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Colorful, delicate, and graceful, butterflies are one of nature’s most enchanting creatures. These pollinators do wonders for any garden and help create a relaxing and zen environment. Plus, don't butterflies in your lush garden scream “magical fairytale”?
Butterflies don’t just simply flock to any garden, no. The right kinds of plants must be around and your garden has to be healthy. You see, butterflies are attracted to bright flowers and feed on nectar. Beauty attracts beauty!
So whether you’re just getting your green thumb or have taken care of your fair share of gardens, we’re sure we can offer a suggestion or two on what plants to grow so that your garden can attract butterflies!
What Attracts Butterflies?
Before we can recommend plants, let’s give you a little list of what might draw in those beautiful flyers. As we said, beauty attracts beauty. So that means…
Flower Color
Butterflies are attracted to colorful flowers. In particular, they’re attracted to the colors white, red, orange, pink, purple, and yellow. The color blue is a little iffy as we’ve heard them both liking and disliking them. Generally, plant flowers. You can’t go wrong if what attracts butterflies is…
Nectar
Butterflies mainly eat nectar from flowers. It provides them with energy! Lavender, sunflower, cosmos, aster, marigolds, buttercups, hyacinth, and goldenrod are but a few nectar-rich flowers you can plant.
A little bonus tip: Butterflies may sometimes be drawn to over-ripened fruit. Just don’t make this a frequent offering as it may attract other creatures.
Shape of Flowers
Because butterflies eat nectar, they want easy access to it. Flatter flowers make extraction easier for our fluttery friends. If you have a few flat clusters of flowers around your garden, you may invite them even more.
Best Plants For A Butterfly Garden
Milkweed
Milkweeds attract royalty. Did you know that? The beautiful monarch butterfly loves milkweed. These fluttery beauties prefer milkweed to host their larvae. Milkweed plants also happen to be rich in nectar which, as we learned from earlier, butterflies need for energy. If you’ve got a lot of sun, then milkweed can thrive. They prefer it over shaded areas.
Lavender
As far as outdoor plants go, we think one of the more popular ones would be lavender. The purple lavender not only attracts butterflies but bees as well. So if you want to build your own little outdoor ecosystem, consider planting them. These plants are considered to be easy to grow as well as long as you provide moderate watering and full sun.
Bee Balm
Speaking of bees, this fun-named plant also attracts butterflies. Bee balms are also known as bergamot (not to be confused with the bergamot orange) and horsemint. Bee balms produce an aromatic scent. Its flowers also bloom in a range of colors. This plant also happens to attract other critters like hummingbirds and, obviously, bees.
Butterfly Bush
To no one’s surprise, the butterfly bush attracts butterflies! Butterfly bush plants provide a stable nectar source as they bloom in the summer up to fall. Do be careful when planting these beauties, though. They have a reputation for being a little invasive in certain areas. We wouldn’t want you to accidentally disrupt local ecosystems!
Goldenrod
Goldenrod isn’t just a city where you can get yourself a squirtbottle (if you understood that reference, we salute you). It also happens to be a bright yellow flower that can attract butterflies. Though it is a late-blooming plant, it is still worth planting for our little pollinators. They love these plants so much!
Black-eyed Susan
Black-eyed Susans are the symbol of encouragement. If you want to encourage butterflies to come visit your garden, then these are great for that. Did you know that this is also called a pioneer plant? That’s because these plants usually grow in an area damaged by fire or natural disasters. Encouragement… Resilience… We’d welcome a plant that can symbolize all this in a heartbeat!
Sunflower
As you can probably guess, the bold and beautiful sunflower attracts butterflies. These vibrant yellow beauties add color to any outdoor garden. These plants that attract butterflies also symbolize joy and happiness. And who doesn’t want that? Just give sunflowers well-draining soil and full sun. They hate being cold.
Check Out - Seasonal Outdoor Plant: What to Plant Each Season
We’re Getting Butterflies!
…In a good way. As butterflies would flock to gardens, gardeners would flock to Bloombox Club for all their plants and other essentials. So should you! We’ve got plants, pots, and everything you could possibly need and want for your garden. Best of all? We deliver.
