By Stan V. Griep
American Rose Society Certified Consulting Rosarian – Rocky Mountain District

The list of welcome garden visitors includes not only our friends, family members and “furry” friends (our dogs, cats and maybe even a rabbit or two) but also ladybugs, praying mantis, dragonflies, bees and butterflies to name a few. But one of my favorite garden guests is the butterfly. Let’s look at plants that attract butterflies so that you can welcome these flying beauties.

Starting Butterfly Gardening

If you like to see the butterflies gracefully dancing about your smiling blooms like I do, planting some flowering plants that help attract them is a great thing to do. Perhaps create a bed with butterfly garden plants as it will not only attract the butterflies but other wonderful garden visitors such as the delightful hummingbirds.

Butterflies gracefully dancing about the blooms in my rose beds and wildflower garden are truly a highlight to my morning garden walks. When our Linden tree blooms, it not only fills the air all around it with a wonderful and intoxicating fragrance, it attracts the butterflies and bees. Planting flowers that attract butterflies is all you need to do to start butterfly gardening.

List of Butterfly Garden Plants

 

The beauty and grace that butterflies bring to one’s garden are far greater than any garden ornament that you could ever purchase. So let’s take a look at some flowering plants for butterfly gardens that attract butterflies. Here is a listing of some plants that attract butterflies:

Flowers That Attract Butterflies

• Achillea, Yarrow
• Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Milkweed 
• Gaillardia grandiflora, Blanket Flower
• Alcea rosea, Hollyhock
• Helianthus, Sunflower
• Chrysanthemum maximum, Shasta Daisy
• Lobularia maritima, Sweet Alyssum
• Aster, Aster
• Rudbeckia hirta, Black-eyed Susan or
  Gloriosa Daisy
• Coreopsis, Coreopsis
• Cosmos, Cosmos
• Dianthus, Dianthus
• Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower
• Rosa, Roses
• Verbena bonariensis, Verbena
• Tagetes, Marigold
• Zinnis elegans, Zinna
• Phlox, Phlox

This is just a partial listing of some of the flowering plants that attract butterflies to our gardens, and they not only attract these beautiful, graceful visitors but add colorful beauty to our gardens as well. Further research on your part will help you to zero in on exactly what types of plants attract specific types of butterflies and other wonderful garden visitors to your gardens. This type of butterfly gardening has many levels of enjoyment to it; I am speaking from a point of personal experience. Enjoy your gardens!