Plants for a Butterfly Garden

The following is a brief list of plants you might want to include in a butterfly garden. Your garden center or landscape professional can suggest other varieties appropriate to your climate.

Nectar Plants

• Annuals Cosmos / Cosmos sulphreus
• French marigolds / Tagetes Patula
• Impatiens / Impatiens wallerana
• Moss verbena / Verbena tenuisecta
• Zinnia / Zinnia elegans

Perennials

• New England aster / Aster novae-angliae
• Pineapple sage / Salvia rutilans
• Purple Coneflower / Echinacea purpurea
• Vervain / Verbena bonariensis

Shrubs

• Azalea / Rhododendron spp.
• Butterfly bush / Buddleia davidii
• Glossy abelia / Abelia x Grandiflora

Host Plants

• Butterflyweed / Asclepius tuberosa attracts monarchs
• Parsley / Petroselinum crispum attracts black swallowtail
• Dill / Anethum graveolens attracts black swallowtail
• Blue Passionflower / Passiflora caerulea attracts gulf fritillary
• Spicebush / Lindera benzoin attracts spicebush swallowtail
• Tulip Tree / Liriodendron tulipifera attracts eastern tiger swallowtail