Butterfly watching ranks as high as viewing birds and wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest, all parts of which are home to some butterfly species. A wonderful and effective way to watch butterflies is to entice them with plants that they and their larvae (otherwise known as caterpillars) use as food. No site is too small to create a butterfly garden. You can begin to meet the needs of butterflies by adding flowers and herbs to an existing flower bed or container garden. Trees, shrubs, and ground covers are also used by butterflies and these can be included in areas throughout your landscape. A colorful grouping of butterfly-attracting plants will help butterflies locate your garden when they are flying through the neighborhood.
A bonus of creating a butterfly garden is that it will probably attract not only butterflies but also other flying pollinators including bumblebees, moths, and hummingbirds. You can turn your backyard or even your small patio into a Wildlife Sanctuary.
Choose the Butterfly Garden Site
An adult butterfly’s activities are all oriented around the sun. They use the sun to navigate and to increase their body temperature which is necessary for strong flight. They use nectar from plants that grow in full sun. So it’s important that you locate the butterfly garden in sunny areas of the landscape.
In addition, because butterflies use up more energy flying in windy areas, they prefer feeding in areas where they do not have to fight the wind. So choose a sunny site out of the wind. In a windy area, create a hot spot for butterflies by planting on the south or southwest side of a building, fence, or hedge.
Good plants for containers include fuchsias, sweet alyssum, garden sage, dianthus, and lavender. For containers, avoid tall annuals such as tall marigolds, tall zinnias, and cosmos.
What butterflies can you expect to see in the Pacific Northwest?
Butterflies around the Northwest
