If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, it is very easy to lure them in. I will give you some very helpful information and tips on how to get frequent visitors to your garden. You can attract many different types of wildlife by just planting the right types of flowers and plants.
Butterflies are nature’s ballet company. The delicate butterfly flutters about, dance in the sunlight, and pose gracefully on petal tips, sipping sweet drinks of their favorite elixir: nectar. You can encourage butterflies to visit your garden by planting flowers rich in this substance. I’ll show you how to create a habitat so you can lure in butterflies and persuade them to stay in your yard so you can enjoy the show.
Certain Plants Will Attract Butterflies
To attract a continuous succession of butterflies, plant a combination of nectar-producing plants with overlapping blooming periods. That way, your landscape always contains flowers at their peak. Annuals are always enticing because they bloom they bloom continuously throughout the summer season when butterflies are most active.
Perennial plants with wide blooms like coneflowers give butterflies a place to safely land and comfortably perch while they enjoy nectar. Perennials with bunches of small blooms are also appealing.
Also, a range of plant sized will attract a spectrum of butterflies. Small butterflies tend to hover closer to the ground, while large butterflies with generous wing-spans soar high toward flowering trees or fruit-bearing bushes. Favored flowering trees also provide a place for butterflies to seek shade and shelter from wind and cold. Try planting a Red Bird of Paradise or Chaste Tree.
Butterflies Love Coneflowers
The most effective butterfly gardens provide food for adult butterflies and caterpillars. You want to appeal to butterflies at every stage of life. This process begins when a caterpillar hatches out of its egg, eats this egg, and then munches on a host plant. Popular host plants include milkweed, aster, cherry and blueberry bushes. Next, the caterpillar molts several times before changing in to a pupa and, finally, emerges as an adult butterfly. The key is to plant options-a nectar buffet.
Books are also available on attracting butterflies:
Plants That Attract Butterflies
Remember, select a variety of plants that bloom at different times. You’ll always give butterflies a reason to visit. You can also refer to your local university extension for specific plant suggestions for your region. The following is a general guide:
Aster, Astrum
Black-eyed Susan, thunbergia alata
Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tubersosa
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus
Coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctoria
Black Dalia, Dalea frutescens
Daylilies, Hemerocallis
Desert Milkweed, Asclepias subulata
Dill, Anethum graveolens
Goldenrod, Solidago odora
Hibiscus, Hibiscus moscheutos
Lantana, Lantana camara
Lavender, Lavandula
Lilac, Syringa vulgaris
Marigold, Calendula oficinalis
Nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus
Oxeye Daisies, Lwucanthemum vulgare
Peony, Paeonia
Petunia, Petunia x hybrida
Blue phlox, Phlox divaricata
Pink azalea, Rhododendron periclymenoides
Purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
Queen anne’s Lace, Daucus carota (North America), Anthriscus sylvestris(Europe)
Red Bird of Paradise, Caesalphinia pulcherrima
Redbud, Cercis occidentalis
Rosemary, Rosmarinus
Verbena, Verbena