How to Attract Butterflies in 10+ Ways

If you’ve noticed changes in your garden lately—less buzzing, fewer colorful sights, and a diminished sense of life—you’re not just imagining things. Bee, butterfly, and bat populations are declining at an alarming rate worldwide. This is concerning because most of the crops we rely on for food depend on these creatures that used to visit our gardens frequently.

While it’s true that no single person can fully restore the monarch butterfly, cure the fungus-harming bats, or reverse the troubling decline of honeybees, it is necessary to take action to create safe havens for pollinators. You can transform your own yard into a welcoming stop for pollinators with some simple improvements. In this blog, we’ll share valuable tips on how to attract butterflies.

Selecting Butterfly-Friendly Plants

The most important thing to do when making a butterfly garden is to grow appropriate plants below:

Grow Native Plants for Butterflies

Growing native plants is an ideal selection because they are well-suited to the local soil and climate conditions. Consequently, they typically outperform non-native species. In the long term, you’ll invest less money and effort while attracting more butterflies.

Although native plants sometimes have a reputation for appearing untidy or resembling weeds, there are numerous native varieties that are just as visually appealing as non-native ornamental plants. To find suitable options for your area, consider visiting a native plant nursery or reaching out to your local county extension office for recommendations.

Grow Local Flowers

Butterflies and native flowering plants mutually support each other for survival and reproduction. Therefore, it’s crucial to plant native flowers that are specific to your area. These local flowers offer butterflies the nectar and leaves they require as both adults and caterpillars.
You can now have native flowers delivered to your doorstep. These flower collections are designed based on scientific research to support the most endangered wildlife species. Currently, they are offered in 38 states with the added benefit of free shipping.

The type and color of the plant you choose for planting are important

When you want to attract adult butterflies, you need to grow red, yellow, orange, pink, or purple flowers because these blossoms entice them. These flowers should be either flat-topped or clustered together, and they should have short flower tubes.

Use flowers with nectar to attract butterflies

Our suggestion is to start by planting a variety of popular nectar flowers, but it is necessary to choose a few high-quality plants. The larger waves of color can be more appealing to insects. Additionally, ensure you include plants of different heights and don’t neglect shaded areas, as some butterflies have a preference for them.

Grow nectar-rich plants in the sunlight

To attract butterflies to your garden, it is essential to plant nectar-rich flowers in areas that receive ample sunlight, ideally from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Butterflies are predominantly active during sunny periods, and they typically feed on nectar sources in well-lit locations. 

If your garden has limited sun exposure, consider incorporating butterfly-friendly nectar plants within your vegetable garden to ensure these beautiful insects have access to the nourishment they require.

Grow flowers that keep blooming all the time

To help butterflies at all stages of their grown-up life, make sure to plant different flowers. This way, there’s always nectar available, with one flower blooming as another one stops, to keep the butterflies happy.

Add butterfly host plants

When you determine which butterflies are in your garden, grow the host of plants their baby caterpillars like to eat. Each kind of butterfly has its favorites. For example, monarchs eat milkweed, while eastern black swallowtails prefer plants from the parsley family. Once again, native plants reign supreme, so it’s best to add local plants  of milkweed and other host plants that are from your area, as they work the best.

Grow trees to benefit butterflies

When you think of butterflies, you might imagine them in sunny meadows, but there are many species, like red-spotted purples and white admirals, that actually prefer shaded areas. In the spring, the flowing sap from trees offers some of the first food sources for butterflies. 

Additionally, certain trees also act as host plants;for instance, tiger swallowtail caterpillars rely on cottonwood, birch, and black cherry trees as their primary nurturing grounds.

Attract butterflies with overripe Fruit

A variety of butterflies can be attracted to fruit instead of flower nectar. You can cultivate native berry-bearing shrubs or fruit trees, allowing the fruit to fall naturally to the ground. As the fruit decays, it becomes an attraction for species like red admirals and mourning cloaks. 

If you realize many fruit-loving butterflies, consider placing out a dish of overripe bananas or juicy fruits like oranges or watermelon. However, be cautious, as this may also draw in raccoons and other pests, so it’s advisable to remove the fruit dish at night.

Bring food for caterpillars

If you don’t have caterpillars, you won’t get adult butterflies. To attract different and rare butterflies, grow native host plants in your garden because caterpillars only eat specific plants. You can find the right host plants for your area using the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder.

Remember any space has the potential to attract butterflies

No matter if you have a big yard or a small balcony, you can make butterflies come to your place. When you can create a place with colorful flowers and a larval host plant or two, it means that it can work effectively.

Lately,  all landscapes matter are important. With animals losing their homes, the places we take care of in our daily lives become really important for them. So, the choices we make in our gardens at home really matter.

Give butterflies a safe place to hide and stay protected

Butterflies are really light, just about as heavy as a paper clip. So, when it rains, even tiny drops can feel super heavy to them, like bowling balls. 

Therefore, when the weather turns bad or it’s nighttime, they look for safe spots to hide. These places are usually in bushes, decorative grasses, or hidden in cracks between rocks. So, make sure to create these safe places to give them extra protection.

Make sure the water source is put in sunny areas

Put in some water sources to attract butterflies in sunny areas with a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight in your garden. The sun’s heat will make the water more appealing to them. 

Besides, it is necessary to set them up close to flowers with lots of nectar to lure butterflies, like butterfly bushes, coneflowers, zinnias, or milkweed. This creates a welcoming place for butterflies to find food and water. 

Remember to keep the water away from strong winds and any animals like birds, cats, or dogs that could scare or harm the butterflies.

Avoid Using Chemicals

When making a garden that butterflies like, it’s essential not to use pesticides and chemicals. Even though these might seem like a good way to deal with bugs, they can hurt butterflies and other helpful bugs in your garden.

Offer places for butterflies to drink and get muddy

Male butterflies tend to congregate around areas with muddy puddles (or you may notice them near animal excrement or roadkill) where they can to get important salts and minerals. Consequently, if you have a muddy section in your garden, it’s advisable to leave it as it is. 

Build a shelter for Caterpillars.

Typically, it lasts approximately 2 weeks for a caterpillar to grow to its full size. Afterward, it spends around 10 to 14 days as a chrysalis before emerging as a butterfly. It is noted that most adult butterflies have a relatively short lifespan, lasting only a few weeks. However, the other stages of their life cycle remain in your garden for a much longer time and are equally attractive and fascinating.

It’s crucial for all butterfly enthusiasts to refrain from using pesticides completely. Instead, opt for alternative methods to manage real pests, like manually removing them, which also ensures the safety of caterpillars. Consider creating a designated area for caterpillars in your butterfly garden.

Discover Types of Butterflies and Butterfly Caterpillar Food Sources

2 Best Native Plant Collections to Attract Butterflies

You can help save butterflies, and other declining wildlife species by adding one of the Garden for Wildlife native plant collections to your garden. These collections contain chemical-free plants that bloom for three seasons and return every year.

Butterfly Wildflower Seed Mixture for Planting

Plant a garden full of wildflowers that will bring in helpful insects. This item, Bird and Butterfly Wildflower Mix, has flowers that butterflies and hummingbirds like. These flowers will grow to different heights, from 8 to 60 inches tall, but most will be between 12 and 36 inches. Most of the seeds are annual, which means they grow for one year, while 30% are perennials and biennials, which come back each year.

The seeds will fall to the ground and grow new plants the next year. Perennials will grow strong roots in their first year, and the top part of the plant will die off but come back in the spring. These wildflowers will be in many colors, like red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and even green and white.

• Designed for the current and upcoming growing seasons.
• Contain generous quantities, making sharing with friends and family easy.
• Seed Needs is committed to providing non-GMO seed products, with the majority of our seeds being open-pollinated and heirloom, except for a few hybrids.
• Seeds are among the freshest available, sourced directly from growers.
• When sown correctly, you’ll start seeing results in a matter of days.

Milkweed Seed Packet Collection to Attract Monarch Butterflies.

Milkweed plays a crucial role in the life of the Monarch butterfly because it serves as a host plant. Monarch caterpillars feed on their big, soft leaves, while adult Monarchs and other butterflies rely on them for their abundant nectar. You can plant milkweed alongside other types of butterfly-friendly plants such as Coneflowers, Yarrow, Sunflowers, and others.

• Seed Needs provides seeds suitable for both the current and the next growing seasons, offering ample quantities that can be stored for the future if stored correctly.
• Seed packages feature attractive illustrations of the plant mix and include comprehensive sowing instructions on the reverse side. 
• Seeds are packed in durable, moisture-resistant packaging to maintain freshness for an extended period, surpassing our competitors.
• Seed Needs is committed to never knowingly distributing GMO-based seeds. Most of our seeds are open-pollinated and heirloom varieties, with a few hybrids as exceptions.

Summary of How to Attract Butterflies

To sum up, it is really easy to attract butterflies to your garden when you choose the right plants, as mentioned in the article How to attract butterflies in 10+ Ways | Creating a Butterfly-Friendly Garden. In this guide, we’ve discussed the beauty and the importance of gardens for butterflies. We’ve talked about how they live, the role of flowers in bringing them in, and what you need for them to do well. When we welcome the delightful flutter of butterflies, we not only make a place of natural beauty but also help protect different types of living things and keep our environment balanced.