Do Sunflowers Attract Butterflies?

Varieties for Butterflies

• Planting sunflowers in a variety of colors may attract more butterflies. "Lemon Queen" has a pale yellow flower with a dark brown center and produces multiple flowers. "Soraya" is a self-supporting sunflower that grows 5 to 8 feet high and produces several orange blooms. An early bloomer, "Prado Red" is a multi-branched variety with deep red flowers. It grows from 5 to 6 feet tall and produces around 15 to 20 blooms per plant.

Other Nectar-Bearing Flowers

• To encourage butterflies to become regular visitors, plant nectar-bearing flowers in full sun and in large groups. Choosing flowers that bloom at various intervals is important because butterflies may visit all spring and summer.
  In addition to sunflowers, plants like "Mozzelle" lantana (Lantana camara "Mozzelle") are butterfly magnets. This lantana has flowers ranging from pale yellow, peach and a soft pink. It grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 10. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) blooms most of the summer with purple flowers and a bright red-orange center, and thrives in USDA zones 4 through 10.

Butterfly Host Plants

• Butterflies need host plants to lay their eggs on and the larvae will feed on these plants. Some butterflies will use several plant species as hosts, and others only one. Painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) are one of the main species that depend on sunflowers as hosts. Milkweed, including common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is the only plant the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) uses as a host. It grows in USDA zones 4 through 9. There will be damage from caterpillars eating holes in the leaves of most of your host plants, but if you plant plenty of them, it may not be too noticeable.

Butterfly Garden Considerations

• Provide some warm, flat areas for butterflies to bask peacefully. Placing flat rocks or stepping stones in a sunny, protected area will give them somewhere to warm their wings. Butterflies enjoy drinking water from shallow puddles. You can create your own puddling areas by digging a few shallow depressions into the soil around your garden. Place a pie plate into each one, pour some coarse sand or fine gravel into the plates and add water to make a puddle. Refill your puddles as water evaporates.