Gardening - Great tips for attracting butterflies to your butterfly garden!

Butterfly Garden Articles

Butterfly Gardening

A butterfly garden is an easy way to both see more butterflies and to contribute towards their conservation, since many natural butterfly habitats have been lost to urbanization and other development. It is easy to increase the number and variety of butterflies in your yard. Simply grow the plants the caterpillars like to eat, and plants that adult butterflies feed on! We provide great charts with pictures of plants that butterflies are attracted to (nectar/ food plants) and charts of caterpillar food plants (host plants). Several books are available at your local bookstore with butterfly plant lists and garden plans. Plants with varying blooming cycles can be placed together to keep your garden full of activity throughout the growing season. CLICK TO READ MORE OF OUR ARTICLE ON CREATING A BUTTERFLY GARDEN.

 

Welcome butterflies to your garden with a Butterfly House.

Butterfly Nectar Plants Creating a Butterfly Garden involves planning your garden to attract, retain, and encourage butterfly populations to visit. You should select a variety of nectar-producing plants with the goal of providing flowers in bloom throughout the season. This will encourage a continuous succession of new visitors to your butterfly garden. It is especially important to have flowers in mid to late summer, when most butterflies are active. Flowers with multiple florets that produce abundant nectar are ideal. Butterfly Bush and Butterfly Weed are some of the most popular flowers used by butterfly gardeners.      For best results, plant your butterfly garden in full sun and plant the tallest flowers behind the shorter ones--so you'll be able to see all the flowers and butterflies that appear in your garden.  It’s important to refrain from the use of chemical insecticides, which will kill the butterflies you attract.     CLICK TO SEE OUR LIST OF FAVORITE BUTTERFLY NECTAR PLANTS WITH PICTURES, that will bring enjoyment to both the gardener and the butterfly! Butterfly Host Plants Butterfly Host Plants are important to add to your butterfly garden to provide a site for the butterfly to lay eggs and also food source for the emerging caterpillar. Be prepared for heavy munching on your host plants! Because tiny caterpillars cannot travel far to find their own food, the female butterfly locates and lays her eggs on only the type of plant that the caterpillar can use as food. Most species of caterpillars are particular about the type of plants they can eat. If the egg was not placed on the correct plant, the caterpillar hatching from that egg will not survive. Many gardeners do not like to see plants in their gardens that have been chewed on by bugs. To avoid this, you may want to locate your butterfly host plants in areas that are not highly visible, but still a short distance from the butterfly nectar plants. If you do not provide host plants, you will have fewer butterflies. Many native trees and other plants found in and around our yards are host plants for caterpillars. There are a variety of plants that can be included in a butterfly garden that are excellent host plants. CLICK TO SEE OUR LIST OF FAVORITE BUTTERFLY HOST PLANTS

Butterfly Feeders help attract butterflies to your garden.

 
More Butterfly Gardening Articles

Butterfly Gardening by Region

It is important to know which adult butterflies are found in your area. This will help you determine the Butterfly Nectar Plants and Butterfly Host Plants you will want to plant when creating your butterfly garden. If you live in the United States, you can click on a state on the map below to view a list of butterflies found in that state. Or, below the map is a list of websites which will help you find adult butterflies found in other countries.

Butterflies of North America by State

Click on a state on the map below to view a list of butterflies found in that state.

Butterflies Found in Other Countries