Certain plants and certain conditions are needed to attract butterflies and keep them coming back to visit your garden every day:

Having a successful butterfly garden is easy and anyone can create an attractive butterfly garden. Just follow these 3 simple steps and you’ll have butterflies flocking to your garden!

Step 1: A Warm Spot - butterflies are cold blooded and need the sun to warm them. Scan your garden area for a place that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight per day and it protected from the wind. Add large flat rocks for the butterflies to sunbathe on.

Step 2: The Right Plants - butterflies and caterpillars that will turn into beautiful butterflies rely on nectar rich flowers (see below for a list of flowers). Choose flowers of varying growth heights and blooming times. To feed the caterpillar larvae, plant milkweed (to lure monarch caterpillars), parsley and fennel (for black swallowtails), and yarrow, hollyhock, and borage (for painted ladies).

Step 3: Include Mud and/or Wet Sand – create a muddy area or include a container of wet sand in the area and keep it moist. Butterflies get sodium and minerals from these damp areas.

IMPORTANT!: Never use insecticides anywhere in your butterfly garden. Even “organic” pesticides and weed killers can harm these delicate insects.

Here some perfect plant choices for attracting butterflies to your garden:

Annuals
Asters	Cosmos	Flossflower	Globe Amaranth
Lobelia	Marigold	Nicotiana	Petunia
Spider flower	Sweet alyssum	Zinnia

 

Perennials
Astilbes	Bee balms	Black eyed susan	Blanketflower
Butterfly Bush	Butterfly Weed	Coreopsis	Gayfeather
Globe Thistle	Hyssop	Joe Pye Weed	Larkspur
Lavender	Milkweed	Phlox	Purple Coneflower
Yarrow

If you find that you can’t locate some of these varieties in your local garden centers, try on line resources. Many times the on line prices are better, the choice is wider, and most offer some type of free shipping:

• Gurney’s Seed and Nursery
  
• Henry Fields Seed and Nursery
  
• Spring Hill Nursery
  
• BloomingBulb.com
  

Many garden supply centers also sell Butterfly Garden Kits and Flower Mixes, like these:

• Hummingbird and Butterfly Mix
  
• Butterfly Bush Collection
  
• Asclepias, ‘Gay Butterfly Mix’
  
• Bird and Butterfly Mix Wildflower
  
• Wildflower Seeds, Bird and Butterfly Mix
  
• Butterfly Flower Mix
  
• Garden, Butterfly Perennial