Attracting butterflies to your yard is a wonderful way to help the declining population of pollinators while enjoying the beauty of nature. One of the easiest ways to welcome butterflies is by planting flowering ornamental trees and shrubs.
Flowering Trees And Shrubs That Butterflies Love
Lavender – The lovely purple flowers attract butterflies and add a lovely pop of color to your garden. Save a few sprigs for yourself and use the dried flowers for a sachet!
Magnolias – You’ll enjoy the wonderful fragrance, and the butterflies will appreciate the ample nectar this quick-bloomer provides!
Eastern Red Bud – This tree produces an explosion of delicate pink flowers in April.
Pink Dogwood – One of the most popular ornamental trees in the country. This favorite produces pink flowers with white accents and a decent amount of shade cover. Its low-hanging branches are perfect for butterfly watching. Just set up a picnic blanket underneath the boughs and enjoy!
Blue Chip – This bush is a well-known attractor of butterflies, and it blooms from late summer through October. When other plants are done for the year, this one is still going strong.
Lilac – These well-known bushes come in many colors, including white, pink, violet, magenta, and the traditional light purple. Like many of the plants on this list, lilacs give off a pleasant fragrance that both you and your butterfly friends will find enjoyable.
Blueberry bushes – A treat for you and your insect friends! It may take several years for a newly established blueberry bush to produce fruit, but once it does, you’ll be able to enjoy the lovely butterflies and maybe even bake a tasty treat for yourself!
Sassafras – not only do these trees attract butterflies, but their leaves are also an adorable mitten shape, and they give off a pleasant aroma.
More Tips On Attracting Butterflies
Stagger The Blooming Windows
Some trees, like magnolias, bloom suddenly and all at once. This may increase the number of butterflies short-term, but once those blossoms fall, they won’t stick around unless you give them more sources of nectar. Make sure to incorporate plants with longer blooming times, like lavender – which flowers for about a month. The butterflies may come for the magnolias, but they’ll stay for the lavender.
Consider Adding A Butterfly House
These cute shelters look exactly like birdhouses, except the entryways are tall and narrow, not squat and round. They’ll make butterflies feel right at home and keep out birds that may want to snack on them.
Give Butterflies A Source Of Fresh Water
You can set out a shallow pan or bowl near the butterfly garden for your fluttery friends to drink from. Just be sure to change the water frequently! If you leave standing water alone for too long, mosquitoes could lay their eggs in it.
Keep Up Your Yard Care
Butterflies are attracted to healthy trees, shrubs, and flowers. To keep the butterflies happy, you need to keep the plants happy. Consider employing professional lawn care services like Emerald Island Lawn Care to keep your garden vibrant and fertilized.
Set Up A Decoy For Birds
You love butterflies, and so do many birds – but for different reasons. Butterflies are a typical food to many North American birds. If you’re worried about birds destroying your butterfly garden, consider setting up a bird feeder in the opposite direction. For instance, you might place a bird feeder in your front yard while your butterfly garden is in your backyard. Birds would rather fill up on easy-to-access birdseed than chase down a meal. And you’ll have the opportunity to view even more of what Mother Nature has to offer.
Keep Your Butterfly Garden Healthy With Professional Knoxville Lawn Care Services
Emerald Island Lawn Service delivers quality tree and shrub care to Knoxville area residents. In addition to caring for your flowering ornamentals, we can provide grub control and offer a lawn fertilization program to ensure your garden stays nourished and pest-free so you can focus on enjoying the beautiful butterflies. Let us show your garden the same care we’d show our own. Give us a call at 865-588-4497 or contact us online here.