Early in the summer, we went hiking on our Colorado road trip. My kids noticed a beautiful black, white and purple butterfly on one of the trails. We had never seen a butterfly like that before – and it captured the kids’ attention for about 15 minutes before flying away. Everyone wished we had butterflies like that around our house. That little Colorado butterfly is what inspired us to plant a butterfly garden.
A butterfly garden is just like a regular flower garden – except it is full of specific flowers, herbs and plants that attract butterflies. I did a bit of research and made a list of common butterfly garden plants. My list (see below) includes annual and perennial flowers and herbs that attract butterflies. I visited my local nursery to see which ones I could find to plant in our garden. I bolded the names of the flowers we planted in our butterfly garden.
Flowers and Plants that Attract Butterflies
Aster
Butterfly bush
Calendula
Cosmos
Daylily
Delphinium
Dianthus
Goldenrod
Hollyhock
Lavender
Marigold
Oregano
Parsley
Phlox
Coneflower (Echinacea)
Queen Anne’s lace
Sage
Shasta daisy
Verbena
Yarrow
Zinnia
*Butterfly Garden Tip: It is helpful to go organic in the garden. When you use powerful toxic chemicals to kill harmful garden insects, it kills the good insects (like butterflies), too. An organic gardening approach is safer for the ecosystem. Plus, you won’t risk exposing yourself, family, and pets to poisonous chemicals. I found a lot of helpful tips in Julie Turner’s Organic Food Gardening Beginner’s Manual.
Our Butterfly Garden Success.
It took less than a week for the butterflies to start showing up at our garden. Since we planted the butterfly garden, we have seen at least 3 different species of butterfly out there. We have lived in our house for three summers now, and this is the first year butterflies have visited us. I know it has everything to do with our flower garden.
Next year, my family will plant even more of the flowers, plants and herbs that attract our beautiful winged guests. My kids love to help water the flowers.
Gardening with less chemicals is healthier for the butterflies, and for everyone else in the environment.
What are some ways your family is enjoying the outdoors this summer? Does your family enjoy raising a garden? Going on family picnics? Hosting barbeque parties?
We enjoy going to the Lake and having a picnic and going swimming and floating on our float toys. We also like taking walks and riding our bikes!
We enjoy walking on the beach in the summertime.
we love going to the poo;
We love to play tennis outdoors in the summer time!
we love going swimming.
My family loves spending time at the river. We cookout at the river every weekend, then canoe, fish and swim. We often spend the entire day there, ending with sitting around a fire pit, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores. 🙂
we like going to the beach
We like swimming.
We love going camping.
We like swimming and biking.
We love going to the beach and state fair.
We like to go to the park. We also like to go to the fair during the summer and swimming.
We like to spend time together at the beach.
My family and I love going for long walks around a lake and bike rides!!
cooking/grilling outside and working in the garden
We swim in our pool.
We like to go on family bike rides
I like going to Maymont Park in the summer.
getting out to the national parks and camping
We enjoy visiting state and national parks and hiking their trails.
We enjoy spending time outdoors swimming and going to family bbqs.
We enjoy having BBQ’s.
Love working in flowers, trees and plants
We enjoy taking our dogs on walks during the summer.
My family and I enjoy going to the beach together. 🙂
as a family we enjoy camping together but my fav summer pastime is watching the grandkids poolside.
We like playing basketball in the summertime and having cookouts..
We enjoy having a garden !
We all go to our county fair together. Love to walk thru the animal barns.
we enjoy hanging out at the beach
we enjoy staying out later in the day and being active
We enjoy hiking.
We love going to the beach.
We enjoy cook outs and neighborhood walks.
We love swimming
We like to go to our local park and play on the play structure and feed the ducks in the pond.
We like to go to the beach and walk in the surf. Also my husband makes me plant Zinnias every year since he saw that the butterflys like them,
we like going to the beach
We enjoy going to the beach and walking along the shore.
We love to just be outside! We try to eat & cook outside as much as we can, swim, talk walks, play at the park!
We like walking in the evenings and grilling out.
I enjoy walks in the local botanic garden and picking fresh blackberries from my own garden
We like to get ice cream cones and people watch while we eat them
My family and I enjoy hanging out in the backyard in the summertime. Thanks for the giveaway!
We love to go the creek and splash around in the water.
We enjoy the few parks around our home and the kids need to run off lots of energy
We love going to the beach and looking for seashells!
We like to ride bikes together
We love swimming!
We’ll be enjoying the pool.
swimming and walking together as a family
We are a big softball family so we get out there and throw the ball around when there is not practice or games. Thank you!
Gnomes
My family and i enjoy going kayaking together. It’s something we all have fun doing!
I visited Finish Dishwashing and something my family and I enjoy doing outdoors in the summertime is visiting local festivals and fairs in our area.
In the summer, we enjoy having a veggie garden.
More accurately, we enjoy eating from the veggie garden :+)
We are learning to swim this summer, so we love the pool right now!
We live in Kissimmee, FL. So, we actually have our fun during cooler, non-tourist season time. We like doing all the same things the tourists do in the area.
Our family enjoys swimming and playing volleyball in the summer!
We looove swimming in the apartment pool. Hopefully one day it’ll be the beach or our own pool instead. 🙂
Our family enjoy going to swimming to close by lake and riding bikes.
What my family loves to do outdoors in the summer time is taking walks and going for Gator Rides, we leave out in a very rural area, so we can take all of nature in during our walks and rides. We also enjoy playing corn hole, that definitely brings the family closer together
Visited the post.
We all enjoy walking in the woods in the summer – so much to see!
thank you
We farm, so there is no shortage of things to do outside in the summertime. Tomorrow’s “fun” includes laying out irrigation pipe!
Wow, you farmers really know how to put the “F” in fun! 🙂 Good luck with your irrigation pipe. Sounds like a lot of hard work. Thanks for stopping by! -Nicole
We enjoy going down the river during the summer.
we like swimming in the summertime
We love to have picnics all summer long!
My family loves to go for bike rides and going to the beach.
My family enjoys swimming, fishing, and boating in the summertime.
We love to walk on the beach and have BBQ’s. I love to garden and read outside too.
We enjoy hiking and biking in the nearby parks.
We enjoy camping and fishing.
We love hiking and fishing!!
Thank You for the chace
My kids love to go swimming! 🙂
we love to go camping
We love taking our dogs for walks down by the Mississippi River!
we enjoy eating dinner outside
I love sitting outside at night just relaxing. I also enjoy gardening during the day!
getting in the kiddie pool!!! idk but it’s always so fun. i think we need to upgrade haha
We enjoy swimming in a nearby river.
Hi! We enjoy swimming. Whether it’s the beach or the pool, it’s always fun & refreshing! Thank-you!!
We love taking camping trips to the river or day trips to the lake.
would have to say soccer is what we enjoy
We enjoy hiking with our dogs.
We love going to the river, swimming and having picnics!
We love gardening and hiking the trails in the mountains around this area.
We enjoy gardening as well! We have raspberry bushes, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, cukes, lots of peppers, onions, garlic, beans….I could go on 🙂
Yum! Your garden sounds so good. I keep wishing we’d plant berry bushes. It seems like every time I finally plant berries, we move to a different house before I ever get to enjoy picking them. LOL My zucchini is going CRAZY right now, we are getting way too much. I thought I had planted half zucchini, half yellow squash. Turns out it is ALL zucchini. No squash at all – and that is my favorite. Enjoy your harvest! 🙂 — Nicole
We love to swim at our friend’s house.
We enjoy hiking and swimming in the summer.
We have really been enjoying swiming in the pool this summer
we like to have bbqs and swim outside! and then do picnics at the park!
We like playing at the park
Taking walks/hikes outside
We love going to the beach and playing in the waves.
We like to go to baseball and softball games.
We really enjoy visiting the splash park.
The link for Vote Mom Always Finds Out is not working properly to vote.
We love going camping and gardening.
We spend a lot of time at the beach in the summer.
We love spending the day at the lake fishing, swimming and cooking out.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
We like to take a hike in the woods.
It is not the picket fence vote. It’s he other one. The picket fence vote works fine for me.
Thanks for clicking it. I think that voting period just ended so I need to take that option off. It’s totally my fault, I thank you for bringing it to my attention so I can fix it. -Nicole
we like hiking and biking
We like to ride bikes together.
We enjoy gardening and grilling outdoors in the summer.
Grill ribeyes and watch the fire flies
Our family likes to go boating in the summertime.
we love to go swimming
Fishing and picnicking are popular outdoor summer activities.
We enjoy going to the lake and boating.
We go swimming.
We love walking our dogs on the nearby nature trail.
My daughter and I love doing science projects at home! Super bubbles. Homemade slimes and concoctions. Anything glowing.
We hosted several barbeques and hung out at the pool!
We enjoy geocaching and hiking during the Summer.
We love going geocaching and grilling out
I love hiking with my family outside in the summer!
we love picnics in the park
We enjoy swimming and bbq’ing in the summertime
We enjoy grilling out and sitting around a campfire.
Picnics are my favorite summer family activity. Family, food and fun makes many memories!
I enjoy taking my grandkids on nature walks and enjoy camping and fishing with my older kids.
During the summertime we like to go to the pool, and also see a lot of movies!!
We go on walks to the park a few blocks down the street together.
We like watching the wildlife and taking photos.
We like having large family get togethers for BBQ and other outdoor parties.
We have a small rose garden (among other flowers) in our backyard and since we go organic as well we have to constantly keep up with weeds and the like so we manage it all year round, not just in the summertime. It is work but we do it because we love it.
My family and I love camping together.
We love having cookouts.
We enjoy our summer by swimming in our pool and spending many weekends camping on the beautiful lakes and state parks here in Arkansas! There is nothing better than a weekend staycation digging for diamonds or riding the rapids 🙂
We love to go to a calm lake, sit back, and enjoy the view. We especially love the reflection of the houses and tress in the lakes. Sometimes, we will barbecue while we are there.
We love spreading out a blanket on the lawn and letting our little one roll around.
We love looking for frogs at night, and trying to catch lightning bugs. My daughter caught four in just one night. They are amazing creatures!
We like to rent a cabin somewhere very isolated and zone out.
We love to go hiking and fishing in the summer, especially in the White Mountains of New Hampshire!
we love going for walks!
We love spending time together camping and hiking in the summer
We love to go hiking in the summer.
We love to ride our bikes in the park.
We enjoy swimming in our pool.
We enjoy sitting outside and having a barbecue.
We enjoy playing frisbee golf Thank you
we love to go swimming in our pool and barbeque
We love to bbq 3-4 times a week and hang out at the beach too its always so much fun.
I love going to the pool with my family in the summertime.
We enjoy horseback riding.
Catching Chesapeake Blue Crabs in the Chesapeake Bay and then steaming them! So yummy!
My family and I enjoy going to the local water park in the summer and enjoying the water slides!
We like to go for hikes and we go by the dam here in town and look at the fish jumping.
We really enjoy going miniature golfing as a family and taking walks after diner.
We like swimming and hiking the best. (picnic added of course)
Thanks for the contest.
subscribe email: slehan at myway dot com
We enjoy camping and hiking during the summer months.
[email protected]
We like to have barbecues.
I saw this as I was reading another article on your site and I had to look! I can’t wait for spring and summer! This little garden is so cute and contains some of my favorite flowers, especially the zinnas!
I’m excited to see if any of the perennials in the butterfly garden survived the cold winter. I can’t wait for this summer’s planting season. I miss my flowers! Thanks for your comments!
I so want to make a butterfly garden like this. We just planted a bunch of flowers, and I actually see more butterflies.
I could really use this list of butterfly plants for my own garden. Thanks for sharing. #HomeMattersParty
What a fun idea! My kids would love to do this! #HomeMattersParty
Pinning this for when we get to working on our outdoor spaces! #HomeMattersParty
What a great activity for the kids! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty
~Lorleai
Life With Lorelai