Butterfly Gardening
Butterflies are some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures on Earth. A butterfly garden is an easy way to see more butterflies and to help them since many natural butterfly habitats have been lost to human activities like building homes, roads, and farms. It is easy to increase the number and variety of butterflies in your yard. Simply grow the plants the caterpillars like to eat, and plants that adult butterflies feed on! We can help – we have LOTS of informative articles to help you:
- Butterfly Nectar Plants (plants adult butterflies like)
- Butterfly Host Plants (plants caterpillars like)
- Butterfly Gardening by Area (what butterflies live in your area)
- Butterfly Garden Plans (the layout and design)
- Butterfly Behavior To Watch in the Garden (feeding, basking, etc)
- Sprucing Up Your Butterfly Garden (spruce up your existing garden)
- Raise Butterflies & Build Them a Home (add butterflies to your garden)
Create a Butterfly Garden
Butterflies are some of the most beautiful and interesting creatures on Earth. By planting a butterfly garden with all of the right kinds of plants and flowers that butterflies love to feed on and lay eggs on, you will certainly have a yard full of butterflies throughout the growing season. Butterfly gardens can be any size – a window box, part of your landscaped yard, or even a wild untended area on your property.
Creating a butterfly garden should start with some serious research to learn which kinds of butterflies are native to your area. You can learn that from our article “Butterfly Gardening by Area”. Make a list of all of the different kinds of butterflies you would like to attract, and then learn which flowers and plants they both feed on and lay eggs on. All of the plants will certainly be native to your area and therefore easy to grow with the right conditions and care. Adult butterflies will visit for a longer period if they find plants to lay their eggs on. These are called ‘Host Plants’ and you can read about them in our article on “Butterfly Host Plants.”
Once you have done your research and know which kinds of plants you need, you should learn about the plants and flowers. What do they look like? How tall do they grow? What conditions do they thrive in? Perhaps print small pictures from the internet of each plant and flower so that you can begin to plan your butterfly garden by placing the pictures in the order in which you will want to plant them. In this way you can get a very good estimate of how much room you will need, and what your finished butterfly garden will look like.
Check with a local greenhouse about getting these plants and flowers. Find out which ones are annuals and which are perennials. You may want to plant the annuals in the front of the garden or away from garden fencing because they will need to be replaced each year. Perennials will come back year after year so these should be near the back of the butterfly garden and left alone to grow and thrive. If your local greenhouse cannot get you the plants you need, check in catalogs that sell bulbs or online and order them. Be sure to learn when and how to best plant them, especially if you must purchase bulbs and start the plants from scratch.
You can add some butterfly garden accessories like a Butterfly House, which has slots the ideal size for keeping birds out while giving butterflies protection from the wind and weather, and are beautiful garden decorations. You could offer an additional nectar source close by to supplement your flowers. By providing both the food and shelter butterflies need you can prolong the butterfly’s stay in your garden and draw in others.
Once you have designed and started your butterfly garden, you can be proud that you have made a habitat for butterflies in your own yard, which helps with the conservation of the many species of quickly disappearing butterflies today. You will certainly want to place your favorite outdoor furniture near so that you can enjoy all of your visitors day after day.
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Butterfly Host Plants
Creating a butterfly garden should start with some serious research to learn which kinds of butterflies are native to your area. Knowing the TYPES of butterflies will help you determine the Butterfly Nectar Plants and Butterfly Host Plants you will want to plant when creating your butterfly garden. If you live in the United States, you can click on a state on the map below to view a list of butterflies found in that state. Below the map is a list of websites which will help you find adult butterflies found in other countries.
Butterflies Listed by State
Click on a state on the map below to view a list of butterflies found in that state.
It is important to know which adult butterflies are found in your area. This will help you determine the Butterfly Nectar Plants and Butterfly Host Plants you will want to plant when creating your butterfly garden.
BUTTERFLIES OF NORTH AMERICA BY STATE:
Butterflies Found in Other Countries
| Butterflies and Moths in the Netherlands | Lists and pictures of butterflies and moths they have encountered, studied and photographed so far in the Netherlands. |
| Butterflies and Moths of Belize | These pages is part of a larger site on the biodiversity of Belize. The species lists provide a checklist to all butterflies (and some moth families) of Belize. Other pages give information on butterfly-plant relationships and general ecology. |
| Butterflies from France & French Guyana | Identification of a large number of butterflies. |
| Butterfly Ireland | The site contains distributions maps, photographs of butterflies, caterpillars and pupae for Ireland, together with news and information. |
| Butterfly Photography in Norway | Photos of Norwegian butterflies in their natural surroundings. Scientifically classified. |
| Butterflies of Ireland | This guide to the Butterflies of Ireland is divided into four family groups of butterflies containing brief details of all of the species of that group that are found in Ireland. |
| Butterflies of Poland | Describes all butterfly species from Poland. Most species are illustrated by author and other people. Available in Polish and partially in English. |
| Butterflies of Serbia | Full list of butterfly species living in Serbia, divided into families. 1 picture available for roughly 1/2 of species. |
| Butterfly Watching in Ontario | Butterfly viewing locations to help butterfly watchers in Ontario. |
| Captain’s European Butterfly Guide | Destinations within Europe for seeing butterflies. Now including checklists for all European countries. |
| Derbyshire Butterflies | This site has been created to illustrate the wide diversity of butterfly species that can be found in the rolling hills of Derbyshire. |
| Matt’s European Butterflies | Many European Butterflies are shown with a discussion and photographs of each species. Matt aims to show the beauty and variety and the depth of enjoyment from the challenges of finding, filming and identifying them |
| Moths and Butterflies of Europe | This website provides a gigantic collection of European moth, butterfly and caterpillar pictures as well as info on their foodplants, breeding, and life cycles. Sorted by scientific names. Highly recommended! |
| Butterflies in Sweeden | Fantastic picture gallery of butterflies found in Sweeden. A must see, just for the great photos. |
| Mexican Butterflies | Website devoted entirely to Mexican butterflies. Huge list sorted by common names. |
| Butterflies of Canada | Index of Canadian butterflies. |
| Butterflies of Indo-China | A checklist of butterflies in Indo-China, chiefly from Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. |
| Peter Eeles British Butterfly Website | An educational site containing information and photos of all of British Butterflies. |
| Yale Peabody Museum: Entomology | Entomology The Lepidoptera Listserver (LEPS-L). |
Having discovered a fondness for insects while pursuing her degree in Biology, Randi Jones was quite bugged to know that people usually dismissed these little creatures as “creepy-crawlies”.
