How To Attract Butterflies

Butterflies, with their gorgeous colors and lilting flight, are such a joy to watch. They add so much beauty to our summers, like seeing flowers flying.

It’s easy to invite more butterflies to make a seasonal stop in your yard. Find out which plants they just can’t resist—and learn a few fun facts about butterflies that you may not know.

Here are 20 plants that will invite butterflies to your yard!

Asters: Late summer to fall.

Bee balm (bergamot): Summer through fall.

Butterfly weed: Summer through fall.

Clover (white or red): Summer to fall.

Coreopsis: Summer to fall.

Dianthus: Spring to fall.

Lavender: Summer.

Lupine: Late spring to early summer.

Mints: All summer.

Passionflower: Summer to fall.

Phlox: Summer to fall.

Purple coneflower: Summer to fall.

Sage: Summer to fall.

Salvia: Summer to fall.

Scabiosa “Butterfly blue”: Summer through fall.

Shasta daisy: Summer.

Thistle: Late spring through fall.

Violet: Spring.

Yarrow: Summer.

Butterfly Mythbusters

Have you ever heard that if you touch a butterfly, you’ll rub off the powder from its wings, and it will die? Or that if a butterfly gets a drop of water on it, it will drown? Ever hear that a torn or broken butterfly wing will grow back? And everyone knows that all butterflies go to Mexico for the winter, right?

Actually, none of these statements is true! A lot of myths like these were probably started with the best intentions, so that people wouldn’t harm butterflies.

The truth is that butterflies have evolved to survive and thrive in extreme conditions. They exist everywhere in the world except for Antarctica. Butterflies are definitely stronger than they look: Many species migrate thousands of miles every year, and not just to Mexico!

Adapted from The Family Butterfly Book, by Rick Mikula.

Read more: Nature, Nature & Wildlife, butterflies, garden