Butterfly Gardening Tips

  1. Use native plants.
  2. Get help from neighbors, community organizations, and gardening groups.
  3. Don’t plant more than you can maintain.
  4. Choose drought-tolerant and easy-care perennials.
  5. Plant both nectaring plants as well as host plants.
  6. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!!!
  7. Leave or create a wild patch.

Best Plants for Butterflies

Milkweed varieties: Asclepias tuberosa, Asclepias syriaca, Asclepias incarnata (Milkweed is the food for Monarch caterpillars).

Black-eyed Susan: Rudbeckia hirta.

Purple Coneflower: Echinacea purpurea.

Butterfly bush: Buddleia davidii varieties in purple and pink. Mulch heavily for winter protection, prune to one foot in Spring. Flowers June–October

Cultivated flowers (Asters, Marigolds, Zinnias) and Shrubs (blueberries, lilac, sumac, viburnum) are also good butterfly plants.

Gardening Links

View Links to Butterfly Gardening Plant Sources at: links

Garden With Butterflies, a Yahoo! e-group for gardeners who wish to attract butterflies to their yard.