Attracting Butterflies and Other Welcome Insects to Your Garden

It doesn't take much to attract butterflies to your garden. In fact, it often seems that the less you try, the more they come.

Not every insect is a welcome garden visitor, but without insects to pollinate our plants there would be far fewer flowers and vegetables in our gardens.

Each type of butterflies has its own preferences for food and shelter. In general, flowers rich in pollen, like Asclepias, goldenrod and verbena, will attract a lot of activity. Some plants are so popular with butterflies their common names are butterfly weed (Asclepias) and butterfly bush (Buddleia).

In addition to flowers butterflies are drawn to areas with puddles, where they like to cool off, and to flat rocks, where they sun and stretch their wings. If you are trying to attract butterflies to your garden, don't use any pesticides. Butterflies are extremely sensitive.