Butterflies are beautiful, delicate creatures that bring joy and wonder to any garden. To attract these winged wonders to your yard, it’s important to provide a safe haven for them to lay their eggs and food sources for both caterpillars and adult butterflies. Bazy Farm Butterfly will explore the top 10 plants that are sure to attract butterflies to your yard.
Why Attracting Butterflies is Important
Butterflies are not only beautiful, but they also play an important role in our ecosystem. They are pollinators, which means they transfer pollen from one flower to another, aiding in plant reproduction. In fact, butterflies are more efficient pollinators than bees, as they visit more flowers and are better able to transfer pollen from flower to flower. By attracting butterflies to your yard, you are not only creating a beautiful space but also helping to support the local ecosystem.
Top 10 That Are Sure to Attract Butterflies to Your Yard
Milkweed
If you know anything about insects, you know that earrings are one of their main food sources. In general, it doesn’t matter what kind of earrings you use; Any type of earrings added to your yard will attract butterflies.
Swamp earrings are attractive flowers that have a strong scent and make your yard smell great. Groups of flowers range in color from pink to purple. You can have some wetland earrings that are pink, red, or even more subdued burgundy. You’ll soon notice various monarch butterflies, including the gorgeous monarch butterfly, perched on your swamp milkweed.
The nectar of the wetland earring is the only reason most butterflies congregate there, but the monarch butterfly will also only lay her eggs on the earring. A butterfly’s entire life cycle can take place in your yard if you allow insects access to this area.
Yarrow
Yarrow is a must-have perennial for every butterfly garden. Its lush, lively blooms rise above its delightful ferny foliage and provide the perfect resting place for traveling butterflies. It is easy to grow in moist, well-drained soil and full sun.
Butterfly Bush
The butterfly bush has several flowers where butterflies will settle and they grow quickly. Depending on your location, these shrubs will usually bloom from summer until fall.
You will observe that while some plants support a wide variety of animals, others only support those plants that attract butterflies. Butterfly bushes belong to the first group; While you will see butterflies in your yard, you won’t notice many larvae, if any, attracted to them.
Although the butterfly bush is a lovely plant, you should be aware that it is an invasive species.
Lavender
Lavender is a beautiful purple plant that attracts butterflies in addition to having a lovely scent and calming effect. You can add a natural air freshener to your yard by planting lavender and you’ll soon notice insects flying around.
Planting plants in your yard to produce the pollen that butterflies need to provide nutrition is the best way to attract butterflies. You can attract butterflies to your yard by planting lavender as it produces sweet nectar that they love to eat.
Goldenrod
Fluffy yellow blooms on goldenrods enliven the summertime scenery. The main source of nectar for monarch monarchs and other species is milkweed, but during the autumn, there is typically a dearth.
If you want to give these insects a much-needed food supply when they can’t locate milkweed, plant goldenrods in your yard.
Even though goldenrods are lovely, they occasionally grow as weeds. To make sure it’s not interfering with your other plants, you’ll need to keep a watch on this plant.
Aster
The lovely shrub known as aster produces bright purple blooms with yellow centers. But their beauty is only one aspect of what makes them so appealing.
Because they require so little care compared to other plants, asters are fairly simple to manage. They must be planted in a location with direct sunlight, but they are remarkably drought-resistant once established. Asters are one of the many natural options for those shrubs if you like the concept of including one in your yard but aren’t ready to deal with how invasive they are.
Asters typically draw butterflies, but larvae are much more common on them. Asters serve as homes for a variety of insect species and consequently, butterflies.
Chocolate Cosmos
The chocolate cosmos, a type of blooming plant, may not taste like chocolate, but they do have a chocolate-like aroma. These flowers, which are indigenous to Mexico, are dark red and brown in color and scent deliciously of cocoa.
For people, they are very beautiful blossoms. They can withstand a lot of heat because they are native to Mexico and are immune to inclement weather. It’s not too difficult to plant cocoa cosmos in your yard, and it’s almost as simple to maintain them.
They make the ideal plant to position along the edges of your yard if you’re thinking about doing so so that you can scent their aroma all over the place.
Although most butterflies favor blooms with bright colors, the darker shade of the chocolate cosmos does not discourage them. Particularly monarch butterflies adore the nectar, so if you grow chocolate cosmos in your yard, you’ll notice butterflies fluttering about. Although these plants are attractive to butterflies, larvae won’t be drawn to them.
Lantana
Lantana is one of the best plants to draw butterflies because of its clusters of small flowers, which give butterflies a secure spot to rest. The tiny floral groups are vibrantly colored, including yellow, purple, pink, and orange.
The line frequently mix two or more of these hues, giving your yard a genuinely one-of-a-kind plant. In your yard, you can place lantanas in the earth, planters, or even containers that dangle from a hook. They are simple plants to cultivate. Your potential butterfly garden will have an even more distinctive design if you hang them.
You might notice a variety of insects flitting to your lantanas, depending on where you reside. You’ll see a variety of butterflies, including scarlet admirals, monarchs, and queens.
Heliotrope
A few decades ago, heliotropes were fashionable plants, and now they are becoming more and more popular. Some might argue that the increase in appeal is related to how insects gravitate toward them.
You might hear from others that heliotropes are being planted once more because of their nice scent. This shrub has lovely dark green foliage and blooms that are purple and blue. These flowers typically have a vanilla, infant powder, grape, and cherry pie scent.
Heliotropes appear to be a refuge for a variety of butterflies, whereas some plants only draw specific types of butterflies. On your mouthwatering-smelling heliotropes, you might see red admirals, tiny tortoiseshell butterflies, and other butterfly species.
Oregano
Like people, insects enjoy a variety of plants. You can gather oregano from your plant rather than purchasing it from a shop, and it also attracts butterflies to your yard.
If you want to occupy a room in your yard, oregano is the ideal plant to use. You’ll be gathering the plant fairly frequently, and it’s simple to cultivate.
Because they appreciate honey, swallowtail butterflies frequently visit oregano plants.
This plant also produces swallowtail larvae in addition to swallowtail insects. You can observe these butterflies throughout their complete life cycle by growing oregano in your yard.
>>> Read more: Top 10 Most Beautiful Butterfly Species