A presentation with photos sharing how to start a butterfly garden. Given to a local gardening group in Virginia in April, 2013. (Gardening is my hobby....marketing and writing, my business!)
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Starting a Butterfly Garden Jeanne Grunert
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Welcome to this presentation on Starting a Butterfly Garden. My name is Jeanne Grunert, and I’m a Virginia Master Gardening intern and a writer specializing in home, garden, business, education and animal care topics. Today I’ll be sharing with you the joys of growing plants that attract beautiful, colorful butterflies. All of the images in this presentation were taken by me in Prince Edward county, Virginia and reflect the variety and diversity of plants and butterflies in my garden. Plant suitable for your part of the country may be different. Check with your local County Cooperative Extension office (in the USA and Canada) to see which plants are suitable for your location.
What Is a Butterfly Garden? Garden planted to attract butterflies (and
moths) Includes plants for shelter, nectar and
host Can be part of a complete backyard
wildlife habit that includes plants to attract birds and other wildlife
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What is a butterfly garden? It’s a garden planted to attract, nurture, feed and shelter butterflies. I’ll be using the term “butterflies” to refer to butterflies and moths, since many people use the term “butterfly” to refer to any flying insect with colorful wings. A butterfly garden is a garden planted with the butterfly’s natural needs for food, water and shelter in mind. A butterfly garden can be a distinct and separate garden area planted just for butterflies, or incorporated into a complete backyard wildlife habitat that attracts birds, butterflies and other wild creatures for your enjoyment.
Why Create a Butterfly Garden? Beauty and enjoyment Great gardening activity for children Diminishing natural habitats for butterflies
and moths Most plants are low maintenance,
drought tolerant, beautiful Attracts pollinators
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Why create a butterfly garden? Butterflies are fun and beautiful to watch. The plants used in butterfly gardening tend to be profuse, colorful blooming plants, and some have a great fragrance. Butterfly gardens are beautiful gardens. Butterfly gardens can be filled with native plants, too. Many butterfly garden plants are also drought-tolerant and ‘water wise’, which is great for those gardens dependent upon natural for water. Butterfly gardens also attract pollinating insects, which are vital to pollinate many food crops such as vegetables and fruits. Butterfly gardening is a great gardening activity for children and schools. Children can learn how to grow flowers and learn about wildlife and insects in a butterfly garden. Butterflies are losing their natural habitat in many places around the country. Urban sprawl and the loss of open, naturalized areas means that food plants such as butterfly weed and milkweed at rapidly vanishing. Planting a butterfly garden in an urban or suburban area can support the local population when their habitats are shrinking.
Butterfly Garden Design & Care Full sun to part shade Garden size
Container butterfly garden Small garden Large garden
Include screening plants or site near something that keeps wind from butterflies
Choose perennial plants that bloom spring through fall for continuous color; include annuals
Group plants together by color; masses of the same color or tone tends to attract more butterflies
Native plants support local butterfly species Avoid use of pesticides Place garden near the home (or include a bench in the design) so
you can enjoy the butterflies!
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Butterfly gardens require full sun but some plants can be grown in partial shade, such as afternoon shade. You can grow a small garden in a container on a balcony or deck or create a large and separate butterfly garden. The choice is yours. Including plants for shelter from the wind, food for the larvae, and nectar for the adult butterflies attracts many butterflies throughout the growing season. Planting annuals for continuous color and perennials that bloom during spring, summer and fall also attracts more butterflies. Butterflies are attracted to big stretches of color, so whenever you can, group plants together by color. Yellows, pinks, reds, purples and blues are all shades found among butterfly garden plans. Avoid using pesticides of any type near a butterfly garden. Any pesticides intended to kill insects will also kill butterflies. Be sure to place your butterfly garden where you can watch it frequently. Butterflies come and go during daylight hours, and the more you can glance out the window and watch the garden the more beautiful butterflies you will see.
Water Sources
“Mud Puddles” - Water sources are optional, but probably appreciated by butterflies Many butterflies like to drink from salty mud
puddles. You can see them on damp rocks, gravel or sand. Create a mud puddle by digging a shallow depression and lining it gravel.
Commercial “butterfly puddle” bowls feature a shallow cement bowl with pebbles – just add water.
You can also use an old bird bath top if the base breaks. A birdbath is fine, but the birds will use it more than the butterflies.
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Butterflies drink at mud puddles or shallow depressions in the earth filled with water. You can create a little hollow filled with pebbles in the garden or add a commercial butterfly puddle, a dish with water in it. It’s not necessary for a great butterfly garden but a nice option.
Plants for the Garden
Shelter Butterflies dislike high winds and seek
shelter on windy days. Including plants for shelter such as Buddleia (butterfly bush) provides both food and shelter.
Nectar Nectar producing plants are typically
flowering perennials and annuals Native plants are especially beneficial
Host plants Provide food for larvae
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Plants for the butterfly garden fall into three categories: shelter, nectar and host plants.
Host Plants
Each butterfly species seeks a specific host plant Include a variety to benefit more butterflies Common host (larvae) plants include:
Parsley (Eastern Black Swallowtail) Violets (Great Spangled Fritillary Dogwoods, virburnum (Spring Azure) Milkweed (also a nectar plant) (Monarch) Nettles (Comma, Red Admiral) Dill, mint
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Host plants support the larvae. They will eat the host plant, so be prepared for ragged leaves and caterpillars! Don’t be afraid of them. Different host plants attract different butterflies. A good book or the resources at the end of this presentation can help you choose host plants for your area.
Shelter and Nectar
Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) Prolific seeder (deadhead if you don’t want seeds)
Easy care, cut back in fall
10-15 feet tall
White, lavender, purple, dark purple, bicolor
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A common shelter plant for butterfly gardens is Buddleia or Butterfly Bush. It is a rapidly growing woody perennial (some call it a shrub) that thrives in zones 4 to 9. It comes in white, light purple, dark purple and bicolors. It can be invasive so deadhead to remove seeds or be prepared to weed and pull up a lot of baby plants in the spring. It grows 10 to 15 feet tall. Pruning it back in late winter helps control the height. It has a light, pretty fragrance. The flowers resemble lilacs. It blooms in the warm summer months all the way through to the fall.
Nectar Plants: Purple and Blue Flowers
Nepeta (Cat Mint) and Salvia “May Night”
Lavender Hidcote
Centaurea cyanus (Cornflower, Bachelor’s Buttons)
Phlox subulata
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Nectar flowers for butterfly gardens in the blue and purple family include those pictures above – salvia and nepeta (cat mint), lavender, phlox and annual Bachelor’s buttons. Other good choices include many types of asters.
Nectar Plants: Orange and Yellow
Coreopsis and marigolds (above)
Lantana (above right)
Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan)
Gaillardia
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Yellow flowers are very popular in butterfly gardens. Orange and yellow flowers that attract butterflies include various types of coreopsis, Black Eyed Susan and Gaillardia. Annual flowers that butterflies love include lantana and marigolds. Daylilies, especially the common orange “ditch lily” are great for buttefly gardens, too.
Nectar Plants: Pink
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Pink flowers for butterfly gardens include hibiscus, Echinacea, zinnias and phlox. Many other colorful flowers offer nectar to hungry butterflies. Please see the plant list offered here for suggestions, or use the Cooperative Extension resources for your area for more ideas.
Examples of Other Butterfly Garden Plants New England Aster Bee Balm (Monarda
An example of a simple butterfly garden plan with suggested flowers.
My Butterfly Garden
Started 2008
Sloping ground,, highly acidic soil, clay, full sun to part shade
We used a “kit” of plants from a nursery catalog. Came with starter plants and a garden plan. Sort of like paint by numbers gardening.
Major plants:
•Achillea
•Butterfly bush
•Cardinal flower
•Catmint
•Columbine
•Lantana
•Marigolds
•Monarda
•Salvia
•Zinnias
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My own butterfly garden is pictured here. I got into butterfly gardening purely by accident. My property was planted with pine trees before we cleared 3 acres for the home, lawn and garden. The soil was highly acidic (pH 3.5 to 4.0) and the excavator made a mistake and scraped off too much top soil, leaving the soil in terrible shape. It had no fertility, no life to it, and was hard packed clay. We have a very steep slope next to the driveway that my husband did not want to mow every week with the riding mower. He asked me to “plant a few flowers” to keep the slope from eroding. We saw perennial garden kits in a catalog and purchased two ‘sunny’ area kits and one ‘butterfly gardening’ kit. The kits came with all the plants and a map to show you where to plant them to achieve the same look as in the pictures. The first year we planted the garden, we watered it every day until the plants were established. We added horse manure to the soil first and soil inoculant to restore the microbes in the ground. The manure was free and I had a coupon for a catalog so the inoculant was free. We added a thick layer of shredded hardwood mulch once the plants were established. After the first year, I enjoyed the garden so much that I began adding more plants. The butterfly bushes produced many new plants from seeds and we left some where they grew and moved others. I also planted more salvia and other perennials that did well, and added annuals. Four years later, the garden is thriving as you can see from the pictures in this presentation. Plants include: four butterfly bushes, hibiscus, geum, cardinal flower, monarda, columbine, zinnias, marigolds, salvia, cat mint, gaillardia, achillea, echinacea
For More Information
Virginia Cooperative Extension – Wildlife Habitats: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-070/426-070.html
Colorado Extension – Attracting Butterflies to the Garden: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05504.html
These are three pages on Cooperative Extension websites that offer more information on butterfly gardening. These are the references sources for my presentation. Check your own state’s Cooperative Extension website for butterfly gardening plants that will grow well in your area. Most of the plants in this presentation will grow through the majority of gardening zones, but not all are suited for every soil, etc. It’s always best to check with your local Cooperative Extension center on what grows well in your area and supports your local butterfly population.
No commercial use No modifications permitted Please credit Jeanne Grunert and link to: www.getyourhandsdirtygardening.com License details: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Please contact me for any questions or other permission requests. I can be reached by
