Butterfly Garden

People need less lawn. It is boring and doesn't attract interesting wildlife. This year try planting a butterfly garden. Butterflies drink nectar from flowers so a butterfly garden needs to be filled with flowering plants. An optimal habitat for butterflies will have flowers blooming during the entire growing season. It also helps to add host plants that will provide nourishment for the emerging caterpillar larva. Most caterpillars eat plants specific to her species. Host plants are often weedy in habitat and will be damaged by the hungry caterpillars. Plant them in places where aesthetics aren't as important.  Another tip to attract butterflies and other pollinators is to clump plants together and to provide a water source.

Butterflies typically visit flowers that are:

• In full sun
• In clusters and provide landing platforms
• Brightly colored (red, yellow, orange)
• Open during the day
• Ample nectar producers, with nectar deeply hidden
• Nectar guides present
• May be clusters of small flowers (goldenrods, Spirea) 

Butterfly Attracting Flowers

 

Asclepius tuberosa  - Butterflyweed

Buddleia--Butterfly Bush

Eupatorium maculatum 'Gateway' Spotted Joe Pye Weed--for the back of the garden. Gets up to six feet tall.

Echinacea--Purple Cone Flower

Hemerocallis--daylily

Rudbeckia--Black Eyed Susan--bloom from summer to frost

Aster spp.--Aster
Aquilegia canadensis – Columbine
Coreopsis palmata - Stiff Coreopsis
Echinacea pallilda - Pale Purple Coneflower
Eupatorium fistulosum - Tall Joe Pye Weed
Hemerocallis--Daylily 
Alcea--Hollyhocks
Lavendula--Lavander
Liatris ligullistylis - Meadow Blazingstar
Liatris pycnostachya - Prairie Blazingstar
Monarda fistulosa - Bergamot
Nepeta--Catmint
Physostegia virginiana - Obedient Plant
Rudbeckia subtomentosa - Sweet Black Eyed Susan
Solidago--Goldenrod
Syringa--Lilac
Vernonia fasciculata - Ironweed
Zinnia--Zinnia


Host Plants
Including host plants in your garden will bring are wider variety of butterflies. First, you need to know what species are native to your area. You can find a list here: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/butterfly-gardening-by-area.shtml

Milkweeds are the host plant for Monarch butterflies. The best milkweed choice you can make is to pick species that are native to your local area. The monarch society has a list of native milkweed species by state.

Asclepsis syriaca--common milkweed--spreads by rhizomes and is often weedy.

Host Plants and the Butterflies They Attract

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Host Plant	Butterfly
Willow (Salix spp.)	Red Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis)
Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)	Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)	Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)
Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)	Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata)	Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes)
Senna (Cassia spp.)	Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)	Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
Milkweed (Asclepias spp.)	Monarch (Danaus plexippu