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Build Your Own Butterfly Sanctuary 🦋

22 items

Erin Arrendale

Transform your garden into a living sanctuary filled with color, movement, and life. This curated collection of plants is designed to attract butterflies through every stage of their journey—from hungry caterpillars to graceful adults—by providing bo...

Sections

Spring to Early Summer Blooms

Mid to Late Summer Blooms

Late Summer to Fall Blooms

Habitat Enhancements

Spring to Early Summer Blooms

Catmint is a graceful, long-blooming perennial that hums with life from early summer through fall. Its soft, lavender-blue flower spikes and silvery-green foliage create a dreamy haze of color that butterflies can’t resist. Rich in nectar, Catmint at...

Catmint – Ultimate Plant Care & Growing Guide

Phlox brings romance and fragrance to the butterfly garden with tall clusters of vibrant, sweetly scented blooms. Its soft petals—shimmering in shades of pink, lavender, magenta, and white—create a feast for butterflies and hummingbirds throughout th...

How to Grow Phlox: Planting & Care Guide for Phlox Flowers

Coreopsis, also known as Tickseed, is a burst of golden sunshine that lights up the butterfly garden from early summer through fall. Its bright yellow blooms are irresistible to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators seeking easy access to nectar. ...

Coreopsis / Tickseed

Salvia is a nectar powerhouse, producing tall spikes of tubular flowers that butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds can’t resist. Its blooms—ranging from deep violet and indigo to soft pinks and reds—add vibrant color and vertical structure to the butte...

Salvia / Meadow Sage

Yarrow is the quiet hero of the butterfly garden—tough, timeless, and endlessly beneficial. Its flat clusters of tiny flowers create the perfect landing pads for butterflies, offering easy access to nectar while adding soft texture and color to your ...

Yarrow Flowers: Planting, Growing, and Caring for Yarrows

Lavender is the soul of a peaceful garden—its soothing scent and silvery-green foliage creating both beauty and calm. Spikes of violet-blue blooms hum with life all summer long, attracting butterflies, bees, and other pollinators to their abundant ne...

Lavender Plant - Perennials

Mid to Late Summer Blooms

Milkweed is the heart of every true butterfly garden. It’s not just a nectar plant—it’s the host plant for Monarch butterflies, meaning it’s where they lay their eggs and where their caterpillars feed and grow. Without milkweed, Monarchs can’t comple...

Native Milkweeds

Bee Balm is a vibrant, nectar-rich perennial that fills your butterfly garden with color, fragrance, and motion. Its brilliant blooms—shades of red, pink, purple, and coral—act like neon signs for butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees alike. Butterflie...

Bee Balm Flowers: Planting, Growing, and Caring for ...

Coneflower is a timeless favorite in any butterfly garden, known for its bold, daisy-like blooms that stand tall and radiant from midsummer through fall. Its vibrant petals—most often in purples, pinks, and whites—surround a golden cone filled with n...

How to Grow Echinacea Plants

Lantana is a powerhouse of color and nectar, blooming nonstop from spring until the first frost. Its clusters of tiny, multicolored flowers—often shifting shades as they age—are irresistible to butterflies, especially swallowtails and skippers. This ...

Lantana - Tough Plants With Colorful Flowers

Black-Eyed Susan brings warmth and sunshine to your butterfly sanctuary with its golden-yellow petals and dark, velvety centers. These hardy perennials (often grown as self-seeding annuals) bloom from midsummer through fall, creating a cheerful sea o...

Planting, Growing, and Caring for Black-eyed Susans

Butterfly Weed is a native wildflower bursting with clusters of fiery orange blooms that seem to glow in the summer sun. A close relative of milkweed, it serves as both a nectar source and a host plant for Monarch and Queen butterflies—supporting eve...

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) | Native Plants of North America

Verbena is a delicate yet powerful pollinator magnet that seems to float above the garden on tall, airy stems topped with clusters of violet blooms. Its nectar-rich flowers attract butterflies of all kinds—especially Monarchs, swallowtails, and paint...

Verbena - The Ultimate Growing Guide

Zinnias are the life of the butterfly garden—bursting with bold, cheerful color from the height of summer until the first frost. Their open, daisy-like blooms are packed with nectar, attracting a constant parade of butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds...

The Magic and Simplicity of Growing Zinnias: A Beginner's Guide

Late Summer to Fall Blooms

Sedum is a hardy, drought-tolerant perennial that thrives in full sun and well-drained soil, making it perfect for a butterfly garden that celebrates resilience and color. Its clusters of star-shaped flowers bloom from late summer through fall—just w...

Sedum / Stonecrop

Meadow Blazing Star is a magnet for butterflies—especially Monarchs, which flock to its rich nectar late in the season. Tall, elegant spikes of fluffy lavender-purple blooms rise from midsummer through fall, creating a vertical accent that dances in ...

Liatris ligulistylis Meadow Blazing Star

Anise Hyssop is a fragrant, nectar-rich perennial that hums with pollinator activity all summer long. Its upright spikes of violet-purple flowers and soft, licorice-scented leaves draw butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds in droves. The blossoms provi...

Anise hyssop

Asters are the grand finale of the butterfly garden, bursting into bloom just as most summer flowers begin to fade. Their daisy-like petals in shades of purple, pink, blue, and white provide a rich nectar source in late summer and fall—crucial for fu...

Native Asters for Your Fall Garden

Joe Pye Weed is the gentle giant of the butterfly garden—an elegant native perennial that can reach 5 to 7 feet tall, crowned with billowy clusters of mauve-pink blooms. Its flowers are rich in nectar and irresistibly fragrant, drawing in Monarchs, s...

Eutrochium purpureum Sweet Joe Pye Weed

Butterfly Bush lives up to its name—it’s one of the most irresistible plants you can grow for butterflies. Its long, arching panicles of fragrant flowers bloom continuously from summer through fall, creating a fountain of purple, pink, white, or even...

Growing Butterfly Bushes | Buddleia Planting & Care Guide

Habitat Enhancements

A bird house adds heart and harmony to your butterfly sanctuary—inviting songbirds to take up residence and become part of the life cycle your garden supports. Birds help keep balance by eating garden pests, scattering seeds, and adding movement and ...

A Guide to Building and Placing Birdhouses - Building Tips, Alaska ...

A bird bath transforms your butterfly garden into a true wildlife oasis. Butterflies, like birds, need water—not just for drinking, but also for staying cool and absorbing minerals from shallow puddles. A simple basin of water, placed in a sunny yet ...

How to Make A Butterfly Bath - Own That Garden Life