These gardens attract butterflies that flit and float into the area. The butterfly garden is shaped like a butterfly and the plants in the garden are butterfly attractors. You will find the butterfly bushes in the adjoining perennial bed.
Different species of butterflies have different preferences for nectar, in both colors and tastes and for host plants. A wide variety of food plants will give the greatest diversity of visitors. Try staggering wild and cultivated plants, as well as blooming times of the day and year. Groups of the same plants will be easier for butterflies to see than singly planted flowers.
We are in the process of adding more milkweed to this garden as well as around the entire area to become a certified Monarch Waystation. For more information: Monarch Watch
For more on butterfly gardens visit How to Make Butterfly Gardens.
Our Butterfly Garden at one point included the following plants:
Catmint Nepeta catoria
Lamb’s Ear Stachys byzantina
Joe-Pye Weed Eupatorium spp.
Lemon Balm Melissa officinalis
Globe Thistle Echinops
New York Ironweed Vernonia
Tall Meadow Rue Thalictrum spp.
Purple Coneflower Echinacea
Anise Hyssop Agastache
Goldenrod Solidago
Bronze Fennel Foeniculum vulgave
Johnny Jump-ups Viola cornuta
Dwarf Aster Asteraceae
Russian Sage Perovskia
Garden Phlox Phlox paniculata
Yellow Coneflower Rudbeckia fulgida
Stonecrop Sedum Sedum
Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia
Bee Balm Monarda
