There are plenty of specialty gardens one may plant, but perhaps one of the most attractive and visually entertaining gardens is a butterfly garden. The ecological relationship between butterflies and flowering plants is simple: plants provide food in the form of nectar, and butterflies serve as pollinators, ensuring continued growth and spread of plants.
Flower color and scent work together to attract these wonderful creatures into our gardens. Butterflies taste and smell with the chemical receptors on their antennae, tongues, and feet, and this is what drives them to certain plants. Plants with a strong fragrance attract more butterflies than those with a delicate scent, and because butterflies see into the ultraviolet spectrum of rays, they actually see more colors than we do. Therefore, color patterns on flower petals that may not be visible to our eyes help them find their way into the spot of the flower where nectar is stored.
Bee Balm
The size of your butterfly garden may consist of a small area with just a few choice plants. Or, if you have the space, the plot may be as large as you desire. The important thing is that you choose the right variety of plants—by doing so, even the smallest of spaces may become a butterfly sanctuary.
You may scatter butterfly-attracting plants among your existing gardens; just remember to plant multiples of a variety in one spot rather than scatter single plants around the garden. Multiple plants, or masses, are more effective in attracting butterflies, and give gardens a unifying element that makes for a more visually appealing landscape.
When it comes to planning any garden you don’t want to overdo it when it comes to color. To create a butterfly garden with overall appeal, choose most of your plants from the same color family: cool colors (shades of purple, blue, and white), or warm colors (oranges, reds, and yellows). Then, use flowers from the other color family as accent plants. When deciding which color family to use, consider the background of your garden—if a wide expanse of green lawn sits behind it, warm colors will stand out. Conversely, if you are planting against a stone wall or another grayish background, purples and pinks will pop in your landscape.
Also consider when you anticipate spending the most time in your garden. If evening is the most probable time, use of cool colors in the garden makes for a very soothing environment, as these colors really shine in the fading sunlight. Whites are particularly pleasing at night. Vibrant reds and yellows stand up well under intense mid-day sunlight.
Butterfly Bush
Other considerations when planning a butterfly garden include the amount of sunlight present over the course of a day (butterflies are cold blooded and therefore require the warmth provided by the sun to warm their muscles and enable flying), and also whether or not the area experiences high winds (butterflies require shelter from the wind, so you may need to include some taller plants around your intended butterfly garden to protect them). If you really want to attract and keep butterflies coming to your garden, it is very important to spray very little pesticides, or better yet, none at all.
In a larger garden, you should use butterfly-attracting shrubs and trees as foundation plants. The obvious choice here is butterfly bush, which can grow up to 15 feet tall. In smaller spaces, especially those that back up to a fence or other boundary, plants of intermediate height (yarrow, for example, which grows up to 4 feet tall) may form the back layer, with smaller plants at the front. Always take note of the anticipated height of a plant when choosing it for your garden; this is especially important when it comes to designing your plants’ arrangement within the designated space. Shorter, or creeping plants should always be placed at the front of your garden.
Purple Coneflower
As you make your choices, be sure to pick plants with varying bloom times, so that the flowering season extends throughout summer thus attracting the most butterflies. As mentioned earlier, plant in masses, not single stems, and also choose plants that are native to this region. Some plants, such as lantana, may grow well in the Merrimack Valley, but because they are not native to this area they won’t attract as many butterflies. The type of butterflies found in a region dictates what plants will attract them, so it makes sense to choose native plants for your butterfly garden.
As you can see from the list at right, there are numerous common plants that will attract butterflies to your garden. Many of these can be found in any decent garden center or nursery, but by no means should this be considered a complete list. For adventurous gardeners with a desire to showcase less common plant choices in their garden, I strongly suggest consulting some of the specialty plant retailers such as White Flower Farm.
Prolong the life of your butterfly garden:
- Pinch back plant stems before they set flower buds (late spring) to promote bushier plants with more flowers.
- Deadhead spent flower blooms to encourage longer bloom time and more blooms per plant (and more butterflies!).
- Cut back spring and early-summer blooming plants after they have finished flowering to encourage new foliage growth and keep the garden tidy (you may even get a second bloom cycle out of some plants). In fall, cut back plants to a few inches off the ground.
Sedium
Butterfly-attracting plants:
Ageratum
Aster
Bee balm
Blackberry
Black-eyed Susan
Blueberry
Bluet
Butterfly bush
Butterfly weed
( aka orange milkweed )
Catnip
Cinquefoil
Comfrey
Common or wild strawberry
Coreopsis
Cornflower aka Bachelor’s Button
Cosmos
Cranesbills
Dianthus
Eastern Prickly Pear
Forget-me-not
Goldenrod
Japanese honeysuckle
Joe-Pye weed
Lavender
Liatris
Lilac
Milkweed: common and swamp varieties
Mint
Phlox
Pink Azalea
Purple Coneflower
Pussy Willow
Radish
Raspberry
Sages
Salvias
Scabiosa
Sedum
Shasta daisy
Sumac: smooth, staghorn, and fragrant varieties
Sunflower
Trees: dogwood, redbud, spicebush, willow
Verbena
Veronica
Vetch: crown vetch, purple vetch, wood vetch, tufted purple-white vetch
Wax-leaf privet
White sweet clover
Wild geranium
Wild lupine
Wild or common strawberry
Yarrow
Zinnia
Designing a Butterfly Garden – Spring 2007
Flower color and scent work together to attract these wonderful creatures into our gardens. Butterflies taste and smell with the chemical receptors on their antennae, tongues, and feet, and this is what drives them to certain plants. Plants with a strong fragrance attract more butterflies than those with a delicate scent, and because butterflies see into the ultraviolet spectrum of rays, they actually see more colors than we do. Therefore, color patterns on flower petals that may not be visible to our eyes help them find their way into the spot of the flower where nectar is stored.
Bee Balm
The size of your butterfly garden may consist of a small area with just a few choice plants. Or, if you have the space, the plot may be as large as you desire. The important thing is that you choose the right variety of plants—by doing so, even the smallest of spaces may become a butterfly sanctuary.
You may scatter butterfly-attracting plants among your existing gardens; just remember to plant multiples of a variety in one spot rather than scatter single plants around the garden. Multiple plants, or masses, are more effective in attracting butterflies, and give gardens a unifying element that makes for a more visually appealing landscape.
When it comes to planning any garden you don’t want to overdo it when it comes to color. To create a butterfly garden with overall appeal, choose most of your plants from the same color family: cool colors (shades of purple, blue, and white), or warm colors (oranges, reds, and yellows). Then, use flowers from the other color family as accent plants. When deciding which color family to use, consider the background of your garden—if a wide expanse of green lawn sits behind it, warm colors will stand out. Conversely, if you are planting against a stone wall or another grayish background, purples and pinks will pop in your landscape.
Also consider when you anticipate spending the most time in your garden. If evening is the most probable time, use of cool colors in the garden makes for a very soothing environment, as these colors really shine in the fading sunlight. Whites are particularly pleasing at night. Vibrant reds and yellows stand up well under intense mid-day sunlight.
Butterfly Bush
Other considerations when planning a butterfly garden include the amount of sunlight present over the course of a day (butterflies are cold blooded and therefore require the warmth provided by the sun to warm their muscles and enable flying), and also whether or not the area experiences high winds (butterflies require shelter from the wind, so you may need to include some taller plants around your intended butterfly garden to protect them). If you really want to attract and keep butterflies coming to your garden, it is very important to spray very little pesticides, or better yet, none at all.
In a larger garden, you should use butterfly-attracting shrubs and trees as foundation plants. The obvious choice here is butterfly bush, which can grow up to 15 feet tall. In smaller spaces, especially those that back up to a fence or other boundary, plants of intermediate height (yarrow, for example, which grows up to 4 feet tall) may form the back layer, with smaller plants at the front. Always take note of the anticipated height of a plant when choosing it for your garden; this is especially important when it comes to designing your plants’ arrangement within the designated space. Shorter, or creeping plants should always be placed at the front of your garden.
Purple Coneflower
As you make your choices, be sure to pick plants with varying bloom times, so that the flowering season extends throughout summer thus attracting the most butterflies. As mentioned earlier, plant in masses, not single stems, and also choose plants that are native to this region. Some plants, such as lantana, may grow well in the Merrimack Valley, but because they are not native to this area they won’t attract as many butterflies. The type of butterflies found in a region dictates what plants will attract them, so it makes sense to choose native plants for your butterfly garden.
As you can see from the list at right, there are numerous common plants that will attract butterflies to your garden. Many of these can be found in any decent garden center or nursery, but by no means should this be considered a complete list. For adventurous gardeners with a desire to showcase less common plant choices in their garden, I strongly suggest consulting some of the specialty plant retailers such as White Flower Farm.
Prolong the life of your butterfly garden:
- Pinch back plant stems before they set flower buds (late spring) to promote bushier plants with more flowers.
- Deadhead spent flower blooms to encourage longer bloom time and more blooms per plant (and more butterflies!).
- Cut back spring and early-summer blooming plants after they have finished flowering to encourage new foliage growth and keep the garden tidy (you may even get a second bloom cycle out of some plants). In fall, cut back plants to a few inches off the ground.
Sedium
Butterfly-attracting plants:
Ageratum
Aster
Bee balm
Blackberry
Black-eyed Susan
Blueberry
Bluet
Butterfly bush
Butterfly weed
( aka orange milkweed )
Catnip
Cinquefoil
Comfrey
Common or wild strawberry
Coreopsis
Cornflower aka Bachelor’s Button
Cosmos
Cranesbills
Dianthus
Eastern Prickly Pear
Forget-me-not
Goldenrod
Japanese honeysuckle
Joe-Pye weed
Lavender
Liatris
Lilac
Milkweed: common and swamp varieties
Mint
Phlox
Pink Azalea
Purple Coneflower
Pussy Willow
Radish
Raspberry
Sages
Salvias
Scabiosa
Sedum
Shasta daisy
Sumac: smooth, staghorn, and fragrant varieties
Sunflower
Trees: dogwood, redbud, spicebush, willow
Verbena
Veronica
Vetch: crown vetch, purple vetch, wood vetch, tufted purple-white vetch
Wax-leaf privet
White sweet clover
Wild geranium
Wild lupine
Wild or common strawberry
Yarrow
Zinnia