageratum (Ageratum)
- Aster (Aster)
- Bee-balm (Monarda didyma)
- Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia)
- Boltonia (Boltonia asteroides)
- Bugle (Ajuga reptans)
- Butterfly weed (Asclepias)
- Coneflower (Echinacea)
- Coreopsis (Coreopsis)
- Daisy, Shasta (Chrysanthemum maximum)
- Goldenrod (Solidago)
- Hibiscus (Hibiscus)
- Hollyhock (Althaea rosea)
- Lantana (Lantana camara)
- Milkweed (Asclepias)
- Passion flower (Passiflora)
- Phlox (Phlox)
- Sage (Salvia)
- Sedum (Sedum)
- Verbena (Verbena)
- Yarrow (Achillea)
- Spearmint (Mentha spicata)