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Designing a Butterfly Garden

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Butterfly Gardens

Growing plants that provide nectar for butterflies and food for caterpillars, as well as strategically placing flat rocks and 'puddles' in your garden, will attract many types of beautiful butterflies to your garden. Learn how to do it right.

Table of Contents

  1. Butterflies Need Nectar
  2. Butterflies Need Warmth
  3. Butterflies Need Water
  4. Don't Forget to Feed the Caterpillars
  5. Excellent Books on Designing a Butterfly Garden
  6. Butterfly Feeders and Houses
  7. Wonderful Websites About Butterflies
  8. What's Your Favorite Butterfly?
  9. Butterfly Garden Design in the Blogs
  10. Butterfly Garden Design on Twitter
  11. Beautiful Butterfly Jewelery

Butterflies Need Nectar

Grow Plants with Lots of Little, Nectar-Rich Flowers

Butterflies, as well as other pollinators, prefer plants with plenty of nectar, clusters of the same plants, and native plants. Many newer hybrid plants have little nectar and so aren't attractive to butterflies. Here are some of the best plants for butterflies -

Butterfly weed
Milkweed
Yarrow
Agastache
Joe Pye Weed
Bee Balm
Scabiosa
Butterfly bush
Queen Anne's Lace
Pentas
Salvia
Veronica
Filipendula

Butterflies Need Warmth

Provide Flat Rocks for Butterflies to Sun Themselves

Like all insects, butterflies are cold-blooded. That means they slow down as temperatures fall. To 'wake up', butterflies sun themselves on warm, flat rocks that absorb heat from the sun. Place slate, granite, or other darker flat rocks in a sunny location and you'll be rewarded with butterflies warming themselves.

Butterflies Need Water

Create Puddles for Butterflies to Drink From

Butterflies won't drink from a pond or bird bath because the water's too deep. Instead, place a shallow saucer or dish on the ground, fill in nearly to the rim with sand, and then top it with water. This creates a mud-like mix that allows butterflies to stand on the exposed sand and suck up water. Don't make the water too deep or you'll just end up breeding mosquitoes.

Don't Forget to Feed the Caterpillars

No Caterpillars = No Butterflies

While butterflies need nectar, caterpillars feed on foliage. Some of their favorite plants are dill, fennel, flat-leaved parsley, and milkweed. Plant large amounts of these plants in a location that's easily accessible to caterpillars but not necessarily front and center in your garden.

Excellent Books on Designing a Butterfly Garden

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Butterfly Feeders and Houses

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Wonderful Websites About Butterflies

The Butterfly WebSite
The world's oldest and largest website dedicated to butterflies and moths. Includes lists of butterflies by county, state, and region.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
Welcome to Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA), a searchable database of verified butterfly and moth records in the United States and Mexico. This site includes dynamic distribution maps, photographs, species accounts, and species checklists for each county in the U.S. and each state in Mexico.
North American Butterfly Association
Everything you want to know about butterflies in North America. Includes information on conservation and habitat restoration, as well as an online store.

What's Your Favorite Butterfly?

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Butterfly Garden Design in the Blogs

Find out what the top bloggers are saying!

Flowers, butterflies bloom in local garden
A black swallowtail butterfly is perched on pink flowers. Mary Ann Ross raises butterflies from eggs until they are ready to be released into her garden, which will be featured in the June 10 Garden Walk. / Photo provided Mary Ann Ross pulls weeds from ...
How to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden
Bright colors, not flowery smells, are what entice the tiny birds, and butterflies also like many of the same plants. By Networx.comWed, May 30 2012 at 3:23 PM EST Attracting hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden not only can bring a sense of ...
Garden calendar
Tickets sold at Garden Mill, the Dexter Mill, Downtown Home and Garden and other locations. Maureen: 734-475-3539. "Attract Butterflies to Your Garden": Hosted by Master Gardener Society of Oakland County. 6:30 pm Tue. Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, ...
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Beautiful Butterfly Jewelery

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GardenJunkie

Gardening is my passion. I'm a gardening coach, organic land care consultant, designer, and garden writer. I own GardenPlansOnline, publish In the Gar... more »

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