Plant a Butterfly Garden!

You Will Need:

• Gardening gloves
• Shovel or trowel
• An area with sun, shade,
  and shelter from wind
  (next to a fence or wall)
• Host plants
• Nectar plants
• Shallow container of moist dirt
  or sand for “puddling” (when butterflies
  gather to drink mineral-rich water)
• Two or three large rocks
  (for resting and sunning)

What to Do:

1. Choose a variety of “host” and “nectar” plants from the lists below. Pick short, medium, and tall plants that bloom at different times.
2. Plant the tallest plants in the back (next to a fence, wall, or shrubs), the medium plants in the middle, and plant the shortest plants in the front. Water them well.
3. Add the container of moist dirt or sand. (Check daily to keep it moist.) Then add the large rocks.
4. Relax and wait for butterflies. Begin checking the leaves on the host plants (undersides, too) for tiny butterfly eggs. They’ll soon be hatching into caterpillars!

Host Plants

(A place for butterflies to lay eggs and a leafy food supply for caterpillars)
• milkweed
• hollyhock
• carrot
• clover
• daisy
• parsley
• fennel
• snapdragon

Nectar Plants

(The liquid food supply that butterflies need—flower nectar)
• butterfly bush
• pincushion flower
• Joe Pye weed
• marigold
• coneflower
• zinnia
• bee balm
• verbena