How to Attract More Butterflies: 5 Proven Strategies

Welcome to Butterfly Gardening Inspirations where you can learn how to attract butterflies to your garden. When designing a butterfly garden, there are lots of ideas to consider. In this video I share 5 essential tips for a thriving butterfly garden so you can incorporate them into your garden plans. I hope this video inspires you to design and plant a most beautiful butterfly garden.

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Hey everyone, welcome back to Butterfly Gardening Inspirations. My name is Susan and today we are diving into the world of butterfly gardening. If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your backyard into a thriving butterfly oasis, then you are in the right place. In this video, I’ll share five essential tips to help you design a garden that will flourish throughout the season. So, let’s get started. Tip number one, keep your host plants separated and in a different location away from your nectar plants. These are nectar gardens and they provide the food that butterflies need. And it is here that the predators like wasps will show up. It is here that the male butterflies will be flying around on patrol trying to claim their space but also trying to claim the females that show up. And meanwhile, the females, they just want to get in and do their job and get out. They don’t want to be bothered by those males. So, if you keep your host plants in a separate space, so the females feel like they can sneak in, do their job, and get out without drawing attention to themselves. They’re going to love it and they’re going to lay lots of eggs in your garden. Let me show you. This is up front. This is my patio area right outside my garden room door. And I have multiple host plants planted in this area. The nectar garden where we just were is all the way down there. So all the males will be flying around down there and the females can sneak in up here. And now these little potted pentas are here growing back. But they also serve a purpose because the females can lay their eggs and then sneak over here and get a little nectar and get right back to work without getting interrupted by the males. So right here I have rue for eastern black swallow tails. I have some pipe vine that’s growing back for pipe vine swallow tails and polyama swallow tails. I have private senna for the sulfers. I have a raised planter with my swamp milkweed for monarchs and queens. And then I have a lot of host trees and host plants running the full perimeter of my garden including my perimeter fences covered in pacifa incense host plant to golf fertilaries and zebra long wings. So, let’s say in this nectar garden, I had some swamp milkweed planted right in here, host plant to monarchs and queens. And this is the nectar that pulls in the butterflies. They see the color. This is what they love. They come to the garden. This is where the males will be cuz they’re just here for the nectar and the females. They’re not here for the host plants. So, if there was swamp milk right there, a female comes in trying to lay eggs and gets interrupted by a male, she only gets to lay a few eggs, right? But if the males are here and she sneaks in here at the full other end of my garden to my raised planter, she can lay tons of eggs and the males aren’t even going to know she was here. Mhm. she going to sneak in. Right? That’s what you kind of want to think about when designing your butterfly garden. And one more reason why it’s good to separate your host plants from your nectar plants is the predators are going to be hanging out down here. The wasps, the assassin bugs, the spiders, the ants. And let me tell you, wasps, they do some nasty, nasty things to caterpillars. So, you want your caterpillars tucked safely away and hidden from the predators who are going to be hanging out down here with the nectar. Tip number two, large quantities of one type of host plant is way better than a little bit of this, a little bit of that, one of these, and one of those. Mhm. Here’s why. Caterpillars can very easily munch through and eat milkweed and other host plants down to the stem where there’s nothing left but a little chunk of stem. You can see this one right here has just now got some milkweed growing back. So, if you don’t have enough host plant to support the butterfly you’re trying to attract to your garden, you’re going to have some starving caterpillars on your hand. And there’s nothing worse than seeing those adorable little babies and knowing there’s not enough food for them in your garden. And that leads to the mad dash shopping trips. Desperately searching your local nurseries for host plants, placing that order on Joyful Butterfly for lots of pipe vine. Mhm. That That was my That was my host plant I was desperately searching for. And you just don’t want to go there. So spend wisely and get a lot of host plant for whatever butterfly you’re trying to attract first or pick three butterflies and get a lot of host plant for all three of those and then add more as you go. It’s a smart way to go and your budget will love you and you won’t ever have to see very, very, very hungry caterpillars in your garden with nothing to eat. Tip number three, research the favorite nectar plants of the species of butterflies you want to attract to your garden and plant lots of it. For example, these are heirloom red pentas. I have them planted all over my garden because swallowtail butterflies love them. So, the more I have, the more likely they are to catch the attention of the swallowtail butterflies and invite them into my garden. Butterflies can be attracted to different host plants for lots of different reasons. Maybe because the flower is the perfect design for the butterfly probosis. Maybe the flower is the perfect landing pad for the butterfly to land on and get the nectar. Maybe the color of the flower is the same color that that butterflyy’s eyes are designed to see better than all others. So find out what nectar plant the butterflies you want in your garden love and plant lots of it like a huge neon sign inviting them in. Tip number four, always have new blooms waiting in the wings. These are Mexican sunflowers, an absolute butterfly favorite. Butterflies love them and you grow them from seed. So easy, easy, beautiful addition to any butterfly garden and they don’t last forever. So you want to keep growing more and planting more in your garden so when the mature ones are spent and die back, you’ll have more coming. like progressive gardening. And since I just recently planted these ones and now I’ve got to go start more Mexican sunflower seeds, so they can come in behind these ones and I will always have those flowers blooming in my garden. Now, before we get to tip number five, if you’re enjoying this video and you love my channel and you’re thinking, “Oh my gosh, I want to support this channel so much. I want to help Susan, that’s me, help get more butterfly gardens out in the world.” There’s an easy way to do it. Become a channel member. Join the Milkweed Crew. Information is in the description of this video. and I’ll also pin a comment with all of my favorite links you’ll be able to find very easily. Okay, tip number five. Are you ready? Consider raising a few, just a few caterpillars, two butterflies in an enclosure so you can protect the caterpillar and let it live out its full life cycle and get the chance to fly. you can be a part of that. I raise a variety of different types of butterflies, well actually caterpillars that are going to become butterflies in enclosures in my garden room. It is oh there is a learning curve to it. So you again want to do some research, do a little bit of learning, but it is a most incredible thing to bring these little guys in and provide them with their host plants in the safety of an enclosure where they’re not going to get have awful things done to them by wasps and other predators. You can see this one here just molted. um you might consider doing that and it helps boost the population of butterflies in your garden. So, I hope you enjoyed this video and I post content three times a week. more leisurely, laidback, hang out with me in my garden videos on Sundays and Tuesdays and then shorter, more informational videos on Thursdays like this one right here. So, I hope you enjoyed this and please tap the like button, subscribe to my channel, and I will see you in my next video on Sunday. Bye everyone.