Attracting Winged Visitors to Your Yard

If you want butterflies, you’ll have to put up with some unsightly foliage-munching by hungry caterpillars. Happily, different types of caterpillars like different types of plants, so your whole garden isn’t going to become lunch.
Here’s a short list of common caterpillars and their nibbling preferences:

Monarch: milkweed

Black swallowtail: dill, carrot, parsley

Painted lady: hollyhock, thistle, sunflower

Red admiral: nettle

Buckeye: snapdragons, false loosestrife

Checkered skipper: hollyhock, mallow

Butterflies are attracted to bright-colored flowers that offer lots of nectar such as Joe Pye weed and purple coneflower. While butterflies visit all kinds of flowers, these are some of their favorite nectar plants:

• Aster
• Bee balm
• Butterfly bush
• Butterfly weed
• Globe thistle
• Goldenrod
• Hyssop
• Liatris
• Lilac
• Phlox
• Sedum


Meleah Maynard is a Minneapolis writer and a frequent contributor to Midwest Home. This information is part of a larger whole, from her article titled A World Aflutter.

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