Attracting Butterflies: Butterfly Garden Plant Guide
Butterflies add beauty, movement, and life to any garden while playing an important role as pollinators. By planting a variety of butterfly-friendly plants, you can create a landscape that provides nectar for adult butterflies and host plants where caterpillars can grow and develop.
Adding butterfly plants to your landscape is an easy way to support local wildlife while enjoying colorful blooms and butterflies throughout the growing season.
Why Butterflies Are Important
Butterflies help pollinate flowering plants as they feed on nectar and are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. Just as important, their caterpillars provide a valuable food source for birds and other wildlife.
The Best Plants for Butterflies
Trees
Many native trees serve as host plants for butterfly and moth caterpillars while providing food and shelter throughout the year.
Featured Trees:
- Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
- Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
- River Birch (Betula nigra)
- Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
- Serviceberry (Amelanchier)
- Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
These trees help support butterfly populations while adding seasonal beauty and shade to the landscape.
Shrubs
Flowering shrubs provide abundant nectar while many native shrubs also serve as host plants.
Featured Shrubs:
- Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
- Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
- Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
- New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
- American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Many of these shrubs also provide berries that support birds later in the season.
Perennials
Perennials are among the best plants for attracting butterflies because they produce reliable blooms year after year.
Featured Perennials:
- Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
- Bee Balm (Monarda)
- Blazing Star (Liatris)
- Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
- Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium)
- Aster
Planting a mix of these perennials provides nectar from spring through fall while supporting a wide variety of butterfly species.
Creating a Butterfly-Friendly Garden
A successful butterfly garden provides food, shelter, and places to reproduce.
- Plant a variety of nectar-rich flowers
- Include native host plants for caterpillars
- Choose plants with overlapping bloom times
- Avoid using pesticides whenever possible
- Provide sunny areas for butterflies to bask
- Add shallow water or damp soil where butterflies can drink minerals
The more diverse your landscape, the more butterfly species you’re likely to attract.
Native Virginia Plants for Butterflies
Native plants are some of the best choices for creating a butterfly-friendly landscape in Richmond. Because they evolved alongside our native butterfly species, they provide the nectar and host plants butterflies need to complete their life cycle.
Milkweed is essential for Monarch butterflies, while Spicebush supports Spicebush Swallowtails, and native asters and goldenrods provide critical late-season nectar for migrating butterflies.
By incorporating native trees, shrubs, and perennials into your landscape, you’ll create a beautiful garden that supports butterflies and other beneficial wildlife for years to come.
Build a Butterfly Garden
Whether you’re planting a small garden bed, refreshing an existing landscape, or creating an entire pollinator garden, butterfly-friendly plants will bring color, movement, and life to your outdoor space.
Visit our Garden Center to explore our selection of butterfly-friendly trees, shrubs, perennials, and native plants. Our team can help you choose the right plants for your landscape and create a garden that attracts butterflies from spring through fall.