There is something especially beautiful about a garden in full bloom. Everything about it buzzes with activity and life. Teamwork between plants and animals creates a busy little organic ecosystem, right in your front (or back, or side) yard. That’s why I really love to include plants that attract butterflies. The whimsy of a blossoming garden is exemplified in butterflies of all sizes and colors, flitting around and enjoying the blooms.


Try these butterfly havens as you plan your next round of landscaping or companion planting. You’ll love the magical results!

Perennials that Attract Butterflies

Butterfly Bush. What butterfly garden is complete without a butterfly bush? For that matter, you can find it in a bumblebee garden, a budget garden, and a drought garden – it’s one of the more versatile and prolific perennials you’ll find. And as its name tells us, butterflies love it. Expect a height of 6-8 feet once this shrub establishes, filling a full-sun space with color. Even if it dies back in a harsh winter, don’t worry about high maintenance efforts. It’ll be back, ready for spring. Hardy to zones 5-10.

Lilac. Large clusters of small blooms cover the lilac shrub. While we all know the blossoms to be the light purple color it’s named for, lilac actually comes in different varieties with many different colors. Height is also widely variable, as small as a medium sized shrub all the way to a towering 15 feet! Lilacs are in it for the long haul – expect a long life of prolific blooms and low maintenance growth.

Hardy to zones 3-7.

Echinacea. The playful beauty of a daisy or wildflower packaged in a reliable perennial, Echinacea – or coneflower – is colorful, gorgeous, and a butterfly favorite. Later, when it goes to seed, little birds will come to the garden, too, with songs about late summer. Echinacea is a must-have for a magical butterfly garden. Hardy to zones 3-9.

Fennel. A definite perennial, fennel doesn’t actually last very long in comparison to the years and years that others give us. But it thrives in its growing cycle and then reseeds well when it’s done. Even though the flowers are faint and the foliage lacy, fennel grows thickly to create deep texture and rich green color. Butterflies enjoy the small yellow blossoms – deadhead them quickly to keep fennel contained. Hardy to zones 4-9.

Butterfly Friendly Annuals

Lantana. In most regions, lantana is best as a flowering annual. If you’re tropical enough, though, it will stick around and come back as a perennial. The clusters of multi colored blooms are impressive, and butterflies think so, too! Try lantana in baskets or trailing along walkways. To keep the blooms (and butterflies) coming, trim off the dead flowerheads, encouraging new growth throughout the season. Otherwise, lantana are low maintenance and enjoy most growing conditions.

Fuchsia. You really can’t leave out fuchsias in a butterfly garden. Their exotic, completely unique blooms are incredible. They do well in shade as well as sun, which means you can bring the butterflies up to the porch. Our Container Gardening Expert details how to grow fuchsia in containers or hanging pots. They do like to be fed well, so be prepared to tend to them a bit more than some of the others I usually recommend. But the amazing blooms are worth every second.

Nasturtium. Butterflies and other pollinators love nasturtium, and pests hate them. That’s why they are one of the more versatile companion plants and a key tool in pest prevention. An organic garden thrives when prevention is the best offense. Plant nasturtium as a border, interwoven throughout other plants, or in containers wherever you’d like to attract the good and repel the bad. 

Heliotrope. Another with clusters of small blooms (butterflies seem to have a “type” of sorts!), heliotrope is fragrant and lovely. It won’t overwinter, but if you grow it in containers you can bring it indoors over the winter and propagate the next year’s batch from cuttings.