How to Attract Monarch Butterflies

Monarch butterflies provide a splash of color.

The monarch butterfly population has faced challenges due to periodic freezing temperatures in Mexico and a lack of its essential milkweed plants. Turn your backyard garden into a monarch butterfly sanctuary and enjoy their beauty and grace all summer long by providing the basics they need during their life cycle.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Milkweed
• Nectar-producing plants
• Mud puddle
• Trees

1. Plant milkweed near an open, sunny area. Female butterflies flit back and forth to find suitable host plants to lay their eggs. Monarchs lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed. The caterpillars munch heavily on the host plants once they hatch. If this is something that bothers you, plant milkweed away from your main garden site but close to the nectar plants.

2. Provide nectar-producing plants -- such as rose of Sharon and butterfly bushes -- for food for the adult monarch butterflies to drink. Plant perennials that will come back year after year such as daisies, coneflowers, lantana, sedum and day lilies. Fill the herb garden with yarrow, mints, bee-balm and verbena. Each year add a varied mix of annuals.

3. Create an area of moist sand or mud for male butterflies to gather in a "mud-puddle club." Dig a spot in your yard and sink an upside-down metal garbage can lid so that it is level with the yard. Spread a thin layer of gravel, add a layer of dirt and it keep moist throughout the summer.

4. Plant or construct a windbreak to serve as a shelter for butterflies to hide in case of winds or severe weather. They don’t really use butterfly houses and prefer an undisturbed grove of trees.

Tips & Warnings

• If a monarch were to lay her eggs on any other type of plant the caterpillars would not survive.

• Be sure flowers are in abundance during late summer when the butterflies are the most active.

• Don't use insecticides in the garden, as this can kill monarch butterflies during any stage of their cycle.

References

• Colorado State University Extension: Attracting Butterflies to the Garden
• VCStar.com: The Plight of the Butterflies
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: I Want to Raise Monarch Butterflies

Resources

• Annenberg Learner: Journey North's Monarch Butterfly Migration Tracking Project
• Welcome to Pacific Grove, California: The Monarch Butterflies of Pacific Grove