How to Bring Butterflies to your Garden

If you'd like to add an array of butterflies to your garden, the right plant choices are essential. All these plants have been shown to increase butterfly populations.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• knowledge and the right plants

1. Filipendula rubra (Hill) B.L. Robins. - queen of the prairie
   
   This plant is a favorite of butterflies, birds, and bees. It grows up to 4 feet tall and has a 2-3 foot spread. It loves full sun and moist soil. Its blooms are pink and grow from spring to summer. You need to cut the foliage back when it starts to brown.

2. Eupatoriadelphus fistulosus (Barratt) King & H. E. Robins. - trumpetweed
   
   This flowering plant gets up to 2-6 feet tall and prefers full sun. It has a large head of purple or dull pink flowers from July to September. Its blooms have nectar for butterflies, and will attract many to your garden. This is a good choice for a bog garden, especially with Sarracenia.

3. Asclepias incarnata L. - swamp milkweed
   
   This flower is a favorite among butterflies. It gets up to 2-3 feet high and you need to space it around 18-24 inches apart. It prefers sun to partial shade in acidic soil. The flowers are pink or purple, and bloom from mid-summer to late fall. It is a clump forming plant, and you can divide these clumps to propagate or just direct sow the seeds outside after frost. Milkweeds tend to be susceptible to aphids, but being that they are the only plant that the Monarch Butterfly's larvae can survive on makes it worth it. It is a fragrant and beautiful plant to have in any garden. BEWARE: All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested.

4. Ampelaster carolinianus (Walt.) Nesom - climbing aster
   
   This fragrant vine may get invasive, so take care to keep an eye on it as it grows. It will grow up to 12 feet long and needs a spacing of 4 feet across. It prefers to grow in sun to partial shade in moist soil. Butterflies and birds love this vine. Expect pink/purple blooms in late summer to mid fall. You may divide the rootball on this one to propagate.

5. Impatiens capensis Meerb. - jewelweed
   
   This flower gets 2-6 feet tall with an 18-24 inch spread zone. It likes partial to full shade and moist acidic soil. There are trumpet like red or orange blooms in mid summer to early fall. It self sows, so deadhead to prolong bloom life and self sowing if you want it contained. Butterflies and hummingbirds love jewelweed's blooms, and so will you. This is an herbal remedy: crush leaves to put on bug bites, poison ivy, or razor burn.