Area Garden Nurseries Offer Tips on Attracting Butterlies

There has been a trend in recent years towards creating flower gardens specifically for the purpose of attracting those beautiful winged jewels known as butterflies. It’s no surprise that this is happening. Take an assortment of colorful flowers with butterflies flitting about, add a child’s exploring eyes, and who can’t help but appreciate the joy that will be found.

I posed a question to a number of local nurseries: which flower would they recommend for attracting butterflies to yards in this area? Here are their responses.

Rebecca Milaeger, of Milaegers Garden Center, suggested a perennial native to our area, Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). The Swamp Milkweed produces a fragrant pink cluster of flowers that is not only attractive to butterflies but also hummingbirds. The plants of the milkweed family are the sole food source for the caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly.

Also from the milkweed family is the Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa, suggested by Betty Adelman of Heritage Flower Farm. This unique orange prairie flower is another native to this area, more compact than the Swamp Milkweed and every bit as attractive to the butterflies.

A couple of milkweed plants of any variety in your garden will give you an opportunity to watch the entire life cycle of a Monarch Butterfly from egg laying, larva development, formation of the chrysalis and ultimately an adult Monarch emerging!

Peggy Schmidt from Borzynski’s Farm and Floral Market suggested the plant Gaura Whirling Butterflies, Gaura lindheimeri, which is a tender perennial in our area. She loves this flower not only for its ability to attract butterflies but the blooms themselves will actually dance in a breeze resembling tiny butterflies.

Plant one, or plant them all, and let me know what shows up!