Butterfly Gardens (6004)

A butterfly garden can quickly become the main attraction for your landscape.  These colorful gardens are cherished for the beautiful and enchanting butterflies they attract.

Besides the well-known monarch butterfly, there are over 200 different butterfly species that may be found in the northeastern United States. Butterfly gardens will also attract other nectar-feeding animals.  These include hummingbirds, honeybees, bumblebees, and moths.

Select a sunny site for your butterfly garden.  Make sure it is sheltered from harsh winds.  Locate the garden in a place where you will be able to watch the butterflies easily.

Butterflies love to sunbathe.  You can make resting spots for butterflies by placing dark rocks in the garden or exposing some soil; these dark surfaces will absorb the warm rays of the sun.  Grass stems to perch upon are also inviting to butterflies. An area of moist sand or a mud puddle where butterflies can get moisture and minerals is a favorite congregating spot.

Butterflies are cold-blooded and only fly when temperatures are 60 degrees or above.  On cool, cloudy, or rainy days they need a place to roost.  Shrubs, tall grasses, or log piles provide suitable roosting places.  A cluster of flat rocks in a sheltered area of the garden will serve as a basking place to warm them up on sunny days.

It is critical that you limit pesticide use around the garden to an absolute minimum.  Chemicals that kill insect pests will also kill butterflies.  Limit the use of pesticides to insecticidal soaps, barriers, traps, and other methods that do not leave toxic chemical residues.

The plants you select for the garden and surrounding home landscape will make a big difference.  You need to provide two types of food for butterflies:  plant tissue for when they are caterpillars and nectar sources for when they have matured into winged adults.

Landscape trees and shrubs may be used to provide food for the leaf-eating caterpillars.  Recommended plants include birch, cherry, Eastern redbud, oak, hackberry, plum, sweet mock orange, viburnum, and willow. Other good food sources for caterpillars include such perennials as clover, Kentucky bluegrass, little bluestem, violets, aster, and hollyhock.

For adult butterflies, plant several different flowers to make nectar available throughout spring, summer, and fall.  Butterflies are generally attracted to purple, orange, yellow, or red flowers.  Because they sit on the flower while they sip nectar, adults prefer plants with closely packed clusters of flowers.

Recommended annual flowers include alyssum, cleome (clee o mee), cosmos, dianthus, nasturtium, petunia, verbena (ver beena) and zinnias. Recommended perennial flowers include blazing star, butterfly bush, candytuft, columbine, gladiolus, peony, phlox, purple coneflower, sedum (see dum), stiff goldenrod, violets, and yarrow.

Some herbs are attractive to butterflies.  Dill, lavender, lemon balm, marjoram, parsley, peppermint, rosemary, sage, and thyme are good selections. Even some weeds, such as dandelion, milkweed, and Queen Anne’s lace, will attract butterflies.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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