butterfly on oregano
Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar
Small Tortoiseshell on Choisya

Planting for Butterflies

On this page:

  1. The Butterfly's life cycle

  2. Planting for Butterflies

  3. Planting for Caterpillars

On linked pages:

  1. 10 Best Plants for Bees and Butterflies

  2. Creating a garden that supports nature

A summary of a Butterfly's life cycle helps in understanding which plants are best to create a haven for butterflies. 

  1. It starts with eggs, laid by adult butterflies on leaves which provide food for the caterpillars when they hatch, so specific plants.

  2. Eggs become caterpillars which eat and eat, and shed their skins.

  3. Then the miracle: the caterpillar pupates. It finds a safe place, which can be the feeding plant or a burrow in the ground, and there the hard chrysalis forms around the caterpillar and it completely restructures itself to become a butterfly, or a moth.

  4. The adult butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis, although at different times depending on the species.

  5. That's basically it, but pretty amazing. The National Geographic for Kids explains it with some nice images.

The point is that nectar-rich plants feed adult butterflies, but without their caterpillar food plants, butterflies cannot complete their life cycle in the garden. It is useful to distinguish true larval host plants—plants that caterpillars actually eat—from nectar plants, which feed the adult butterflies. That's a strong reason to include native and wild plants alongside ornamental nectar plants. Just like us, caterpillars have their favourite foods.

Listed below are some plants which are good for adult butterflies, and a list of host plants for caterpillars.

Not sure what butterfly you have spotted? The Butterfly Conservation organisation has a handy guide to help you identify our native butterflies. 

Best Plants for Butterflies

Lavender

Lavender is a great favourite with butterflies, and easy to grow in the right spot, which is sunny well drained soil on the dry side. Lavender will not tolerate winter wet and if your or conditions are too wet, an alternative to grow is Nepeta. ,

nepeta

Easier to grow, Nepeta common name: catmint is attractive to all pollinators, including butterflies.

It's a tough perennial with lovely soft blue flowers and aromatic leaves.

Purple Loosestrife

Purple Loosestrife is an upright plant with spires of purple flowers. If you are looking for a wildlife-friendly plant for a damp area, Purple Loosestrife is ideal. It is a (non native ) wildflower and can be vigorous in the right growing conditions.

Forget me not

The simple forget-me-not attracts its fair share of pollinators and butterflies. Flowering early in the year, it's a good source of early nectar that butterflies need to feed on. Easy to grow, self-seeding biennial.

Oregano

 The Butterflies just love Oregano and will flock to it. Oregano is a tough, easy-to-grow perennial. It is not fussy about where it grows as long as there is sun. The downside is that Oregano is a self-seeder, and once you have one plant, you will have more.

Ceanothus

Ceanothus is a (mainly) spring-flowering evergreen shrub which is attractive to a range of pollinators, including butterflies.

Ceanothus does require particular growing conditions; read more about this.

Verbena bonariensis

Verbena bonariensis is a summer-flowering perennial with small purple flowers. It is an easy-to-grow plant, best in a dry, sunny position.It can tend to be short-lived as it is borderline hardy, which makes it susceptible to bad winters.

Sedum

Sedums are a butterfly's friend and are really easy to grow. Many Sedums flower in late summer and will attract all types of pollinators, including a good number of butterflies. A short video showing the range of pollinators which love sedums. Here is the video to prove it.

Best Plants Host plants for Caterpillars

nettles

Nettles are a caterpillar's best friend. It's not necessary to let the garden run wild but a clump of nettles here and there will host caterpillars, particularly Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, and Comma

A bit of No mow

Leaving a no now area makes a huge difference. Caterpillars which settle on grasses are the Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, and Gatekeeper. Add a few thistles for the Painted Lady and some moth species.

Nasturtium

Not all plants which are good for caterpillars are wild or native. The common annual, nasturtium, is very popular with caterpillars, sometimes planted as a sacrificial plant and also bee-friendly.