Creating a Butterfly Haven in Your Yard

Few things are as beautiful as a butterfly fluttering from flower to flower in a garden. The great thing about butterflies is attracting them to your yard is easy. Whether your yard is a container garden on a condominium terrace or an acre in the woods, you can increase the number and types of butterflies by following a few simple tips:

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1. Plant butterfly-attracting flowers and shrubs. Your local garden center or home improvement store has hundreds of plants, trees, and shrubs. How can you identify the ones best suited for bringing butterflies to your yard? Many tags have a small butterfly on those plants most likely to attract butterflies. A few can't miss perennial options include coneflowers, daisies, asters, black-eyed Susans, tickseeds, and hollyhocks. Annuals to consider include marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and nicotianas. Shrubs range in height and width from the butterfly bush to lilacs to wisteria.

2. Place a flat stone in a sunny area. Did you ever wonder why you only see butterflies on warm days? Butterflies need the sun's warmth to get their blood moving. If you have a sunny area, try placing a flat stone there. Butterflies will often land on the stone to warm their bodies.

3. Provide a water source. A bird bath is not a place butterflies will visit for hydration. If you have a small, shallow, muddy space, butterflies will congregate for both the moisture and the salt that rises to the surface. Puddling, as this is known, does not need a large space. A small, sunny spot with a small amount of water on top will do. Remember, it's a shallow puddle. Anything too deep will not attract butterflies.

When creating your butterfly garden, remember to layer your garden. If you mix bushes with perennial flowers with annual blooms, you will have numerous food and shelter sources for butterflies. By adding a flat stone in a sunny spot and a puddling location, you'll increase the number and types of butterflies that join you during warm summer days.

Learn more about this author, Shari Schmidt.
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