WHY DO BUTTERFLIES VISIT A GARDEN?
Butterflies are looking for two things when they enter a garden: nectar, the food that adult butterflies need, and host plants, the place where the female will lay her eggs and the food that caterpillars need. Both are necessary to create a successful butterfly garden. NECTAR PLANT FACTORS Nectar plants – These are plants that produce the sweet fluid that many insects, including butterflies, use as food. Flower colors – Many of our native butterflies prefer plants that have pink, red, purple, yellow or orange flowers. Butterflies appear to be attracted to areas with large masses of a single color, or closely related colors, rather than gardens with many colors mixed together. Flower types – Most butterflies must land in order to get the nectar. They prefer plants having either clusters of short tubular flowers, or flowers with large, flat petals. Season-long flowering – Butterflies are active from early spring through frost, and having a mix of plants in your garden that flower through
