Watching butterflies dance among the flowers and plants in the garden is one of my most treasured sights. Creating a great space for our butterfly friends involves giving them shelter, a place to lay eggs, food for the caterpillars, and nectar for the adult butterflies. Butterflies also appreciate a wet area to get water and they also love rotting fruit for the sugars. As you feed all stages of the butterfly, you will also attract hummingbirds and bees and other beneficial pollinators — gardener’s best friends.

Butterfly gardens are a great way to get the kiddos involved in a fun outdoor activity. As a child I would roam the pasture turning over every milkweed leaf searching for eggs, caterpillars, and the ever elusive chrysalis. Over the past few years, my daughter and I have kept a journal documenting the bees, butterflies, and birds our gardens have attracted. Nature deficient she is not!

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The following is a list of plants I recently used to create a butterfly habitat for a home owner. It is noteworthy to say that all plants came from Repotted and are not only great for the butterflies we have in our area, but that the plants are also low water and low maintenance.

Chaste Tree (Vitex), provides nectar
Butterfly Bush, habitat for caterpillars
Flame Acanthus, caterpillars
Button Bush, nectar
Summer Phlox, nectar
Milkweed Plant, caterpillars (Monarch’s favorite)
Lantana, nectar
Nuevo Leon Sage, nectar
Frogfruit, caterpillars
Blackfoot Daisy, nectar
Four Nerve Daisy, nectar