How to Make a Butterfly Garden

Children are amazed and delighted by butterflies. Encourage more butterflies to stop back for a visit in your yard this planting season by building a butterfly garden to share with your children.

Types of Flowers

Different butterflies prefer different types of nectar that comes from specific flowers. These flowers can vary in color, height and soil and climate requirements. Finding out which flowers attract particular butterflies is a fun and educational project to share with the kids. Start by doing research at your local library, then ask a local greenhouse or agriculture department which butterflies are common in your area. For added fun, experiment with the varieties of flowers you plant and have your children keep notes on which butterflies visited the various flowers that you planted.

Here is a list of common flowers and the butterflies they attract. Most flowers will attract a variety of different species, but some are preferred over others.

• Asters: This flower comes in so many different colors and sizes. It attracts Viceroy butterflies, which are known for their mimicry of the famous Monarch butterflies.
• Echinacea: This flower is also known as the purple coneflower. It is a popular natural remedy as well as a butterfly attractor. Common butterflies found among these flowers are the Tiger Swallowtail and the Painted Lady.
• Black-Eyed Susans: These fun little flowers are mostly a prairie flower, perfect for attracting butterflies. They are sometimes called Rudbeckia after their scientific name. They tend to attract many butterflies, including the Great Spangled Fritillary.

Lavender and Other Flowering Herbs
A lot of flowering herbs attract butterflies. Lavender, dill, oregano and even rosemary all flower at some point in their life cycle. These flowers attract big and small butterflies.

• Milkweed: Milkweed is most famous for attracting Monarch butterflies. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed because it is the only thing their caterpillars can eat. It's also one of the reasons Monarchs have a bad taste. Milkweed is foul-tasting to most creatures, and when the caterpillars eat the leaves of the milkweed plant, the toxin and nasty taste is passed on to the butterfly adult.
• Butterfly Bush: This is perhaps the most famous plant for attracting butterflies. That's how it got its name. This flower has a bushing habit and can droop over in heavy rains. It is known to attract many different species of butterflies, including Swallowtails and Red Admirals.

Design and Shape
Involving the kids in the plans for the design of the butterfly garden will go a long way towards keeping them interested and instilling in them a sense of ownership. Help them understand that there are certain needs that should be met, including flower type and the size of the garden, then let their imaginations soar.

Common shapes of a butterfly garden are the rectangle and square, but you could use circle or even the shape of a butterfly.

To attract butterflies, you need a couple of things. You need food (that's the flowers) and a habitat or shelter. Make sure the butterfly garden isn't too close to a bird's nest or the house or the butterflies might not come close. They won't put themselves in danger of being eaten or hurt in any way.