Blooms and Butterflies

Flowers such as those found on butterfly bushes attract butterflies to your garden.

With their myriad colors, butterflies brighten a garden as surely as the blooms they alight upon for food. Certain types of flowers attract butterflies and make effective additions to butterfly gardens.

Features

The University of Minnesota Extension recommends including plants that produce flowers with multiple florets rich in nectar. The university cautions butterfly gardeners from using showy double flowers, because they do not produce much nectar.

Time Frame

The ideal butterfly garden provides blossoms for butterflies from spring through fall. However, the University of Minnesota Extension advises gardeners to focus on mid to late summer, since this is the time when butterflies are most abundant and active.

Considerations

According to the Oregon State University Extension Service, accommodating the needs of not only adult butterflies, but also their caterpillars, increases your chances of success with butterfly gardening. Provide plants on which adults like to lay eggs and caterpillars feed. Areas of bare, damp earth, where butterflies "puddle" to extract minerals and nutrients needed for reproduction, also attract butterflies.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Creating a Butterfly Garden
• University of Minnesota Extension: Behaviors to Watch
• Oregon State University Extension Service: Create a Butterfly Garden