Resources < Wildlife Habitats < Guide to Native Plants of Georgia for Wildlife < Create a Butterfly Garden

How To Create a Butterfly Garden
A Special from Callaway Gardens

Creating a butterfly garden is an exciting and rewarding endeavor! It is easy to invite butterflies to your area by gardening with their needs in mind. These beautiful insects will add bright colors and entertaining antics to your garden display.

Butterflies depend on plants in many ways. The most successful butterfly gardens include plants which meet the needs of butterflies during all four stages of their life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult. After mating, female butterflies search for a specific kind of "host plant" on which to lay eggs. For example, monarchs lay eggs on milkweed, black swallowtails on dill, and Eastern tiger swallowtails on tulip poplar or
wild cherry. Some butterflies lay eggs on more than one type of plant while others only use one particular kind of host plant.

In a few days, caterpillars emerge from the eggs and begin to eat. Caterpillars are selective eaters and only feed on specific kinds of plants. If the desired plants aren't available, the caterpillars will starve rather than eat another type of vegetation. Usually female butterflies lay eggs on or near the plants their caterpillars prefer to eat.Most butterfly caterpillars feed on native plants and are not considered agricultural or ornamental pests.

In a few weeks when the caterpillars are fully grown, they shed their skin for the final time and change into chrysalises. Inside each chrysalis the body of an adult butterfly is formed. Often chrysalises are attached to plant stems and protected by surrounding vegetation.

After emerging from the chrysalis, the adult butterfly soon begins to search for nectar-rich flowers to feed. Plants are important to butterflies during each stage of their life cycle. A garden designed with this in mind attracts the largest number and greatest variety of butterfly visitors!

Use the following techniques to produce a delightful butterfly garden in your own backyard.

Locate the garden in a sunny area.

Butterflies and most butterfly-attracting plants require bright sunshine.

Plant nectar-producing flowers.
Butterflies visit flowers in search of nectar, a sugary fluid, to eat. Many native butterflies seem to prefer purple, yellow, orange, and red-colored blossoms. Clusters of short, tubular flowers or flat-topped blossoms provide the ideal shapes for butterflies to easily land and feed.

Select single flowers rather than double flowers.
The nectar of single flowers is more accessible and easier for butterflies to extract than the nectar of double flowers which have more petals per flower.

Use large splashes of color in your landscape design.
Butterflies are first attracted to flowers by their color. Groups of flowers are easier for butterflies to locate than isolated plants.

Plan for continuous bloom throughout the growing season.
Butterflies are active from early spring until late fall. Plant a selection of flowers that will provide nectar throughout the entire growing season (e.g. spring- azaleas, summer- milkweeds, fall- eupatoriums).

Include host plants in the garden design.
Host plants provide food for caterpillars and lure female butterflies into the garden to lay eggs.

Include damp areas or shallow puddles in the garden.
Some butterflies drink and extract salts from moist soil. Occasionally large numbers of male butterflies congregate around a moist area to drink, forming a "puddle club." You can create your own "butterfly puddle" by placing a shallow pan on the ground to collect rainwater. Include flat stones that allow butterflies and other small animals to perch at the water's edge safely.

Place flat stones in the garden.
Butterflies often perch on stones, bare soil or vegetation, spread their wings and bask in the sun. Basking raises their body temperature so they are able to fly and remain active.

Do not use pesticides in or near a butterfly garden.
Most traditional garden pesticides are toxic to butterflies. Use predatory insects, insecticidal soap or hands to remove the pests if problems occur.