The butterfly garden

It’s the height of butterfly season. Last weekend I counted six different kinds of butterflies in my yard, flitting around between flowers, sunning or helping themselves to the moisture and minerals available in the soil I had recently watered. Even though there seemed to be a lot of butterflies around, I thought I could attract more varieties if I had an area focused on doing just that, so I sat down to design a butterfly garden.

The goal

In order to attract any wild species, you must understand its needs. Everything needs to eat. Adult butterflies sip nectar from flowers that have a short, tubular shape. They like flat-topped clusters of flowers like Yarrow or daisies, where they can perch while feeding.

While the goal is to attract those colorful winged beauties, don’t forget that their juvenile stage is the caterpillar, and these must also be fed. Luckily, many caterpillars prefer wild grasses, weeds and trees, so if there is undeveloped land nearby that isn’t sprayed with pesticides, they may be happy there, but it doesn’t hurt to have some caterpillar favorites like parsley and butterfly weed in the garden to encourage the adults to stick around to lay eggs.

The plan

Butterflies are most active in sunny spots sheltered from the wind, so I decided that my garden ought to be surrounded by hedges. A stone wall, an “L” of a building, or a sunken foundation would all be ideal sites. In the center of my butterfly garden is a lawn of white clover—food for both larvae and adults, with an artificial puddle made by digging a shallow depression, lining it with plastic and refilling the hole with soil. If rain doesn’t keep the puddle moist, it can be watered. Surrounding the puddle are some flat rocks on which the butterflies will rest to warm themselves. The flower border surrounding the lawn is filled with colorful butterfly favorites that bloom in early spring (candytuft) and don’t stop until a hard frost (the annuals and asters).

I’ve also included an arbor covered with honeysuckle and a bench from where I can enjoy the show. Butterflies aren’t especially fond of honeysuckle, but this will attract hummingbirds (but that’s another topic). In time, I hope this plan will become a reality and a haven not only for butterflies, but for myself as well.

The plants

Here is a list of the plants I’ve included in the plan. Feel free to adapt and use it as you choose. There are many more plants that are useful in a garden like this, but space is always the limiting factor.

Shrubs: Beauty bush, Butterfly bush, boxwood (used as a windbreak), lilac hedge, potentilla, spicebush, spirea; perennials: aster “Purple Dome,” aster New England, achillea “Coronation Gold,” butterfly weed (“Gay Butterflies”), candytuft, daylily, Echinacea, goldenrod, honeysuckle, Joe pye weed (“Gateway”), liatris, monarda, phlox, white clover; annuals: lantana in a pot, nasturtium, parsley, valarian and verbena bonariensis.