How to Create a Butterfly Garden
Plant a Garden that Butterflies, Bees, Moths, & other Pollinators Love
When the Monarch Butterfly was added to the Endangered Species list, many people were incredulous. But the fact is, if you’ve been listening, ecologists and particularly entemologists have been sounding the alarm for decades: biodiversity is in trouble in North America, and our insect populations are in crisis. Yep. That means bugs. We need bugs. Bugs are foundational to the biodiversity of our planet, and if they are in trouble, so are all other species.
The fact is: the typical North American yard does not support much in the way of biodiversity. Those vast expanses of grass treated with pesticides and herbicides are monocultures — they don’t support a rich diversity of life. BUT our gardens and lawns represent a unique opportunity to DO SOMETHING substantial. If we change HOW we garden — and who we are gardening for, we can not only help protect insect species, but also other species, too.
As a Colorado Master Gardener, I’m interested in the science behind gardening. And I’ve been following the work of Dr. Doug Tallamy, entemologist of the University of Delaware, for some time. He has started something called the Homegrown National Park movement — the foundational idea being that we can stop the accelerating species loss by gardening differently. We have to garden to nuture insect life rather than to eliminate it. And in doing so, we will then support other species along the way.
Source: homegrownnationalpark.org and Dr. Doug Tallamy
For many gardeners, this is a big shift. To garden for and with nature — rather than to make a garden beautiful — can mark a big change in our approach. But here’s a small and easy step: dedicate an area in your yard to pollinators. Make that your first step. It’s not hard. It’s actually not expensive. And it’s some of the easiest gardening you’ll do — once established, these plants need very little care in most of North America.
So, here’s everything you need to plant a pollinator or butterfly garden!
Top Butterfly Plants for your Garden
A pollinator garden needs plants which support every stage of a butterfly’s life. That means eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis, and butterflies. Some butterflies need different plants for different parts of their lifecycles. Others are only choosy for one phase and are more flexible at other phases. Building your pollinator garden on native plant species will ensure that you are supporting multiple phases of a bug’s life. You may see caterpillars munching on your leaves, but remember: those caterpillars are future butterflies or moths. We gardeners have to be willing to lose some vegetation in order to enjoy the beautiful moths and butterflies later!
I started with 5 keystone species to start my butterfly garden:
Sunflowers
Milkweed
Rudbeckia
Asters
Goldenrod
These species all support native pollinators and are North American natives. To these I added some other natives and non-natives — all loved by insects at various developmental stages:
California Poppies
Yarrow
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
Echinacea
Veronica americana
Caryopteris
Sedum
Little Bluestem Grasses
Where to Get Plants for a Butterfly Garden
I started with the Butterfly Paradise Pre-Planned Garden from High Country Gardens. I love pre-planned gardens as a starting point. Look for collections that are designed for your zone and location. Here on the Front Range in Colorado, we are lucky to also have Resource Central’s Garden-in-a-Box program. Their plants are chosen to be water-wise as well as supportive of local biodiversity. No matter where it comes from, with a pre-planned garden you get a collection of plants chosen to work together aesthetically with similar water and light needs as well.
I supplemented the pre-planned garden with plants from my local nursery as well as others started from seed. If you have the room, almost all of these plants can be started from seed. Sunflowers and California Poppies are particularly easy to start this way and can be planted directly into prepared ground.
Over the coming years, I’ll add more beds and more native species to fill out the area. It is a long-term project, but the results are pretty amazing in a short period of time!
UPDATE: Check out The Wildlife Garden — an even bigger pollinator paradise that I started to plant out last year. It is amazeballs! And I have a full plant list available for you to download and use, too!
Planting for Pollinators
FAQs
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That depends on what kind of site you have and where you are. There are pollinator-friendly and native species for every situation — sun, shade, part-shade. I have very little shade in my garden, so my pollinator gardens are all in sunny situations. But choose a location in your garden where you will be able to see and to enjoy the wildlife that comes — because they will come!
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Native North American Milkweed. Monarch Butterflies rely on Milkweed for their reproductive cycle. The butterflies can take nectar from other flowers with the same shape, but they will only lay their eggs on Native North American Milkweeds, and their caterpillars can only eat the leaves of those milkweed. The Xerces Society has a great guide to choosing the right Milkweed for your part of the country.
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Different butterflies require different types of flowers depending on the shape of their mouth pieces. But in general, they need flowers where they can land and then feast. Native plants with flat or coneshaped flower clusters — like Milkweed, Phlox, Coneflowers, and Sunflowers — provide lots of nectar plus a safe place to land.
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It’s all about the plants. If you have the plants they need — and if your neighbors do, too — the butterflies and bees will come! Once you plant your pollinator garden, invite your neighbors to do the same. The more nutrient-dense your neighborhood is, the more insects you will have! And talk to your neighbors about pesticide usage, too. Avoiding pesticides at all costs will make your neighborhood a haven for wildlife.
A Peek into My Butterfly Garden
I did a whole series on Instagram about planting our Pollinator Garden. I’ve posted the videos here, so if you missed it, here they are!
Note: for this Instagram series, I worked with two sponsors, High Country Gardens, a national mail-order plant supplier, and O’Toole’s Garden Centers, a local nursery. They supplied the plants, but the work is my own.
Screenshot that list and pick up a buffet for butterflies and caterpillars alike. The best part: there are perennial varieties of each which saves both time and money. I found mine at @otoolesgardencenters — thanks for helping me build a butterfly garden! The moths and butterflies thank you, too!
I love pre-planned garden sets — and so do lots of gardeners! @hcgplants sent me two of their Butterfly Paradise gardens to use in my new butterfly garden beds. Pre-planned gardens take all of the worry out of choosing plants — not only will they looks great together, they are also planned to grow in the same types of conditions. Plus they are PERFECT for busy people. I am excited to watch these little guys flourish and grow! Thanks for the plants, @hcgplants ! Be sure to follow along — I will show you how they grow and change over the season! 🐝🦋🌱❤️
I am in love! Scroll back through my reels to watch this butterfly garden come together. I used perennials from @otoolesgardencenters as well as @hcgplants Pre-planned Butterfly Paradise garden. Everything is planted up, and it’s growing. With perennials, the roots grow first, but that’s what we want: a strong root system which will help get the plants through the winter. I will update you from time to time on how it is coming along this summer, too. And there is more to come!
Stick around for more gardening goodness! ❤️🌱🐝🦋❤️
A few months ago I planted these beds with a pre-planned butterfly garden from @hcgplants . I was out watering last night and thought I should do a check-in. These are mostly native species and are all a feast for butterflies and their larvae. So far everything is looking great! They have spent the summer putting down strong roots, and blooming a bit. Next year, though, all of these perennials will come on strong!
And those sunflowers — they have been the joy of the summer. They are absolutely full of bees and bugs and birds all day long. There are rabbits and mice living in the thicket. And a few weeks ago a hawk sat on the top of our car for about ten minutes — tracking something in the sunflower grove. It’s a little wild, but we love it!
This is all part of my quest to turn our yard into a beautiful habitat with a strong emphasis on native perennial species. Stick around. I am just getting started!
Tips for How to Design a Pollinator-friendly Garden
Plant Densely
When planting for pollinators, you want as many plants as possible in the space. Even if you are planting out your garden in a pot or a container — get as many plants into that space as you can. Butterflies need to be able to flit from plant to plant, too, so plant in multiples. My rule of thumb is to always have at least 3 of any single plant within 2 square feet. I don’t want my butterflies to go hungry!
Provide a Water Source
A water source can be as simple as a shallow dish or pan which you fill each day. Or it can be a small pond or fountain. But many pollinators like bees and butterflies need very shallow water to access, so if your water source is deep, add some shallower landing places for them — stones that are partly submerged work very well — so the insects who arrive will be able to use the water source.
Provide Some Nooks and Crannies
Many pollinators including many native bees need sheltered areas where they can nest and lay their eggs. There are several ways to provide this habitat depending on your location, but they can include:
a pile of twigs and sticks
hollow cut stems
a stone wall or a stack of flat stones
tree stumps and logs
What should I do in the fall and winter for my pollinator garden?
Almost nothing! The idea of “cleaning up” the garden in the fall is actually a big problem for the pollinators we want to support. Fallen leaves provide shelter, and many insects eggs or pupae overwinter on plants or in the soil and fallen leaves. So, leaving your butterfly garden largely alone until spring is the best call. I pile in more fallen leaves for a little extra insulation. And then in the spring, when I cut back seed heads, I leave the stems 8-10 inches tall for bees to lay their eggs inside.
Plan for Birds
One of the joys of a butterfly garden is that all of the caterpillars, butterflies, and bees also bring with them birds who feed the caterpillars to their young and who will feast on the seedheads of the flowers come autumn. So know that with bugs come birds — and enjoy them! You are supporting an entire food web by planting for pollinators!
What flowers attract hummingbirds and pollinators?
Hummingbirds require tubular-shaped flowers for their long tongues and long beaks. They particularly love red flowers, and the flowers must be nectar rich. Native plants that support hummingbirds include:
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Eastern Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Wild Bergamot, Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)
Red Birds in a Tree (Scrophularia macrantha)
Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea)
Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
Pink Beardtongue (Penstemon australis)
Gardening
for Butterflies
I do it all for the birds and the bees. Gardening for butterflies and pollinators and birds brings magic to my garden every day of the year. And I know that my garden, while beautiful, is not a thing of vanity. It is an active, contributing part of my local ecosystem and is one small thing that I can do to make my part of the world a better place!
But be prepared: gardening for wildlife is addictive! Once those butterflies and bees start arriving, they become your friends. And you’ll want to pull up a chair for them to get cozy and comfortable. Caterpillars become cuties. Moths are magical. And the butterflies are better than any award. So welcome to the best natural experience you could possibly want — all in your own garden!
