Butterfly Gardening

Pre-Planned butterfly garden plans and layouts

Attracting butterflies to your garden is a rewarding experience. It is important to note, though, that you must abandon the use of pesticides as they are fatal to all stages of a butterfly's development.

There are four stages to a butterfly's life cycle: egg, larva, chrysalis (pupa), and adult. All stages of the life cycle require specific plants to ensure the attraction of butterflies. An adult butterfly lays its eggs on a host plant. The larva (second stage) emerges after about a week and immediately begins to feed on the host plant. When the larva is ready to begin the chrysalis stage, it moves from the host plant to a somewhat hidden location - out of harms way. The final stage is the adult butterfly. Butterflies like sunny locations and broad flowers.

To attract a wide variety of butterflies, try planting some of the following plants:

Host plants (larval food): Birch tree Butterfly weed Daisy Dill (favored by Tiger Swallowtail) Elm tree Hollyhock Lamb's Quarters Lilac Milkweed (favored by Monarch) Mallow Nettle Oak tree Plum Queen Anne's Lace Snapdragon Thistle

Nectar plant (adults): Ageratum Bee Balm Birch tree Butterfly bush Cherry tree Cinquefoil Coreopsis Cosmos Daylily Heliotrope Liatris Lilac Nasturtium Petunia Phlox Rudbeckia Russian olive Salvia Sedum Snapdragon Spirea Sunflower Viburnum