Some suggestions provided by Rick Mikula
There are many choices of butterfly-friendly plants so think of your garden as a fresh canvas, your spades and pitch forks are brushes, and your choice of flowers whether they are annuals or perennials as your palate, and then paint yourself a masterpiece.
Perennials |
Blooming Period |
| Asters | late summer to fall |
| Bee Balm-Bergamot | summer through fall |
| Butterfly bush (buddleia) | mid-summer to fall |
| Butterfly weed | summer through fall |
| Coreopsis | all summer |
| Hollyhock | summer |
| Lavender | summer |
| Lupine | late spring to early summer |
| Mints | all summer |
| Passionflower | summer to fall |
| Phlox | all summer |
| Purple coneflower | late summer into fall |
| Salvia | summer into fall |
| Shasta daisy | summer |
| Thistles | late spring through fall |
| Violet | spring |
| White or Red clover | summer |
| Yarrow | mid to late summer |
Biennials |
Blooming Period |
| Black-eyed-Susan | summer to fall |
| Red Clover | summer |
| Queen Anne’s lace | late spring through fall |
| Sweet William | spring through early summer |
Annuals |
Blooming Period |
| Alyssum | summer to mid-fall |
| Candy Tuft | spring to summer |
| Common Stock | spring to summer |
| Cornflower | summer |
| Cosmos | late summer to fall |
| Dianthus | spring to fall |
| Heliotrope (perennial in South)/td> | late spring to summer |
| Impatiens | summer through fall |
| Lobelia | summer into fall |
| Marigold | summer into fall |
| Mexican sunflower | summer into fall |
| Nasturtium | late summer |
| Parsley | green from spring to fall |
| Sage | summer to fall |
| Salvia | summer through fall |
| Scabiosa | summer through fall |
| Sweet William | summer into fall |
| Verbena | spring to fall |
| Zinnia | mid-summer to fall |
Shrubs
Shrubs and trees are great for the butterfly habitat they can provide much needed protection from wind and predators. If you happen to live in a windy area place you higher growing plants in a position to block the garden from the wind. You will also notice that many tree are also host plants to many butterflies and a large population of moths.
Button Bush (Cephalanthus)
Caryopteris (Caryopteris)
Crown Flower (Calitropis)
Firebush (Hamelia)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
Lilac (Syringa)
Mock-Orange (Philadelphus)
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus)
Powder-Puff (Calliandra)
Spicebush (Lindera)
Trumpet vine (Campsis)
Viburnum (Viburnum)
Trees
Trees serve many purposes for butterflies and many of the Swallowtails use then as host plants. They can add structure and aesthetic flow to your design. Can you center your garden around the existing trees provide shade and privacy? Trees are there for a long time and costly to remove later, so think about them before you plant. Willows should not be placed near water pipes. The roots will crush them as they search for water. Willows will also drip all over your car with messy dew that is horrible to remove. Many towns also have shade tree commissions with tons of rule and regulations concerning their plantings. Annuals are one thing, but a tree is going to hang around for a while. So decide and choose them cautiously.
Aspen
Bottlebrush
Cherry
Citrus
Elms
Eucalyptus
Hackberry
Live Oak
Oak
Sweet Bay
Tulip Popular
Willows
Full Sun Container Plants
Alyssum
Aster
Center
Dahlia
Edge
Foxglove
Globe Thistle
Gypsophila
Heliotrope
Hibiscus flower
Lantana
Lavender
Marigold
Middle
Nicotiana
Pansy
Pentas
Pincushion
Portulaca
Snap dragon
Straw
Stonecrop
Thrift
Verbena
Vinca vine
Violet
Zinnia
Herbs For Buttertflies |
Host Plant To |
| Anise | Anise & Black swallowtail |
| Basil | |
| Bee Balm | |
| Borage and Burdock | Painted Lady |
| Parsley/Caraway/Dill/Fennel/Lavender | Black and Anise swallowtails |
| Yarrow | Sulphurs and White |
| Clover | Coppers |
| Dock | Pipevine |
| Wild Ginger | Tortoise Shell, Red Admiral |
| Hop Vine | White Peacock |
| Hyssop (water) | Sootywings |
| Marjoram | Painted lady, Hairstreak, Skippers |
| Mallow | Gray Hairstrerak, Smaller lantana |
| Mints | Orange Tips, Marblewings |
| Mustards | Cabbage White, Spring Azure |
| Nasturtium | Question Mark, Comma, Red Admiral |
| Nettle | |
| Pennyroyal | |
| Plantain | Variegrated Fritillary, Checkerspots, Buckeye |
| Rue | Black and Giant Swallowtail |
| Sage | |
| Sassafras | Spicebush and Palamedes swallowtail |
| Thyme | |
| Vervain | Checkerspot |
| Violet | Fritillaries |
Alaska FLowers
Indian potato (Hedysarum alpinum)
Dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis)
Wild sweet pea (Hedysarum Mackenzii)
Shasta daisy (Chrysanthemum maximum)
Tall Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium acutiflorum)
Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
Dwarf Jacob’s ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum)
California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Strawberry spinach (Chenopodium capitatum)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yellow hawkweed (Hieracium scabruisculum)
Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon
Goldenrod (Solidago multiradiata) strictus)
Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis)
Wild chamomile(Tripleurospermum
Yarrow (Achillea borealis) inodoratum)
Siberian aster (Aster sibiricus)
Wild iris (Iris setosa)
Arctic lupine (Lupinus arcticus)
Arnica (Arnica alpina)
Plants For Hummingbirds AND Butterflies
Butterfly Bush
Bee Balm
Flowering Tobacco
Trumpet Vine
Morning Glory
Verbena
Lupine
Scarlet Sage
Nasturium
Fox Glove
Hibiscus
Tulip Tree Popular
Lantana
Zinnia
Hollyhock
Butterfly Weed
Phlox
Sweet William
Scarlet Runner bean
Cardinal Flower
Honeysuckle
Azaleas