A butterfly garden is filled with a variety of flowering plants of various sizes, textures and colors that is as pleasing to the human eye as it is to the butterflies. Planting a successful butterfly garden that will attract hundreds of fluttering butterflies requires planning. Your garden must provide nourishing nectar, but it must also provide shelter and a home for caterpillars as well.
Annuals
Annuals provide ample blooms and additional color throughout the season. Choose nectar-rich blooming plants such as coneflowers, flowering tobacco, impatiens, pansies, marigolds, phlox, sunflowers, violets and verbena. Butterflies are most active in mid to late summer and annuals bloom consistently, providing food when it is most needed. Group three or more plants together for the best appearance and to attract the maximum number of butterflies.
Perennials
Choose perennials that bloom in early summer through late summer to attract the first butterflies of the season and keep them until the season ends. Butterflies prefer perennials such as asters, bee balm, butterfly weed, red clover, privet, daisies, lilies and live forever. Fill most of the garden area with perennials, using annuals as border plants, for an easier yearly maintenance.
Shelter
Butterflies need shelter from the wind and storms if you want them to stay in your garden for extended periods of time. Plant large shrubs along the sides and back of the garden to shelter the delicate butterflies from the breeze. Blooming shrubs that attract butterflies include azaleas, blueberries, butterfly bushes, privets and sumacs. In addition to shrubs, or instead of shrubs, consider adding a decorative trellis with climbing vines to provide shelter.
Pesticides
Avoid using broad spectrum pesticides in a butterfly garden. Pesticides will kill the butterflies and their larvae as well as it kills weeds and pests. Inspect ailing plants thoroughly if you suspect a pest is killing the plant. Even though butterflies rarely cause plant damage, you may discover that the pest is actually a colony of butterfly caterpillars. Spray oil or soapy water as a spot treatment in areas as needed, but avoid spraying the butterflies or caterpillars during treatments.
Accessories
Add a few rocks in a sunny spot for the butterflies to rest and place a shallow butterfly bath at the edge of the garden. A butterfly bath can be as simple as a bowl of sand with water on top, or a small mud puddle kept filled with water.
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