Chasing Butterflies: Creating a Butterfly Garden

It’s flower planting time and time to decide on what and where to plant the flowers. Your kid is chasing a butterfly and then it’s gone. But you can encourage the butterfly to stop back for a visit by building a butterfly garden.

Types of Flowers

Different types of butterflies prefer different types of nectar, thus different flowers. These flowers can vary in color, height and even soil and climate differences. Experimenting is a good way to find out which butterflies like which flowers. But you should be able to do some research at the local library or even ask a local greenhouse or agriculture department what butterflies are common in your area.

Here is a list of common flowers and the butterflies they attract. Most flowers will attract a variety of different species but some are preferred over others. It’s not a definite list.

• Asters

  This flower comes in so many different colors and sizes. It attracts Viceroys. Viceroy butterflies are known for their mimicry of the famous Monarch butterflies.
   

• Echinacea

  This flower is also known as the purple coneflower. It is a popular natural remedy as well as a butterfly attraction. Common butterflies found amongst this flower are the Tiger Swallowtail and the Painted Lady butterflies.
   

• Black Eyed Susans

  These fun little flowers are mostly a prairie flower, perfect for a butterfly attraction. They are sometimes called Rudbeckia after their scientific name. They tend to attract many butterflies including the Great Spangled Fritillary.
   

• Lavender and other flowering herbs

  A lot of flowering herbs attract butterflies. Lavender, Dill, Oregano and even Rosemary flower at some point in their life cycle. These flowers attract big and small butterflies.
   

• Milkweed

  The milkweed is most famous for attracting the Monarch butterflies. Why? The monarchs lay their eggs on the milkweed because that is all the caterpillars can eat. It’s also one of the reasons Monarchs have a bad taste. Milkweed is foul tasting to most creatures and when the caterpillars eat the leaves of the milkweed plant, the toxin and nasty taste is passed on to the next generation, the butterfly adult!
   

• Butterfly Bush

  This is perhaps the most famous for attracting butterflies. That’s how it got its name. This flower truly does have a bushing habit and can droop over in heavy rains. But it is known to attract many different species of butterfly including the Swallowtails and Red Admirals.

Design and Shape

Designing the butterfly garden is as important as the selection of flowers. There are many ways to approach design of the butterfly garden. But the design should include the kid’s needs as well as the type of flowers.

The butterfly garden shouldn’t be too big. If it is too big, it might be hard to access the garden to weed, water and mulch. But if the butterfly garden is too small, it might not attract any butterflies at all.

You could have the kids decide which shape and design they want the butterfly garden. That way they feel more involved. There is nothing like getting a kid’s eyes to light up when you tell them they get to design the butterfly garden.

Common shapes of a garden are the rectangle and square. But you could use circle and even a butterfly garden in the shape of a butterfly.

Finishing Touches

To attract butterflies, you need a couple of things. You need food (that’s the flowers= nectar) and habitat or shelter. Make sure the butterfly garden isn’t too close to a bird’s nest or the house or the butterflies might not come close. They are still wild and will act wild and won’t put themselves in danger of being eaten or hurt in anyway.

Enjoy your butterfly garden!

-Katina Mooneyham

Katina Mooneyham is a freelance writer from central Ohio. She is a full time stay at home mother homeschooling her two children. Katina likes to read, hike, take nature walks, write and garden. Teaching her kids about gardening is a big priority.