The most important things to remember when planning & planting a garden to attract and sustain butterflies:
- Include nectar flowers for butterflies and larval food for caterpillars
- Include pebbles or stones for butterflies to stand upon and bask in the sun
- Dig mud puddles or include shallow dishes filled with mud for puddling
- NEVER USE PESTICIDES
- Place a bench in the garden for you to enjoy the butterflies
All butterflies go through four distinct life stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Everyone is familiar the adult stage, when the insect is the most attractive, but this phase only last two to three weeks. During that brief period, they must find a suitable mate, reproduce, seek out food and shelter, and avoid being eaten – a tall order for most creatures. To meet these high energy demands, adults rely on high energy nectar for fuel.
Good nectar plants include:
| Anise Hyssop* | Agastache foeniculum |
| Black-eyed Susan* | Rudbeckia hirta & R. fulgida |
| Blanket Flower* | Gaillardia spp. |
| Blazing Star* | Liatris spp. |
| Blue Mist Shrub | Caryopteris x clandonensis |
| Boneset* | Eupatorium perfoliatum |
| Butterfly Bush | Buddleia davidii |
| Butterflyweed* | Asclepias tuberosa |
| Button Bush* | Cephalanthus occidentalis |
| Coreopsis* | Coreopsis spp. |
| Culver’s Root* | Veroniacastrum virginicum |
| Garden Phlox* | Phlox paniculata |
| Garden Sage | Salvia spp. |
| Goldenrod* | Solidago spp |
| Iron Weed* | Vernonia novaboracensis |
| Joe-pye Weed* | Eupatorium maculatum |
| Milkweed* | Asclepias spp. |
| Mountain Mint* | Pycnanthemum muticum |
| New England Aster* | Aster novae-angliae |
| Purple Coneflower* | Echinacea purpurea |
| Sneezeweed* | Helenium autumnale |
| Sunflower* | Helianthus spp. |
| Sweet Pepperbush* | Clethra alnifolia |
| Turtlehead* | Chelone lyonii or C. glabra |
| Weeping Lantana Lantana montevidensis | |
| White Meadowsweet* | Spiraea alba |
| Wild Bergamont* | Monarda spp. |
| *These plants are native to the United States |
As rapid development continues, butterfly populations are on the decline because their food sources and habitats are being destroyed. Help butterflies survive by avoiding manicured grass lawns, pesticides and foreign species of plants in your yard and garden. If you have room, leave part of your garden become a meadow. Initially you will want to plant in plugs of native wildflowers and native grasses. Mowing is needed only once a year in late November. You may have to remove an occasional unwanted plant. By using native plants, you are providing food sources for the beautiful creatures
It is also important to include larval-host plants. Remember these plants are supposed to be eaten by the caterpillars, so if they show insect damage, don’t reach for the pesticides.
Below is a partial list of good food sources for caterpillars:
| Eastern Red Cedar* | Juniperus virginiana |
| Fennel | Foeniculum vulgare |
| Hackberry* | Celtis occidentalis |
| Milkweed* | Asclepias spp |
| Parsley | Petroselinum crispum |
| Pearly Everlasting | Anaphalis margaritacea |
| Sassafras Tree* | Sassafras albidum |
| Spicebush* | Lindera benzoin |
| Willow* | Salix spp. |
| Violets* | Viola spp. |
| Agastache foeniculum | Anise Hyssop |
| Amorpha brachycarpa | Lead Plant |
| Aquilegia canadensis | Wild Columbine |
| Asclepias incarnata | Swamp Milkweed |
| Asclepias tuberosa | Butterfly Flower |
| Aster divaricatrus | White Wood Aster |
| Aster nova-angliae | New England Aster |
| Cephalanthus occidentalis | Button Bush |
| Chelone glabra | White Turtlehead |
| Chelone lyonii | Pink Turtlehead |
| Clethra alnifolia | Sweet Pepperbush |
| Coreopsis verticillata | Lance-leaf Tickseed |
| Echinacea purpurea | Purple Coneflower |
| Eupatorium purpureum | Joe Pye Weed |
| Eupatoriutm perfoliatum | White Boneset |
| Gaillardia pulchella | Blanketflower |
| Geranium maculatum | Wild Cranesbill |
| Helinium autumnale | Sneezeweed |
| Juniperus virginiana | Eastern Red Cedar |
| Kalmia latifolia | Mountain Laurel |
| Liatris spicata | Blazing Star |
| Lindera benzoin | Spicebush |
| Lonicera sempervirens | Trumpet Honeysuckle |
| Magnolia virginiana | Sweetbay Magnolia |
| Monarda didyma | Oswego Tea or Bee Balm |
| Opuntia humifusa | Prickly Pear |
| Pinus virginiana | Jersey Pine |
| Phlox stolonifera | Creeping Phlox |
| Prunus virginiana | Choke Cherry |
| Pycnanthemum muticum | Mountain Mint |
| Rhododendron periclymenoides | Pinxter Azalea |
| Rhododendron viscosum | Swamp Azalea |
| Rudbeckia fulgida | Orange Coneflower |
| Rudbeckia hirta | Black-Eyed Susan |
| Sedum ternatum | Shale Barrens Sedum |
| Solidago spp. | Goldenrod |
| Vernonia novaboriensis | New York Ironweed |
| Yucca filamentosa | Adam’s Needle |