Ten Tips to attract Butterflies to your Garden 

I have heard butterflies being referred to as the candy for the garden. These elegant wonders bring flashes of colour and movement to your flower beds like nothing else will! But they are not just a pretty creatures – they are also important pollinators. As they travel from bloom to bloom, they fertilize flowers by transferring pollen from male anther to the female stigma, which then leads to seed development.

Here are some tips that will help you enrich your garden with beautiful butterflies:

1. Butterflies are mostly attracted to pink, yellow, orange ot purple blooms
2. They are very choosy about plants on which they lay their eggs, since the shost plant has to offer specific food for the larvae.
3. Besides food, butterflies need shelter from predators – such as birds, as well as from inclement weather. Shrubs provide a windbreak and good spot for them to roost
4. They are a cold-blooded insects, so they love basking in the sun. Few well placed, heat retaining stones will attract them as well.
5. They are very sensitive to ecological change – pesticide use and loss of habitat will threaten localized species.
6. What attracts Caterpillars (remember – each butterfly was once a caterpillar): Cherry, Thistle, Dandelion, Birch, Clover – to name just a few
7. What attracts Butterflies – Goldenrod, Forget-me-not, Lilac, Dogwood, Mock Orange, Roses, Sweet Alyssum , Sunflower – to name just a few
8. When planning your garden and if you want ot attract butterflies, think diversity. Plant species with varying flowering times and stick to those with simple blooms. Choose speciments with flat-top flowers to offer butterflies a place to land
9. Plan to put your “Butterfly garden” in a warm, sunny, sheltered area
10. Include rocks or logs for your new friends to land and warm up on