The flitting flight of butterflies in the garden is always enchanting and entrancing. More than visual delight and meditative moments, planting more flowers for attracting butterflies will help your yard and garden thrive.
Like flower petals given wings to fly, it’s easy to pause and watch, entranced, as these beautifully delicate creatures flit and flirt from flower to flower.
Butterflies are beautiful insects, known scientifically as Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which includes moths.
Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer, novelist, 1804-1864
How Butterflies Benefit Your Garden
Attracting butterflies is more than a relaxing way to interact with nature. Indeed, the presence of these exquisite creatures is a key indicator of a healthy ecosystem.
Essential Pollinators
Butterflies are not only a living garden ornament. They are essential pollinators that can help your garden thrive. As they dance from flower to flower, they pick up pollen from the petals on their wings. When they land on the next flower, the pollen drops onto it.
While their method is less effective than that of bees, they are still vital contributors to pollination.
Controlling the Aphid Population
Aphids are destructive to your garden. This is because they are voracious eaters who snack on the leaves of your favorite plants, shrubs, and flowers.
While butterflies are in their caterpillar form, one species is known to consume aphids. This helps to minimize the number of aphids present in your garden.
The notable caterpillar who eats aphids is the Harvester butterfly, Feniseca tarquinius, the only fully carnivorous butterfly from caterpillar to adulthood.
SOURCE: The-Natural-Web.org
Food chain
As a part of the food chain, butterflies are not only predators of aphids. In fact, they are also prey. Bats and some species of birds consume butterflies as a part of their healthy diets.
When you have a thriving population of butterflies present, you’ll attract those predators. While this sounds terrible, remember bats and birds also provide natural mosquito control.
See birds that eat mosquitoes here.
What Types of Flowers and Plants Attract Butterflies?
Butterflies are not just stopping by to admire your stunning garden. They are there for a free meal. In the majority of cases, butterflies dine on the nectar produced by your garden plants and flowers.
Their strong preference is for pink, red, yellow, purple, or orange flowers with shorter flower tubes. They also prefer to bask in the afternoon sun as they feed. Selecting plants and locations that meet these criteria will help you in attracting butterflies to your garden.
List of Best Plants and Flowers for Attracting Butterflies
We have done the research and rounded up a list of tried-and-true plants and flowers to attract butterflies to your garden. If you are researching how to start a butterfly garden, this is a must-read list!
1 – Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Perennial, zones 3 to 9
The relatively flat shape of yarrow flowers and large clusters of vibrant blossoms make yarrow one of the best flowers to attract butterflies.
You’ll love the feathery foliage that adds texture to your garden. Yarrow plant loves the full sun but can also grow in filtered sunshine.
Yarrow Flowers for Attracting Butterflies Like These:
- American Copper
- Banded Hairstreak
- Lorquin Admiral
- Red-banded Hairstreak
- West Coast Lady
2 – Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)
Annual, zones 3 to 8; perennial, zones 9 to 11
Snapdragons are a Mediterranean native plant that loves warm, sunny spots in the garden. The tightly clustered flowers and bright flowers make this one of the best plants for butterflies.
Not only do snapdragons provide nectar for the butterflies, but the undersides of their leaves also offer a safe place for them to lay their eggs.
Plant your snapdragons in the filtered sun to partial shade in a well-drained location.
You will love snapdragons because they grow fairly tall and make for great cutting stems for you to enjoy. While they are best known as an early-summer bloomer, snapdragons start in the late spring in some zones.
Snapdragons for Attracting Butterflies Such As:
- Cabbage White
- Common Buckeye
- Grey Hairstreak
- Pearl Crescent
- Swallowtail
3 – Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum)
Perennial, zones 5 through 8
The Shasta daisy is a traditional perennial flower with a crisp, white flower and cheery sunny florets. This species is a gardener’s favorite for its ease of care.
Unlike some species of daisy, the Shasta daisy is non-invasive. Give it nothing but a sunny bed, well-drained soil and water, and it will thrive year after year.
Butterflies find the yellow floret in the middle of the flower intriguing and many species will visit your garden.
Shasta Daisy Flowers for Attracting Butterflies Like:
- American Painted Lady
- Cabbage White
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Painted Lady
- Pearl Crescent
- Queen
- Red Admiral
- Sachem
4 – Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Perennial, zones 3 through 9
The Black-eyed Susan has a face that lifts to the sun every afternoon. While it’s best known for a vibrant yellow flower, varieties are also available in red and orange.
Black-eyed Susan has a strong preference for full sunshine and doesn’t like her feet to stay wet for long.
Considered one of the “easiest perennials to grow” by the Old Farmer’s Almanac, you will enjoy this species. Moreover, butterflies love this flower, too!
Black-Eyed Susans Flowers for Attracting Butterflies Such As:
- American Snout
- Great spangled fritillary
- Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
- Orange Sulphur
- Pearl Crescent
- Sachem
- Silver-spotted Skipper
- Silvery Checkerspot
- Spring Azure
- Summer Azure
5 – Lantana (Lantana)
Perennial, zones 8 through 11
Lantana is more than just one of the best flowers for butterflies. It’s also a great plant to attract hummingbirds, too!
They are a native to India and love warm to hot weather and can’t tolerate more than a light frost. If you have a problem with deer invading your garden, lantana is one of the best deer-resistant flowers.
Lantana blooms most vibrantly in full sunshine. It likes humid growing conditions, but you must keep the soil drained.
Lantana Flowers for Attracting Butterflies Like:
- Cabbage white
- Fiery Skipper
- Gray Hairstreak
- Great swallowtail
- Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
- Little Glassywing
- Monarch
- Red Admiral
- Sachem
- Silver-spotted skipper
- Skipper
- Spicebush Swallowtail
- Swallowtail
- Wild Indigo Dusky Wing
- Zebra Longwing
