The key to attracting butterflies to your garden is to have a buffet of different plants available to help them grow through every stage of their life.
Here are 8 of our favorite plants for attracting butterflies to your garden:
1. Yarrow (Achillea ‘Moonshine’) is smothered in stunning yellow flat-top flowers from late spring to late summer and grows 18-24 inches tall.
2. Coral Bells (Heuchera ‘Georgia Peach’) is a native cultivar. Its glowing peach-colored foliage can handle sun or shade and grows to about 6-inches tall.
3. ‘May Night’ Sage (Salvia x sylvestris ‘May Night’) features beautiful spikes of indigo flowers from late spring to early summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting.
4. ‘Li’l Bang Daybreak Tickseed (Coreopsis) The gorgeous flowers of coreopsis are red in color with yellow-orange tips and dark green, compact foliage. A native cultivar, this coreopsis grows 18” tall and blooms June-September.
5. Stonecrop (Sedum) A highly desirable and popular groundcover, forming a dense mound completely covered in gold-colored flowers. Blooms June-August atop mounds of scalloped, deep green leaves.
6. Hollyhock (Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’) This Hollyhock produces bowl-shaped, soft pink flowers with raspberry-colored veins. It prefers sun to part-shade and grows 36 inches tall.
7. ‘Lollipop’ Verbena lavender flowers appear on this perennial from late spring to early fall. It prefers full sun and grows to 24” tall.
8. ‘Nanho Blue’ Butterfly Bush has mauve-blue flowers and small gray-green leaves. Grows 4-6 tall. For more compact plants cut the entire plant back hard in the winter. Prefers full sun.