7 Flowers For A Butterfly Garden

Plant these flowers for a butterfly garden and watch fluttery by butterflies!

One of the simplest ways to enjoy watching butterflies flutter around in your garden is to plant flowers they love. Today, I am sharing some of the best flowers for a butterfly garden. Whether your space is small, ample, an outdoor window box or flower pots, you'll have butterflies flying around spring through summer.

What Attracts Butterflies, Besides Flowers?

Butterflies love flowers with odor, color, shape, and nectar content.

The Best 7 Flowers for A Butterfly Garden

To grow a stunning butterfly garden that will leave your yard surrounded by beautiful butterflies, you need to plant things they love. Bright, beautiful flowers with a sweet and supple fragrance can pull butterflies in from miles away. Plant these flowers for a beautiful and thriving butterfly garden this spring.

Before you start, you'll want to plant your flowers in full sun and away from the wind if possible. Did you know that butterflies love the colors orange, pink, and yellow? They also like flowers, the shade of purple and blue. Try using these colors in your garden.

1. A Butterfly Garden Includes Coneflowers

One of the best flowers to add to your garden is coneflower (also known as Echinacea). Known as a popular herb that helps with flu and colds, they are bees and butterflies' favorites. The flowers are beautiful and stretch far to help draw the attention of passing butterflies. Being a perennial flower, you'll have butterflies year after year.

2. Plant Marigolds For Butterflies

Marigolds are large low-growing flowers that can create an attractive edging for your butterfly garden. These flowers also help repel mosquitoes, making them perfect for areas you plan to sit and watch the butterflies flutter.

3. Butterfly Bush

The butterfly bush is an excellent option for a fast-growing shrub that produces plenty of flowers that attract butterflies. Because of its name, many gardeners opt to plant this bush in their gardens and swear it's one of the best plants for a beautiful butterfly garden. 

The butterfly bush comes in two fashionable colors; purple and pink. You may look for a variety that does not seed if you do not wish the bush to spread as it loves to make more plants and grow everywhere.

4. Butterfly Milkweed

Milkweed is a vital plant to add to your butterfly garden. While its partial name is a weed, it's anything but a weed. This plant is the only food source for baby monarch butterflies. Removing milkweed will cause less food for these beautiful butterflies.

5. Hardy Lantanas

Lantanas should have been in my article - hard-to-kill flowers to plant because they are perennials that don't need much care. With its bright, beautiful blooms, Lantanas will not only be a stunning addition to your butterfly garden for you to enjoy, but it will also attract butterflies and give them plenty of food. This beautiful shrub will return yearly, making it a significant one-time investment for your butterfly garden - especially the variegated colors.

I can't think of a better Eco-friendly way to care for butterflies than to feed them with the best plants for a beautiful butterfly garden in your backyard or anywhere around your home. Oh, and hang a hammock to enjoy the butterflies.

6. Lavender

Growing lavender in your butterfly garden not only attracts the butterflies but makes your garden a beautiful and calming place you can relax and take a moment to relax. At the same time, you can watch the butterflies flutter through your yard. Lavender is two-fold, butterflies love them, and you can make lovely bath and body products. I'll be posting a few DIYs soon.

7. Phlox

Phlox is a low-growing perennial flower that is great as a groundcover in your garden. Best for zones 4 to 8. Butterflies fly high and low and won't forget about this beauty.