Attracting Butterflies To Your Garden

by Natural State Flower Farm

Butterflies are attracted to your garden when they see a food source (nectar rich flowers)and plants to lay their eggs (host plant)

attracting butterflies to your garden, flowers, gardening

Female butterflies instinctively know what plants to lay their eggs on. For the monarch butterfly, milkweed is the sole plant for their eggs.

Asclepias tuberosa

Swallowtails, on the other hand, have several different plants they find suitable for host plants. Bronze fennel is a striking herb that can grow up to five feet tall. It attracts a variety of pollinators when in bloom. A perennial from zones 4-9, it does like full sun and can reseed easily.

bronze fennel

The fact that is reseeds can be a nuisance, and good luck digging it up. Once established, this plant is there. I usually remove small seedlings after a rain to keep in check. But every year it is absolutely full of swallowtail caterpillars.

How many do you see?

Common rue (Ruta graveolens) has also been a great host plant for me. A border-line perennial for me, this plant attracts swallowtails like crazy.

Common rue (Ruta graveolens)

younger swallowtail on the bottom, older on t

A word of caution. Some people have an allergic reaction to rue. For some, it can cause a rash or blistering on the skin. It doesn't bother me, but I do have this plant in the middle of the flower bed where no one can reach it.

Spicebush or Lindera benzoin

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is another host plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly. Spicebush can look more like a tree than a bush. It can get up to twelve feet tall and six to twelve feet wide. It seems to do well with afternoon shade and is very drought tolerant once established.