Attracting Butterflies To Visit Your Cottage Garden

 

 

attracting butterflies to your cottage garden
   
Flowers for your cottage garden
TERRA COTTA YARROW
attracting butterflies to your cottage garden
GOLDEN FLAME HONEYSUCKLE
butterfly plants for your cottage garden
LIATRIS

Getting a colorful array of butterflies to visit your garden is largely a matter of having the right flowers available for them. If you take time to learn which plants are most desirable from a butterfly's point of view and then providing it, you are almost certain of being awarded with a summer-long parade of these beautiful creatures in your cottage garden.


First, it is important to offer butterflies nectar flowers that continue to flourish throughout the growing season and thus guarantee a sufficient food supply for the caterpillar population which morphs into the butterflies themselves. Also, remember to shield those flowers from the wind and place them where they receive plenty of the sunshine that butterflies require to keep warm.


And for the maximum amount of visual pleasure, you'll want to locate your butterfly garden where it can be easily and often viewed, preferably near a window or outdoor sitting area.


butterflies for your cottage garden
BUTTERFLY WEED
cottage gardens
SMOOTH ASTER
flowers for your cottage garden
PHLOX LOUISIANA

It is recommended that you start with at least three or four different plant varieties desired by butterflies. Suggested choices include nectar-rich blooms, especially those which display many small flowers like coneflowers and yarrows, as well as those with clustered blooms like asters, goldenrods, milkweed and garden phlox. Of course, spires such as lavender and buddleia rank high on a butterfly's list, as do those plants like with single large flowers as daylilies, hibiscus and hollyhock, which provide large landing platforms and give butterflies something to land on while feeding.


There's another bonus from creating a garden for butterflies -- birds will discover it, too! Birds enjoy many of the same qualities in a garden that butterflies do, so your efforts will be rewarded with other welcome visitors.


For more information on attracting butterflies, as well as other gardening tips, we suggest that you visit WhiteFlowerFarm.com. Also Sunlight Gardens, a well-known nursery specializing in wild flowers, is another valuable source for finding plants desired by butterflies.