12 Perennials That Butterflies Love; Easy-to-Grow Nectar Plants for a Butterfly Garden

Want to bring butterflies to your backyard? Butterflies need good sources of nectar, and these twelve perennials are butterfly favorites. If you plant it, they will come.

Butterfly gardens should be planted in a sunny area of your yard, since butterflies require the sun's warmth to fly. All of these perennials do well in the sun.

http://insects.about.com/od/butterfliesmoths/tp/12nectarperennials.htm

Monarch Butterfly on "Butterfly Weed"

Purple Coneflower

Butterfly Site:

http://www.thebutterflysite.com/

Butterfly Garden Articles:

http://www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml

HOW TO MAKE BUTTERFLY GARDENS http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef006.asp

http://www.butterflywebsite.com/butterflygardening.cfm

US Residents: Butterflies by State

http://www.butterfly--garden.com/

Sample Butterfly Garden

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/DG6711e.html

Sample butterfly border garden has a large variety of plants

1. Tawny daylily
2. ‘Marine’ heliotrope
3. Gayfeather
4. Butterfly weed
5. Petunia
6. Mountain bluet
7. Annual aster
8. ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum
9. Rock cress
10. French marigold
11. ‘Happy Returns’ daylily
12. Blanket flower
13. Nasturtium
14. Goldenrod

1. Purple coneflower
2. Dill
3. Hollyhock
4. Joe-Pye weed
5. Globe centaurea

1. Peony
2. Turtlehead
3. Swamp milkweed
4. Yarrow
5. Queen Anne’s lace

Creating a Butterfly Friendly Garden

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/Butterflies.htm

Attract Monarchs

http://www.monarchwatch.org/garden/index.htm

Scientists, environmentalists, and politicians have brought habitat destruction and the cost that has for wildlife to the attention of people around the world. In response, many people have begun work to preserve the natural areas that still exist and to restore other areas that once served as home to wild animals and plants. Schools can also take part in this preservation and restoration movement by making their yards more friendly to wildlife.

Butterflies require very specific plants as larvae, and females will lay their eggs only on these plants. For example, you will only get monarch larvae if your garden contains milkweed. Use information in books about butterflies to help you choose plants for butterfly larvae. But remember, the purpose of these plants is to serve as a food source for the caterpillars. You are planting them to be eaten by the caterpillars, and eaten leaves are good signs of your garden's health.

Butterfly Gardens

http://udel.edu/~lynneb/butterfly/

• Click here for raised bed garden
• Click here to learn about a Walk-Way Garden
• Click here to learn about a Spot Garden
• Click here to learn about Life Cycle Gardens
• Click here to view Butterfly pictures
• Click here to see a view of the Marshall Raised Bed Garden

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/allabout/Garden.shtml

GOOD PLANTS FOR BUTTERFLIES
Plan your garden so that there are flowers much of the year, so that there is a steady supply of nectar for the butterflies.

Sunlight: Butterflies use sunlight to regulate their body temperature. They need sunlight to keep themselves warm, but the outside temperature can also become too hot for them. A good butterfly garden should provide both sunny places and shady places where butterflies can cool off while they eat.

The following are common, easy-to-grow plants that attract many butterflies

•Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
•Lantana
•Zinnias
•Bee balm
•Purple coneflowers
•Pentas
•Sage
•Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) or other milkweeds
•Lilac
•Sunflower
•Marjoram
•Hebe
(these will attract many local butterflies).