5 Essential Nectar Plants for your Butterfly Garden
These butterfly favorites will set your garden a-flutter!
What is a butterfly nectar plant?
Butterfly nectar plants have flowers that produce a carbohydrate-rich, sugary liquid called nectar, which provides essential energy and nutrients for butterflies. Butterflies are highly active insects, spending a significant amount of time flying and searching for food. Nectar consumption provides them with the energy required to maintain their flying, feeding, and mating activities.
A swallowtail butterfly sips nectar from the flowers of a summersweet clethra shrub (Clethra alnifolia).
What is a Butterfly Proboscis?
Butterflies use their special tube-like feeding apparatus, called a proboscis, to extract nectar from flowers. The development of the butterfly proboscis alongside flowers is the result of an intricate evolutionary process, driven by the mutual benefits of efficient nectar extraction for butterflies and effective pollination for flowering plants. Butterflies have evolved a wide variety of proboscis lengths and shapes to adapt to different flower types, while flowers have developed an array of colors, scents, and structures to attract specific pollinators, including butterflies.
How Do I Attract Butterflies to My Garden?
Attracting butterflies to your garden involves creating a welcoming environment that provides them with the resources they need for every stage of their lifecycle: feeding, mating, and laying eggs. Here are some steps you can take to attract butterflies to your garden:
Choose butterfly-friendly plants. Plant a variety of flowering plants that are known to attract butterflies and provide nectar. Different species of butterflies are attracted to different types of flowers, so aim for diversity in color, shape, and bloom time. Read on to discover 5 essential nectar plants for your butterfly garden.
Don’t forget to plant butterfly host plants. Butterflies lay their eggs on a host plant, which then becomes a food source for newly hatched caterpillars. Providing these host plants in your garden can not only attract adult butterflies but also support their entire life cycle, from egg to caterpillar to pupa (chrysalis) to adult. These plants are essential for the butterfly's life cycle and their availability positively impacts butterfly populations. Learn more about butterfly host plants here.
Avoid pesticides. Pesticides can harm not only the pests they target but also butterflies and other beneficial garden insects. Avoiding the use of chemicals in your garden has several other benefits as well - for your health and the health of your pets, for the environment, and for the overall well-being of your garden ecosystem.
Include shelter. Provide sheltered areas in your garden, such as shrubs, tall grasses, and small trees, where butterflies can rest, hide from predators, and take refuge from strong winds.
Plant in mass. Instead of planting single plants, plant larger groups of the same type of plant in a concentrated area or pattern. This technique is often used by landscape designers to create visual impact, and will make it easier for butterflies to locate your garden’s food sources and host plants.
Be patient. Attracting butterflies can take time, as it may take a while for local butterfly populations to discover and visit your garden.
Discover these five must-have nectar plants for your butterfly garden:
Bees, butterflies, and pollinators flock to the tiny purple flowers of Catmint (Nepeta).
Catmint: An Easy to Grow Butterfly Favorite
Catmint (Nepeta) is an herbaceous perennial belonging to the mint family. The aromatic silvery green foliage is highly appealing to cats, and the plant's small flowers, abundant from spring to late summer, attract butterflies and various pollinators.
With numerous species and hybrids available, catmint boasts additional advantages such as resistance to deer and rabbits, tolerance to drought, and effortless growth in diverse soil types. Read more about catmint here.
Summersweet Clethra: Low-Maintenance Butterfly Favorite
Ruby Spice summersweet clethra (Clethra alnifolia ‘Ruby Spice’)
Summersweet clethra (Clethra alnifolia), sometimes called sweet pepperbush, is a deciduous shrub with fragrant and eye-catching flower spikes that bloom in mid- to late summer.
Summersweet clethra becomes a magnet for pollinators, especially butterflies and bees, and can grow and flower in sun and shade.
This shrub is known for its adaptability to different soil types and is relatively disease and pest resistant, making it a fantastic low-maintenance option for busy gardeners. Find out more about this butterfly magnet here.
White Fringetree: A Spectacular Native Tree with Butterfly Benefits
The delicate spring flowers of white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus).
If you're trying to attract butterflies to your garden, consider the white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), a spring-blooming deciduous tree with low maintenance needs. This tree’s delicate clusters of white, fringe-like flowers captivate butterflies and humans alike.
White fringetrees prefer deep, moist, fertile acidic soils but are quite adaptable and can tolerate clay soil, drought and even the hot, dry conditions of a parking lot or sidewalk. Fringetrees grow slowly, and like full sun to partial shade. Learn more about this stunning native tree here.
Glossy Abelia: A Butterfly Magnet
Glossy abelia (Abelia x grandiflora).
An underused and unappreciated shrub, glossy abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) offers an array of virtues that enhance any landscape. It has glossy, semi-evergreen leaves and is easy to grow, making it a great choice for busy or beginning gardeners. From spring until fall this compact shrub is covered with tiny, fragrant, funnel shaped flowers that almost guarantee hoards of butterflies stopping by for a visit.
There are many cultivars of glossy abelia on the market, offering different sizes and leaf colors. This plant is so tough, you will often see it thriving in the dry, neglected beds of strip malls or on highway medians. It deserves more widespread use in home gardens! Glossy abelia’s compact growth habit makes it a versatile candidate for hedges, borders, or even as a standalone specimen, and it’s an amazing addition to any butterfly garden.
Joe Pye Weed: A Native Perennial with Late-season Nectar
Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum) is an herbaceous perennial that introduces a vibrant burst of color to gardens during the transition from late summer to early fall, and provides an important source of nectar when many other flowering plants are winding down for the season. Also known as Boneset, Joe Pye Weed is a favorite among butterflies, and it’s not unusual to see many different species swirling around the large flower heads and stopping to sip nectar. Learn more about this butterfly favorite here.
The large flowers of Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium fistulosum).
