WITH THEIR SPECTACULAR COLORATION and delightful aerobatics, butterflies are among the most welcome of garden visitors. Create a garden plot that is enticing to these winged beauties and you’re sure to enjoy their colorful antics all season long. Here’s how:
Choose the right location
Butterflies—and the plants that attract them—favor sunny locations that are protected from the wind. Look for a spot that gets at least six hours of direct sunlight each day, preferably on the south side of the house. Large plants and shrubs planted around the perimeter of the site will help keep the winds at bay.
Being cold-blooded, butterflies must warm their wings in the sun. A flat, light-colored rock placed somewhere in the garden will provide an appropriate basking area. Often, you’ll be able to observe butterflies just resting on the rock, wings outspread, soaking up the rays.
Provide nectar
Adult butterflies feed on nectar— the sugar-rich substance that many flowering plants produce to attract pollinating insects, birds, and other animals. Among the plants that butterflies find irresistible are butterfly weed, butterfly bush, asters, clover, coreopsis, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, daisies, marigolds, zinnias, nicotiana, yarrow, Joe-Pye weed, daylilies, and petunias. And that’s just a partial list.
For best results, plant in large groupings of single colors, and be sure to choose plants with different flowering periods so visiting butterflies will have a continuous supply of nectar.
Provide water
Butterflies need a constant supply of water just as birds and other desirable garden visitors do. They prefer a shallow “butterfly puddle” to a deep pool because butterflies will not immerse their bodies to drink. Creating a butterfly puddle is as simple as burying a shallow container in the soil, filling it with water, and placing a few rocks in the container so their tops are even with the surface of the water. Also, all kinds of attractive and affordable commercially manufactured butterfly watering stations are available online and in garden centers.
Provide host plants for larvae
Butterflies are picky about where they lay their eggs, and their larvae are rather particular when it comes to the plants they will feed upon. So, it’s important to include the correct host plants in your butterfly garden. For example, the larvae of the ever-popular monarch butterfly prefer milkweed plants while spring azure larvae favor dogwoods, wild cherry, and viburnum (among others).
Other butterfly species common to Ohio and their host plants include: tiger swallowtail—wild black cherry, ash, tulip tree, and willow; silver-spotted skipper—black locust, wisteria, and legumes; eastern tailed blue—legumes, clovers, and bush clover; pearl crescent—asters; great spangled fritillary—violets; and spice swallowtail—sassafras and spicebush. ✲
