Choosing flowers and plants to attract butterflies is important if you’re going to start a butterfly garden. You’re going to have to choose common food sources for different types of butterflies.
You’ll need a pretty wide variety of plants that bloom continuously all summer, and provide a lot of nectar. During the mid to late summer are when butterflies are most active so you’re going to need flowers that bloom during that time.
Annuals tend to bloom all summer, so if you want continuous blooms you should be sure to include plenty of annuals in your garden. Although perennials may not bloom all season, they’re great for attracting butterflies.
Plant shorter ones in the front and larger ones in the back. The taller plants will help block wind from disturbing butterflies and their eggs, and if they’re in the back, they won’t obstruct your view of the butterflies!
There are many shrubs and trees that you can use as windbreaks for your butterfly garden. Butterflies will also be attracted by the sweet, nectar-producing blooms of these shrubs and trees. You can try pear trees, plum trees, mock oranges, butterfly bush, hawthorn, blueberry, rose of Sharon, privet hedge, summersweet, redbud, buttonbush, autumn olive, abelia, and buddleia.
Because of their ability to bloom for most of the summer season, annuals are especially important for butterfly gardens. Classic annuals for attracting butterflies are marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and sunflower. Nasturtium, globe amaranth, verbena, Queens Anne’s lace, and impatiens are other annuals which you can include in your butterfly garden.
You need to plant wildflowers if you want to bring in a lot of butterflies. The great thing about wildflowers is their ease of planting. All you need to do is sprinkle wildflower seeds around the area you wish to cover them with. Many will survive and grow despite the fact that some will be eaten by birds and other animals.
Milkweed, spearmint, coneflowers, ironweed, New England asters, thistles, and butterfly weeds are wildflowers you can include in your garden in order to attract butterflies. Considered too weedy for most gardens are several other wildflowers but they are very good at attracting butterflies. Nettles, goldenrod, and dogbane are some examples.
Perennials are an important part of any butterfly garden even if they don’t typically bloom for the entire mid-to-late summer season. Perennials are among the specific flowers that butterflies prefer. This is why having a good mix of a variety of flowers in your garden is important.
There are many perennial flowers that are superb for attracting butterflies and providing nectar for them. Hibiscus, lobelia, coneflower, milkweed, sage, chives, mountain mint, and coreopsis are just some examples of perennials. They all provide nectar for butterflies and should therefore be included in your garden.
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