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Butterfly Attracting Plants




This list of butterfly attracting plants is by no means complete but it does list most of the common perennial plants that do this job. (Hey, this is a perennial plant website so I get to stick to perennial plants here) :-)

But if you plant these insect-magnets in your garden, you’ll be delighted with the result. I do note that some of these plants are food sources so the caterpillar stage will eat the plant. And other plants are nectar sources so the adult butterfly will visit it to gather food.

You need both food for the larva and food for the adult in your garden if you want to both attract and keep butterflies


So yes, I know the larval forms are not really attractive and yes, they munch on your plants but if you want the gorgeous butterfly – you have to start with the voracious larva.

The trick


The "trick" is to plant some of both plants at the back of your garden where you don’t care if the caterpillars munch away. You’ll be doing a great thing but not hurting the “look” of your garden.

Here are a few of the perennials you want to consider growing:

Achillea
Agapanthus
Agastache
Alcea
Allium

Anaphalis
Anchusa
Aquilegia
Arctanthemum
Asclepias
Aster

Baptisia
Belamcanda
Boltonia
Buddleia

Calamintha
Caryopteris
Centranthus
Ceratostigma
Chelone

Chrysanthemum
Cirsium
Coreopsis

Delosperma
Dianthus
Dictamnus

Echinacea
Echinops
Erigeron
Eryngium
Erysimum

Eupatorium
Euryops

Filipendula

Gaillardia
Geum
Goniolimon
Gypsophila

Helenium
Helianthus
Heliopsis
Hemerocallis
Hesperis

Heuchera
Hibiscus
Hieracium

Inula
Kalimeris
Knautia

Lathyrus
Lavandula
Leucanthemum
Liatris
Limonium

Lobelia
Lunaria
Lychnis
Lysimachia

Malva
Malvastrum
Meehania
Mimulus
Monarda
Myosotis

Nectaroscordum
Nepeta
Nipponanthemum
Origanum

Patrinia
Penstemon
Perovskia
Phlox
Physostegia

Pimpinella
Polemonium
Primula
Pycnanthemum
Rosmarinus
Rudbeckia

Salvia
Sanicula
Satureja
Scabiosa
Scutellaria

Sedum
Sidalcea
Silene
Silphium
Solidago
Solidaster
Stokesia

Tanacetum
Teucrium
Thalictrum
Thymus
Tradescantia

Verbascum
Verbena
Vernonia
Veronica
Veronicastrum
Weigela
Zauschneria

Please note that many of these butterfly attracting plants are described on this website (and more every month join that list) but they are mostly linked and found via the sun perennials and the shade perennials pages.






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