Butterfly Gardens

Graceful, vibrant, and ecologically vital, butterflies are more than just a beautiful addition to your garden. As pollinators, they help plants reproduce by transferring pollen, boosting fertility and growth throughout your landscape. Alongside bees and other pollinators, butterflies play an essential role in supporting ecosystems and even helping produce the food we eat. By planting a butterfly-friendly garden, you’re not just creating a colorful haven—you’re giving back to nature.

Planning Your Butterfly Garden

Designing a butterfly garden is a chance to combine visual impact with ecological care. Native plants do double duty, adding color, texture, and fragrance while providing much-needed nectar and host sources for pollinators. Start with flowering favorites like asters, coneflowers, hyssop, liatris, and phlox—they’re magnets for many butterfly species. Herbs, fruits, and vegetables also contribute, drawing butterflies with their scent, flavor, and pollen.

Different butterfly species have unique plant preferences:

Black Swallowtails feed on parsley, fennel, and carrots
Eastern Tailed-blues are drawn to pea-family plants
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails love wild black cherry, tulip trees, and lilies
Question Mark and Eastern Comma butterflies seek out elms and hackberry trees
Mourning Cloaks appear early in spring and favor willows
Clouded Sulphurs feed on white clover
Common Buckeyes benefit from Gerardia

And of course, no butterfly garden is complete without Asclepias (milkweed)—a cornerstone plant for the Monarch butterfly’s lifecycle. Rohsler’s proudly grows this essential nectar plant organically, from seed, with no chemicals.

Grow with Purpose

Every choice in your garden can support pollinators, increase biodiversity, and help nature thrive. With the right combination of native blooms, herbs, shrubs, and trees, butterflies will reward your efforts with beauty and life. Stop by our garden center to explore plants, ask for guidance, and start your butterfly garden with confidence.