tips on growin' butterfly gardens...
A successful butterfly garden has plants that meet butterfly's needs during
all their life stages. To attract butterflies to your garden you need to provide them with food, water, shelter,
and places to lay their eggs. Plan your garden so that there are flowers blooming most of the year
Butterflies use sunlight to regulate their body temperature. They need sunlight to keep themselves warm, but the
outside temperature can also become too hot for them. A good butterfly garden should provide both sunny places
and shady places where butterflies can cool off while they eat.
Do not use insecticides in your garden! They will kill butterflies.
The following are common, easy-to-grow plants that attract many butterflies
• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
• Phlox
• Bee Balm
• Purple coneflowers
• Sage
• Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Lilac
• Marjoram
Determine which species thrive in your area, then determine what host plant the
butterfly needs - see the table below.
Butterflies &
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the plants that attract them...
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Monarch
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Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
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Queen
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Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
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Pipevine Swallowtail
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pipevine, snakeroot & knot vine
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Black Swallowtail
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parsley, carrots & parsnips
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Anise Swallowtail
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anise, fennel, carrots, parsley & parsnips
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Orange-Barred Sulphur
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cassia & sweet pea
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Cloudless Sulphur
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wild senna
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Sara Orange Tip
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wild mustard
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Southern Dogface
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wild indigo & clover
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Great Southern White
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mustards
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Julia
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passion flower
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Gulf Fritillary
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passion flower
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Zebras
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passion flower
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Lesser Fritillaries
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violets
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Crescent
|
asters
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Painted Lady
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thistles
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Mylitta Crescent
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thistles
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Question Mark
|
elm
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Satyr
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nettles
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Zephyr
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elm & currant
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Comma
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nettle & hops
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Buckeye
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plantain & gerardia
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West Coast Lady
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mallows
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Grizzled Skipper
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mallows
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Red Admiral
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nettles
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Milbert's Tortoise Shell
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nettles
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Mourning Cloak
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elm, willow & poplar
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White Admiral
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birch, willow & poplar
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Viceroy
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willow & poplar
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Red-Spotted Purple
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wild cherry
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California Sister
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loak
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Nais Metalmark
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wild plum
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American Copper
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sheep sorrel
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Eastern Tailed Blue
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legumes
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Orange-Bordered Blue
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legumes
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Pygmy Blue
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lamb's tongue
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Dwarf Blue
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lamb's tongue
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Marine Blue
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wisteria, alfalfa, locoweed & legumes
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Southern Cloudywing
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clover & legumes
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Northern Cloudywing
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clover & legumes
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Silver Spotted Skipper
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wisteria & locusts
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