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The best butterfly garden ideas don’t need to be tricky to bring to life in your garden. There are plenty of good reasons why butterflies matter and why it is important to make an effort with them. For many gardeners, it’s simply delightful to see them flitting around outside. But butterflies are also important pollinators and vital components of the ecosystem. Anything you can do to attract butterflies to your yard supports the local ecosystem and brings beauty and wonder to your outdoor space.
Try These 10 Easy Butterfly Garden Ideas
A butterfly-friendly garden should include a habitat for shelter and nesting, flowers for feeding on nectar, and water sources. There are many ways to add these elements to your yard or garden. Use these backyard butterfly garden ideas to create a dream landscape for your winged friends.
1. Plant a Variety of Pretty Flowers
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Butterfly garden designs must include an abundance and variety of flowers. Butterflies feed on the sugary nectar found in many flowers. The colors and shapes of flowers evolved to attract pollinators like butterflies, so the more variety you include, the more butterflies you’ll see. Some good examples include bee balm, Joe Pye weed, zinnia, hollyhock and purple coneflower.
2. Grow Flowering Shrubs
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Beautiful butterfly flowers are not restricted to perennial beds. Flowering shrubs are a great way to add more blooms to your garden that attract butterflies. Place flowering shrubs in protected areas of the garden, where butterflies can access them but also have some shelter from the wind. Good shrubs for butterflies include American beautyberry, buttonbush, dogwood, fragrant sumac and butterfly bush.
3. Get Privacy with a Mixed Hedge
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Kill two birds with one stone by creating a mixed privacy hedge that will also attract your favorite flying insects. A single species hedge won’t contribute much to the effort, but a privacy screen made from different trees or shrubs that produce flowers will attract more butterflies.
4. Don’t Forget about Annuals
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Perennials and shrubs should be the foundational plants for drawing in pollinators, but annuals can help as well. Attractive flowering annuals for pollinators like dahlias, borage, salvia and sunflowers do their part to attract a season-long stream of different types of butterflies.
5. Add a Pop of Pink
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Butterflies are attracted to certain colors, including pink. Include pops of pink pollinator garden plants in a varied garden and flower beds to get more types of butterflies. Try to incorporate plants that will give you a series of blooms throughout the growing season, including spring, summer and fall bloomers.
6. Plant a Pollinator Strip
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A pollinator wildlife strip is one of the best butterfly garden ideas. This is a long, thin bed dedicated solely to butterflies and other pollinating species. This is a good option for areas of the garden or yard that are narrow, such as along a driveway or between closely spaced homes. A concentrated area of butterfly-friendly species will attract many individuals.
7. Short on Space? Try Containers
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A small space shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying butterflies. Even if you only have a patio or balcony, you can attract butterflies with container-grown pollinator flowers. Choose a variety of blooms that grow well in pots to enjoy a summer full of butterflies in your small space.
8. Start Early With Spring Bulbs
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Flowering bulbs can be a great way to support butterflies early in the season when nectar is otherwise hard to find. Some good spring bulb options to plant for early blooms include Virginia bluebells, spring beauty, crocus, squill and trout lily.
9. Keep Butterflies Well-Fed in Fall
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Butterfly garden ideas aren’t just restricted to spring and summer. Don’t forget your butterflies in fall. Late fall-blooming plants will help to feed pollinators as the growing season winds down. Flowers like asters, coreopsis and sunflowers provide an ongoing food source to support butterflies when summer blooms have faded.
10. Milkweed is a Must for Monarchs
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One of the most notable species of butterfly, monarchs are beautiful visitors to the garden. They are also in trouble due to habitat loss. Monarchs need milkweed plants to lay eggs. The caterpillars feed on these plants, so be sure to include milkweed in your perennial beds or native areas.
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