Attracting Butterflies
It’s an early summer morning, and an incredible new life is just beginning in the garden. It all started a few days ago, when a monarch butterfly laid an egg on a milkweed plant. The choice was no accident: Milkweed is the only food a monarch caterpillar can consume. And now this little caterpillar in Wooster, Ohio, has a job to do. Unlike other caterpillars that make a chrysalis, become butterflies and then die within a few short weeks, this one is part of the yearly “super generation.” Follow on butterfly as it joins in the annual monarch migration journey.
You don’t have to be a scientist to enjoy watching butterflies. (By the way, did you know that people who study them are called lepidopterists?) Butterfly watching has caught on as a hobby in recent decades, and it’s not hard to see why. You don’t have to spend much time in the backyard before you’ll notice them flitting about. And with more than 650 species in the U.S. alone, there’s a good chance you’ll see something new and interesting.
For tips and advice, we consulted lepidopterist Robert Michael Pyle. The author of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies, he did a Big Year of butterfly watching in 2008, setting out to see as many species as possible in 365 days – and writing another book, Mariposa Road, about the adventures of seeing all the different species. But you don’t have to devote a whole year to chasing butterflies to enjoy them. By simply slowing down, you’ll start to notice these beauties all around you. As Pyle says, it’s as easy as “visiting any sunny, flowery spot, standing still and seeing what happens.”
Whether the calendar says summer or fall, these flowers that attract butterflies will keep on going until the first frost – and sometimes beyond. It’s important to keep flowers blooming as long as possible to help butterflies and hummingbirds later in the season. With thousands of monarchs and hummingbirds migrating south for the winter, these amazing fliers still need good nectar sources to fuel their journeys. While some hummers and monarchs start their flights south as early as late July, many of them are still passing through in late October or even early November.
To make it easier to choose the right plants, we put together this “Sweet 16” list of blooms to grow in your yard this time of year. We chose them because they are some of the hardiest plants you can find – and they also happen to be gorgeous. Enjoy the late season color while attracting hummingbirds and butterflies galore!
Russian Sage
Big and showy, the purple blooms of Russian sage are butterfly magnets. Plant just one of these perennials in your garden, and you’ll see a difference in a single season. With its silvery foliage and bursts of small purple blooms, it’s a great accessory anywhere.
Black-Eyed Susan
Hummingbirds and butterflies nectaring on these flowers start the wildlife parade followed by seed-eating birds. It’s common to see butterflies at these yellow, orange and russet blooms. As a bonus, these are some of the most drought-tolerant blooms you can find.
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