My Gardening Blog

I absolutely love watching butterflies during the summer months, I have a butterfly garden that is 4 years old, and this spring I am planning on doing a remodel job on it.

Right now, it is more of a butterfly meadow ,full of wildflowers and other butterfly plants. My problem is there is no way to get up close; unless the butterflies are on the edge of the meadow. If I try to get close, I frighten them off.

So, my plan is to make a formal area where I can sit and watch butterflies, and still leave a small area as a butterfly meadow. I have already started some of the flowers I will use in the formal area. I will have perennials, annuals and a few host plants thrown in for good measure.

My butterfly plants will include Asters, Butterfly Weed, Coreopsis, Snapdragons, Coneflowers, Blanket Flowers, Hyssop, Parsley, Black Eyed Susans, Butterfly Bushes, Purple Sage , Vinca and 3 different kinds of Zinnias! Needless to say, Zinnias are my favorite flower for attracting butterflies!

I am so excited at the prospect that I have been drawing and re-drawing my new butterfly flower beds all winter! I wanted the individual flower groups to be large enough to catch the butterfly's attention, but not so much that it overwhelms the garden. It will be interesting to see if I can pull it off.

Attracting butterflies is so easy, you just plant their favorite flowers and host plants and they show up!