Butterfly Gardens and Gardening Ideas for Landscaping

Established Butterfly Gardens

• Visit butterfly gardens to experience a completely enclosed habitat and a large number of specimens. Many states have locations. Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, Florida, contains 150 species of butterfly with about 10,000 live specimens. Pine Mountain, Georgia, is the home of the 4-½-acre Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens. This indoor conservatory houses a simulated rain forest featuring 1,000 species of butterflies from across the world.

Favorite Flowers

• Butterflies are attracted to brightly colored flowers in hues of pink, purple, yellow, orange and red. Single blossoms are ideal, as it is difficult for the insects to grip and sip a ruffle-edged, downward-hanging or double-blossom plants. Butterflies visit several plants that bear their name. Butterfly bush Buddleia davidii draws the butterfly with their spires of purple or pink spires of tiny blossoms. Attract butterflies to your backyard by planting wisteria, butterfly weed Ascelpias tuberose, multicolored zinnias and marigolds in shades of orange and yellow. A favorite butterfly attracting annual is lantana. Lantana is available in a variety of colors including bright yellow, orange, purplish pink and red. Butterflies flock to many sweet-smelling herbs. Red bee balm, borage, fennel, dill, wild bergamot and chives all produce blooms that the insects sip for their nectar.

Plant for Scent

• Bring butterflies to your landscape with the strong scents they prefer. Over-ripe fruit is a draw for these insects. Fill a dish with mashed fruit mixed with beer, molasses or fruit juice. Soak dishtowels in this mixture and hang over a branch out in your yard.

Butterfly House

• Purchase or construct a butterfly house to protect them against birds and bad weather. These houses have narrow, vertical slits on one façade where the insects can slip through. Mount the butterfly house on a pole, raising it off the ground and more accessible for the butterflies.

Cautionary Note

• Butterflies lay eggs that hatch into larvae called caterpillars. Plant enough specimens for yourself and extra for the caterpillars to eat. However, caterpillars frequently feed on plants other than the specimens used for breeding.