How to Create a Butterfly Garden

Plant it and they will come. Butterflies, also known as flying flowers because of their colorful beauty, have a few basic needs: food, soil moisture, sunshine and a breeding area that will provide safety and food for their offspring. Planting a flower garden that will meet all these basic needs (which is easy to do) the butterflies will come.

Butterfly Food

A butterfly’s main food source is flower nectar. Creating a garden that will have a variety of flowers that bloom all summer long will keep the butterflies returning time and time again throughout the summer. Butterflies land on the flower to feed on the nectar; flower that have flat blooms, like daisies and coneflowers, provide a landing pad for the butterflies to rest on while they feed.

Butterflies also like to feed on rotting fruit and fresh cow manure. Placing an occasional piece of fruit that is past its prime in the butterfly garden will attract butterflies in for a feast. A scoop of fresh cow manure in the vicinity of the flower garden (but not too close to plants, fresh cow manure can burn plants) will also entice butterflies to visit. The cow manure will also add nutrients to the soil as it decomposes.

Butterfly Puddling

Butterflies have a need for minerals which they obtain through the soil. Butterflies will congregate on a mud puddle, wet soil or wet sand to absorb the needed minerals. This is called puddling. Create an inviting puddling location for the butterflies by creating a low-lying spot in the garden and keeping it moist at all times. An easy way to create a puddling spot in the garden is to sink a shallow container, like a pie pan, up to the rim in the garden soil, then fill the container with soil or sand and add water.

Sunshine for the Solar Panel Wings

Before a butterfly can take to the air in flight each day, it must warm its body and charge up its solar panel wings by spending some time in the sunshine. This is why butterflies are often seen in the early morning hours resting on rocks with wings spread open, they are absorbing the sunshine. Adding a few rocks or a rock border that faces east and will be in direct sunlight during the morning hours in a flower garden will provide the perfect location for butterflies to warm themselves and recharge their solar panel wings.

Host Plants for Offspring

Butterflies need host plants that will provide a safe location for laying eggs and food for the emerging larvae and developing caterpillars. Flowers that are native to the region are the prime choices as host plants. Add a few native flowers or create a native flower garden for easy care butterfly attraction.

When a flower garden is created to meet the needs of food, soil moisture, sunshine and breeding, the butterflies will come.