How To Attract Butterflies To Your Lawn and Garden – Ag Matters

Nothing denotes peace, tranquility and freedom quite like a butterfly.  Watching one flit about with seemingly no planned route can't help but ease the stress.  The Master Gardeners at Cornell Cooperative Extension have some tips on attracting them to your yard and garden.
First, one should incorporate a variety of nectar-producing plants that will provide a sequence of blooms throughout the gardening season. Flowers of similar colors should be grouped close together. Flowers with multiple florets (small flowers) should also be grouped together.

Annual flowers provide a steady supply of nectar to the butterflies, especially mid to late summer where many of the perennial plants bloom earlier in the season and not continuously throughout the season.

Different species of butterflies do have particular host plants that they prefer to gather the nectar. One can do some research if they want to attract specific butterflies. Perennial plants such as coneflowers, lilacs, butterfly weed, and asters are visited regularly by butterflies.

Get a list of plants that attract butterflies at CCE's Home Grown Facts web page or call the Horticulture Hot Line Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00am to 12:00pm at 315-736-3394.  You can also check out the Extension’s Parker F. Scripture Botanical Gardens and see a screened-in Butterfly House which is host to monarch butterflies. The gardens are free and open 7 days a week from dawn to dusk. The offices are located at 121 Second Street in Oriskany. (off of Judd Road – 840).

SOURCE: Cornell Cooperative Extension