The Top 12 Butterfly Garden Plants

This year Olivia and I are working on improving the butterfly garden in the backyard. Many years ago, when I did the art and farm camp at our farm, the garden was well-maintained and it had a little pond with tiny waterfall. The birds loved it. Having camp counselors and volunteers help with gardening made a huge difference in maintaining all the gardens.

This year, we are putting a lot of effort into the garden. I started last year and got some new perennials in it before Sophia's graduation party that was here. I had some annuals in it to add color since not a lot of perennials were blooming in late-June.

Our goal now is to add more perennial plants, with a focus on native plants that benefit butterflies, pollinators, beneficial insects, and birds - particularly early-migrating birds and hummingbirds.

There are over 700 species in the United States, with 161 species living in Minnesota. Although butterflies provide food for other animals, an equally important role is that they are pollinators. Only about ten percent of plants are self-pollinating. So, the rest of the plants depend on butterflies, bees, and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Without pollinators, many food crops, wild plants, and flowers would be at risk of dying out.

I came across a post about the top butterfly garden plants on Plant Care Today. Some of the plants were for different zones - ones that are much warmer than the one we live in. So, I eliminated those from the list. Below are the ones that we have added to our garden based on the article. The information noted is also from the article on Plant Care Today. The pictures show flowers in our garden.

  

#1 – Buddleia – Butterfly Bush

Butterfly Bush is a fast-growing, easy-to-care-for shrub attracts masses of butterflies throughout the summer with sweet smelling white, blue or purple blossoms. These bushes can grow huge, but it’s easy to control their size by just cutting them back to the ground late in the autumn or very early in the springtime.

Botanical Name: Buddleia Davidii and varieties
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 10 feet
Spread: 15 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-9 (varies by type)

 

#2 – Phlox

Phlox has pretty, sweet-smelling blossoms in white, pink, lavender, salmon or red all summer long. \

Botanical Name: Phlox paniculata
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 4 feet
Spread: 1 foot
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8

#3 – Anise Hyssop

Anise Hyssop is a beautiful, rugged, drought-tolerant plant that does very well in hot climates. It produces blue blooms toward the end of summer that are highly attractive to butterflies, yet they are also deer and rabbit resistant. The flowers are sturdy and long-lasting and make excellent cut flowers.

Botanical Name: Agastache foeniculum
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 5 feet
Spread: 2 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-10

#4 – Asclepias – Butterfly Weed

Butterfly Weed (aka Milkweed) is an excellent choice if you want to attract Monarchs. Adult butterflies enjoy the flowers’ nectar and lay eggs on the leaves of the plant. Caterpillars eat the leaves and make their cocoons on the plants’ stems. The most popular variety has orange flowers, but there are many milkweed varieties.

Look for Swamp Milkweed and Annual Blood-Flower for butterflies to add variety to your milkweed patch. Not all types appeal to all butterflies, but a good mix will help ensure a meal for a wide variety of butterflies.

Botanical Name: Asclepias tuberosa
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 3 feet
Spread: 1 foot
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-9

#5 – Aster

The aromatic Aster plant is a wonderful choice to add color and attraction to your butterfly garden in the autumn. There are a variety of colors available that result in abundant blossoms in white, pink, blue, red and purple.

Botanical Name: Aster selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 5 feet
Spread: 2 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-8
Note: Height, spread, and hardiness vary depending on the type of Aster you choose. If you are short on space, seek out Botanical Named varieties, which tend to be more compact and resist disease quite well.

#6 – Echinacea – Purple Coneflower

Purple coneflower is a hardy, pretty, useful plant that grows well in a bright, sunny butterfly garden. The plant is drought and heat tolerant and produces purplish-pink blooms all summer long; and the butterflies enjoy the nectar. The picture above is a different type of Echinacea called "Hot Papaya."

Botanical Name: Echinacea selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 5 feet
Spread: 2 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Note: Height, spread, and hardiness vary depending on the type of Echinacea you choose.

#7 – Salvia – Meadow Sage

May Night or Meadow Sage is a vigorous salvia cultivar producing abundant spikes of purple flowers throughout the summer. This heat tolerant, drought-resistant plant is easy to grow and well-loved by butterflies. There are other salvia varieties available in pink, red and orange.

Botanical Name: Salvia sylvestri
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 3 feet
Spread: 1 foot
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-9

#8 – Lantana

Bushes of Lantana flowers abundantly throughout the summer with pretty white, cream-colored, yellow, orange, red, pink and lavender blossoms. This plant is excellent in the garden or as a container plant. It is a good choice mixed into the flower bed or trained along a border.

Botanical Name: Lantana selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 3 feet
Spread: 3 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 10. Lantana grows as an annual in cooler zones, including Minnesota

 

#9 – Zinnia

Zinnias are popular with butterflies. Available in a wide range of colors and varieties, it’s easy to create an interesting, varied garden with just a collection of pretty zinnias.

Botanical Name: Zinnia selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 3 feet
Spread: 1 foot
NOTE: Height and spread vary depending on the types of Zinnias you choose.
USDA Hardiness Zones: Annual

 

#10 – Eupatorium – Joe Pye Weed

Joe Pye Weed is a big, vigorously growing plant that butterflies love. Some varieties grow to be six feet tall, but there are cultivars (e.g., Little Joe) that stay smaller. The plant produces billowing clusters of dusty pink blooms late in the summer and into the autumn.

Botanical Name: Eupatorium selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.
Height: 7 feet
Spread: 3 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9

#11 – Rudbeckia – Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan is a daisy-like perennial that is heat and drought resistant and lovely in bouquets. Blossoms appear late in the summer and provide a tasty meal for butterflies and bees.

Botanical Name: Rudbeckia selections
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 6 feet
Spread: 3 feet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-9

#12 – Coreopsis

Coreopsis has pretty yellow blossoms and deep green, fernlike foliage. The plant blooms all summer long and can be encouraged to bloom even more with vigorous deadheading. In fact, trimming it back with the hedge clippers is a good way to get it to produce blossoms in abundance.

Botanical Name: Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’
Ideal Conditions: Choose a bright, sunny spot with well-draining soil.
Height: 18 inches
Spread: 18 inches
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-8