Butterfly Garden Tips
 |
| Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Visiting a Zinnia in the Garden |
A butterfly garden is no more complicated than any other garden and with a few simple tips you can easily convert a garden area to a butterfly garden or start one from scratch. Butterfly gardens can be as big as you want or as small as a few containers.
My passion for butterflies started out of a container that had parsley (among other plants) planted in it for decoration. Imagine my surprise when we found some pretty little caterpillars all over it one day. That started a deep passion for me and over the next several years I converted all my garden plants to butterfly nectar plants and host plants. I still continue to expand the gardens and/or introduce new butterfly plants.
General Gardening Procedures Apply to Butterfly Gardens
- Soil preparation is the same as with any garden. Plants vary in their precise needs but in general most plants need healthy soil with a certain amount of organic matter mixed in to grow well. Fortunately, butterflies and native plants go hand-in-hand so you will almost certainly find plants that will grow well in your soil type and are also attractive to butterflies.
- Since a butterfly garden often consists of many native plants, you will find that your fertilizer requirements may be lower. Organic fertilizer is always best but I have had no problem with some use of chemical fertilizer in the soil.
- Butterflies do not care about the shape of a garden so you can lay out your garden any way you wish: garden plots, foundation plantings, along fences, even containers.
- Regular garden design applies: plant your taller plants in the back, group plants with complimenting colors if possible and plan to have various flowers in bloom throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Not only is this aesthetically pleasing but your butterflies will appreciate varying heights of flowers and the availability of nectar all through the butterfly season. Also, a variety of different plants/flowers equates to a larger diversity of butterflies.
- If possible, plan your butterfly garden with some wind shelter. I have butterfly plants all around my house, deck and yard so some areas are more sheltered than others. It's never been a big issue for us and unless you live in an area that is consistently windy all summer long, then I wouldn't let a lack of a windbreak deter you. That being said, shelter is great if you can work it in to your design. Using butterfly shrubs such as butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii, a nectar source) or spicebushes (Lindera benzoin, a host plant) as a windbreak would be ideal.
 |
| Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Visiting a Butterfly Bush |
A Butterfly Garden needs Sun, Generally
Butterflies are cold blooded and must be warm in order to fly. Many butterflies must have temperatures greater than 65F or higher to fly. Butterflies use the sun to warm themselves. It is not surprising then that most butterfly nectar plants are sun-loving plants. When it comes to host plants, there are more varieties that will tolerate some (or a lot) of shade. So, plan your flowering nectar plants for the sunny areas and some of the host plants will fit nicely into your part-shade or shady areas. If you can manage to find at least 6 hours of good sunlight in parts of your yard then that will open your choices of nectar plants (and host plants) considerably.If, however, you live in a very shady area then all is not lost. There are some varieties of butterflies that actually prefer shady, wooded areas and not-surprisingly, these butterflies do not rely on flower nectar as their food source. Instead they are more attracted to rotting fruit, dung, tree-sap, etc. I do not have experience with butterfly gardens in very shaded areas, but if that was what I was working with, I would aim more towards planting the host plants that like shade (Aristolochia, Lindera benzoin), using butterfly fruit feeders rather than relying solely on nectar plants, and trying a few shade-loving nectar plants such as Cut-leaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), Canada lily (Lilium canadense), and Bee balm (Monarda didyma).
 |
| Giant Swallowtail Laying Egg on Rue |
Choosing Plants for a Butterfly Garden
There are two different categories of butterfly garden plants: Host Plants and Nectar Plants. Click on each to read more about them if you like. Basically, nectar plants provide the nectar that adult butterflies drink from the flowers while host plants provide the leaves that the caterpillars eat before becoming a chrysalis (from which the adult butterfly emerges). Nectar plants will attract passing-by butterflies while host plants will attract egg-laying female adult butterflies. Having both creates colonies and larger populations of butterflies that stay around. It fulfills the butterfly life cycle and makes a garden of butterflies into the fun and fascinating place that it can be.Our companion article about how to Attract Butterflies lists some of the top butterfly attracting nectar plants and a few host plants with which to get started. Also please visit our articles about Nectar Plants and Host Plants if you would like some ideas for specific plants that will attract certain butterfly species to your garden.
 |
| Monarch Butterfly Visiting Tropical Milkweed in the Garden |
In making your plant choices, keep in mind that the varieties that are native to your area will perform best in your soil/environment. For example, Milkweed has many different varieties that are suited to different areas of the United States and Monarchs will use a tremendous amount of the available varieties. However, I certainly do not restrict myself to native plants and am always game to try a new butterfly plant in my garden.
When purchasing your plants try to buy them from smaller garden centers, online wildlife/nature/organic-type nurseries or grow your own from seed. The reason for this is to avoid pesticides. Growing from seed is the safest but many smaller nurseries can tell you whether or not their plants have been treated with pesticides. I have heard of plants from the big "box stores" killing caterpillars because they are treated with pesticide (parsley in particular). I'm guessing the nectar plants may not be treated with pesticides as often as the host plants are simply because the growers of the host plants need to keep the caterpillars off so they have some plants left to sell! So, just be aware that plants from big retailers may be harmful, especially to caterpillars, for a month or more after the purchase.
 |
| A Tiger Swallowtail and a Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly Visiting a Patch of Tithonia |
Group your Plants to Help Butterflies Find your Garden
A butterfly garden is the perfect place to go-all-out with extravagant explosions of color! More is better with butterflies and they like group plantings of the same plant (seeds are cheap if you don't mind raising plants from seed). For example, if you have a package of Zinnia seeds, don't spread them in different places around your garden, instead, make a patch of zinnias. The same holds true for host plants. Groupings of the same plant make it easier for the butterflies to see, smell and thus find your garden.Having stated that larger is better, do not be deterred if you only have a small space. Like I mentioned in the beginning, my butterfly passion started with a parsley plant in a container. So, plant with extravagance whether it be large colorful garden plots or a few brilliant containers.
 |
| Black Swallowtail Caterpillar on rue in front of a patch of red lantana |
No Pesticides in Butterfly Gardens
Pesticides are designed to kill insects which, of course, include butterflies and caterpillars. Using native plants will help reduce the need for pesticides and outside of that you may just have to accept the occasional pests if you want to keep the butterfly garden healthy for your butterflies and caterpillars. My milkweed gets some aphids and milkweed bugs each year but neither slows down the caterpillars from munching it down to bare stems. You may need to explore various non-chemical options if a serious problem erupts |
| Excellent Customer Reviews! |
