Butterfly Beauties

After braving the cold Texas winter, your lawn is just starting to regain its lush, green color. Now that (hopefully) the final freeze has passed, give your yard a springtime makeover by planting a butterfly garden!

Butterfly gardens are a colorful addition to any outdoor space regardless of the location, size, or current landscape of your yard. With the right plants and a good maintenance plan, you can create a backyard oasis for you — and your winged friends.

Follow these six easy tips to construct the perfect butterfly garden.

1. Do your homework.

Water, sunlight, and terrain vary from region to region in our great state, which makes selecting plants for your butterfly garden a tricky matter.

Tip: Before purchasing, consult a professional from your area on which plants are the most sustainable for your garden. Also, do some research on which plants attract which butterflies — butterflies have a specific chemical requirement and will show preference to certain plants, depending on their species.

2. Make sure you have both larval food plants and nectar source plants.

Butterflies deposit their eggs on larval plants, and later, the larvae use those same plants to feed on; however, adult butterflies prefer nectar plants for food. A happy balance of both types of plants is key in cultivating your butterfly ecosystem.

Tip: Butterflies prefer large groupings of the same nectar flowers, so plan ahead when ordering your plants.

3. Prep your space.

In order to have a successful garden, you need to have an optimal location for your butterflies to call home. Insects like spiders, praying mantis, wasps, and dragonflies are dangers to adult butterflies while fire ants are a major predator for caterpillars and young butterflies. Another consideration when planting your garden is to ensure that the area is not easily accessible to outdoor pets or susceptible to disturbance by backyard activities such as a kids’ play area or swimming pool.

Tip: Consider building your butterfly garden in a raised bed with stone edging or smaller plants around it to add some extra protection for your butterflies.

4. Color and placement matters.

Did you know that butterflies show preference to specific flower colors? Butterflies prefer colors in the red, purple, pink, white, and yellow ranges. But just like humans, butterflies have their own favorite colors and may pick one bed of color over another, depending on the species. Butterflies also prefer groups of flowers rather than single-standing ones.

Tip: To accommodate different color preferences in a single flower bed, cluster groups of flowers together by color, rather than varying the colors throughout the bed.

5. Other ways to attract butterflies.

One popular way to attract butterflies to your garden is through a process called sugaring. Butterflies are attracted to the sweet sap that comes from trees, but you can make your own sweet sugar concoction by mixing brown sugar, dark molasses, old fruit like black bananas, and a can of beer into a paste-like substance.

Tip: Place the sugar mixture in a container near the garden at ground level or you can apply the paste to a nearby tree.

6. Maintain, maintain, maintain.

Maintaining your garden is vital to the survival of your butterflies. Prune your plants to ensure new growth or with a potted butterfly garden, consider planting in different stages so you constantly have fresh and attractive homes for your winged guests.

Tip: Keep a regular maintenance schedule for your garden to check for dead leaves, fire ant beds, signs of birds and animals, as well as egg deposits and caterpillar growth.

For more in-depth research on building your Texas butterfly garden, check out Butterfly Gardening for Texas by Geyata Ajilvsgi at your local bookstore.