Plants That Attract Butterflies

So you have your spot all picked out for your butterfly garden but you don’t know what to plant? Well, believe it or not different butterflies like different types of plants! Not only that but the nectar plants which butterflies get their food from and the host plant which caterpillars eat are typically two different plants for each species of butterfly! For example, the popular Monarch butterfly’s favorite nectar plants are the Dogbane and Buddleia, yet its preferred host plant is the milkweed.

If all this sounds too confusing, we’ll focus on nectar plants in this article. Now, like I said, different species do prefer different plants but here is a list of plants that will generally attract butterflies. Just because you don’t have a species favorite plant planted, that doesn’t mean he won’t visit your garden for snack or two of something else!

Butterfly attracting plants can be annuals - plants the need to be planted fresh every spring or perennials which are plants that grow and bloom for many years often spreading and propagating on their own. You can plant any combination of them in your home butterfly garden!

Annuals:
Butterfly Weed
Dill
Calliopsis
Coriander
Cosmos
Florence Fennel
Moss Verbena
Parsley
Common Sunflower
Mexican Sunflower
Small Globe Thistle
Zinnia

Perennials:
African Bush Daisy
Bee Balm
Black Eyed Susan
Butterfly Blue
Cigar Plant
Coreopsis
Daffodil
Firecracker Plant
Garden Phlox
Garlic chives
Giant Rose Mallow
Hollyhock
Lemon Balm
Mist Flower
Purple Coneflower
Purpletop Verbena
Scarlet Milkweed
Tubeflower

There are also plenty of shrubs, trees and vines that attract butterflies - some of the more common ones include:

Butterfly Bush
Chinese Hibiscus
Sweet Pepper Bush
Sea Grape
Cumquat Tree
Sassafrass
Trumpet Creeper
Coral Honeysuckle
Blue Passionflower
Mexican Flame Vine