My Frugal Adventures

Simple recipes, DIY and inspiration to make everyday a little more fun

  • Home
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Crafts + DIY
  • Shopping
  • Home Decor
  • Shop My Favorites

How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden

02/25/2017 By Charlene 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links, please see my disclosure policy.

How to Attract Butterflies to Your Garden

 

Spring is right around the corner and I am always so ambitious and motivated once we start to get regular doses of sunshine.  We are starting to plan our exterior projects for this year and that includes some planting of flowers and gardening and general freshening up.

We are also in the middle of an insect project with my little girls.  They recently started homeschooling and they have been tracking the progress of a caterpillar to butterfly to learn about life cycles.  This is really something fun to do with kids and has just strengthened their fascination with butterflies and ladybugs and bumble bees.  So I was thinking we should really try to find plants that will attract butterflies to our yard- especially perfect around the fairy gardens that you guys know we already love.

How to Create a Butterfly garden

So just in case you are also interested in attracting butterflies into your garden, here are some tips to make your garden welcoming to butterflies:

  • Red, yellow, orange, pink and purple colored flowers that are flat topped and have short flower tubes. (Flat topped would be something like a daisy)
  • Butterflies like to feed in full sun so try to plant where the nectar source will receive full sun from mid morning to mid afternoon. (If you only have shady areas, here is a list of plants that might work in partial shade or full shade.)
  • Flat stones are great to allow butterflies a chance to bask in the sun and rest.
  • I am sure it goes without saying any pesticides and insecticides will also kill the butterflies that try to visit your yard so skip ’em.
  • Some herbs will also attract butterflies including: lavender, dill, mint, sage, thyme and oregano
  • If you have strong winds in your area, you might consider providing some sort of wind shield near your flowers to help the butterflies in flight.
  • Butterflies also need sources of water.  A shallow dish or some sort of puddle near the flowers is perfect.  Butterflies taste with their feet and can not land in deep water so a terra cotta saucer, rocks and sand, a sea shell etc… are all ideas to create shallow puddles.
  • Rotting fruit is also a wonderful food for butterflies.  Some people leave sliced oranges or pineapple out in butterfly gardens.  In our area, this would be a recipe for ants and squirrels so a butterfly feeder might be a great alternative.

Butterfly Garden

And here are specific plants to encourage butterflies (obviously you want to check with your local garden center to see which plants are best for your region. It is very important to plant native flowers to ensure the best chance of healthy butterflies in your garden.):

  • Milkweed (we learned in our caterpillar/butterfly research that Monarch butterflies specifically like to lay eggs on the underside of Milkweed plants. Milkweed is the only thing a Monarch caterpillar will eat.) Please note there are tons of varieties of milkweed and not all attract Monarch butterflies.  Find some suggested varieties for your region by clicking here.
  • Astor
  • Bee Balm
  • Coneflower
  • Goldenrod
  • Daylily
  • Hollyhock
  • Lavender
  • Lilac
  • Lupine
  • Pansy
  • Snapdragon
  • Sunflower
  • Daisies
  • Verbena
  • Zinnia
  • Queen Anne Lace

And now you are ready to get dirty in the garden and hopefully have some beautiful houseguests very soon.

Here are a few other things you might enjoy:

Butterfly ideas

Butterfly Feeder //  Butterfly Garden*// Butterfly Book // Dress Up Butterfly Wings

*This particular one is what I ordered. It is a little more expensive but actually comes with the caterpillars. The other gardens are slightly less expensive but come with vouchers to mail away for caterpillars and they charge a $5 mailing fee.  Our caterpillars took about 2 1/2 weeks to go into the chrysalis and should take about 10-14 days inside that before they become butterflies.  

And some fun project ideas:

outdoor kids projects

DIY Thumbprint Pot // Whimsical Painted Stepping Stones // How to Create a Fairy Garden

 

 

 

Sources:

National Wildlife Federation

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: How to attract butterflies to your garden

« Magnolia Market 25% off Coupon Code
Red Carpet Kindle Books up to 80% off »

Comments

  1. Kelley Moore says

    02/25/2017 at 8:32 PM

    Now I need to go plant shopping for butterfly flowers!❤ this so much!

  2. Laura says

    02/26/2017 at 4:41 AM

    Great post and links–I just ordered everything to but in my daughter’s Easter baskets. She is going to love it.

  3. Charlene says

    02/26/2017 at 8:48 AM

    Oh I think this is a great Easter gift! Our caterpillars just went into the chrysalis and we have been having so much fun watching them. Every morning the girls run downstairs to see what has happened. We are going to Disneyland in a week and I just told my husband thank goodness we are driving because we might have to bring these caterpillars with us if they don’t break out of the pupa first. 😀

    Have you seen these candies? They would be so perfect to tuck inside the basket. They are about $3-4 at Target and I believe World Market too. Bumble Bees and Ladybugs – super cute.

    https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Bugs-Bees-5-Pack-Figures/dp/B004MAAQTE/ref=sr_1_8_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1488127443&sr=1-8&keywords=lindt+5+pack&_encoding=UTF8&tag=myfrugadve-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=c9883eba85d2048a7373e88f4703ef01&camp=1789&creative=9325

    or World Market has adorable butterfly chocolate. I haven’t seen these elsewhere:

    http://www.worldmarket.com/product/storz+butterfly+chocolates%2C+10+piece.do?searchTerm=butterfly&from=Search

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I'm Charlene- thank you for stopping by MY FRUGAL ADVENTURES! I am a Mom to two little girls living in gorgeous Northern California. This is a fun place to find simple & affordable inspiration for everything from gifts to home improvement to travel to children's crafts to what's for dinner tonight! READ MORE >>>

ABOUT | CONTACT
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram YouTube Email

Search

Categories

Button

Connect

get free MyFrugalAdventures.com newsletters Contact My Frugal Adventures Follow MyFrugalAdventures.com on Facebook
Twitter You Tube Videos by MyFrugalAdventures.com Follow pinterest with MyFrugalAdventures.com
    Coupons freebies hot deals giveaways giveaways giveaways
Visit Charlene Haugsven (My Frugal Adventures)'s profile on Pinterest.

Follow Me on Instagram

[instagram-feed]

Copyright © 2023 · Web Design by Moritz Fine Designs LLC | Privacy