Butterfly Friendly Plants – we can all do our bit

There are apparently over 15 million gardens in the UK. The land covered by our gardens is greater than the UK’s national parks. That means if we all planted butterfly friendly plants, between us we could make a massive difference to the declining butterfly populations.

So if we’re going to create a bit of fluttery butterfly magic in our gardens, on our patios or window boxes, what plants do we need and why?

Well, while we obviously need to provide nectar for the adults, we also need to provide the right leaves and flower buds for butterfly caterpillars to munch on! Yes, I’m going to suggest we encourage some caterpillars folks! Also some plants are needed to provide shelter for those butterflies which overwinter in our gardens as adults, such as brimstone, peacock and small tortoiseshell.

So the selection below offers butterflies something for all the seasons and for all life stages.

Butterfly Friendly Plants For Spring

While most butterflies spend the Winter as an egg or chrysalis, some hibernate. As they emerge from hibernation in Spring they need an early meal. You must make sure your garden has something for them. Luckily, the list of possible plants is long and is packed with plants we love too.

• Primrose
• Bluebell
• Honesty
• Forget-me-not
• Heather
• Grape Hyacinth
• Rosemary
• Bugle
• Sweet rocket
• Cuckooflower
• Flowering currant
• Erysimum ‘Bowles mauve’ – a perennial wallflower with mauve flowers

For me, the super plant in this list is the Erysimum as if you keep deadheading it, it will provide flowers from Spring right through Summer and into Autumn. I’ve a massive blue pot of it (above) at the front of my cottage, which I think looks rather nice.

Butterfly Friendly Plants For Summer

Wandering throught the gorgeous garden at Aston Pottery last week, (you can read about it here) it was easy to see that Echinacea is a sure fire hit with butterflies. So that’s obviously on the list for Summer, but what else?

• Echinacea
• Echinops
• Buddleia
• Hebe
• Single flowered roses
• Thyme
• Marjoram
• Bellflower (Campanula)
• Catmint (Nepeta)
• Cosmos
• Scabious
• Hemp Agrimony
• Single flowered dahlias
• Phlox
• English Lavender
• Verbena Bonariensis
• Sea Holly (Eryngium)
• Rock Rose
• Privet

I’m familiar with most of the plants on this list except the Hemp Agrimony, otherwise known as Eupatorium cannabinum. Apparently it’s tough and dependable – music to my gardening ears! It’s a statuesque plant that likes damp areas such as riverbanks or woodlands. I’m not sure my garden offer the right conditions. If yours does, I’d grow it as apparently its icy-pink flowers will attract red admirals and commas, among others. How lovely!

Hebe is an evergreen shrub. So if you’re wanting all year interest in your garden that will provide all-important Summer food for butterflies, it’s a winner.

Another shrub on this list is Buddleia. With its common name being butterfly bush, it’s safe to assume that it’s popular with butterflies. Red admirals, peacocks and small tortoiseshell butterflies particularly like it. But aparently not all buddleias are equal. If you plan to get one, the Buddleja Davidii, Buddleja Weyeriana and Buddleja Globosa varieties are the best options butterfly-wise.

If you’ve only got room for a pot, and want a Buddleia there is a new option for you. While most grow to be really substantial shrubs, there’s apparently a smaller variety called Buddleja ‘Flutterby Petite Blue Heaven’ which has a height and spread of about 70cm. But remember it will lose its leaves in the Autumn.

I remember privet from my childhood. We used to put it in jars for our stick insects! Where the heck the insects came from I cannot recall! They were such masters of disguise that I probably spent hours looking at just the privet! Anyway, there’s no room/role for a privet hedge in my garden. But if you have one do leave it to flower. Its white blooms will attract a range of butterflies, including speckled wood, comma, holly blue, red admiral and peacock.

Butterfly Friendly Plants For Autumn

It’s all too easy to think that the garden is winding down in Autumn, but it’s still an important source of late nectar for butterflies. They need it to build up their energy reserves for hibernation or their journey back to warmer climes. 

• Sedum – particularly the spectabile variety
• Michaelmas Daisy (Aster)
• Rudbeckia
• Ivy
• Bugbane
• Holly

Ivy is a superb plant for bees and butterflies especially if it’s in some sun and so flowers. In Autumn Ivy’s flowers attract late-flying butterflies such as the red admiral. I’ve read that the holly blue butterfly lays its eggs on the flower buds in late Summer. Added to this, ivy’s lovely tangle of leaves provide over Winter shelter for brimstone, peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies.

Holly is also butterfly super food. It flowers from early Spring and upto early Summer providing nectar for butterflies. And as the name suggests, Holly leaves are eaten by caterpillars of the holly blue butterfly in Spring. So if you’ve a holly in your garden, prune it later in the season.

Don’t Forget the Caterpillars

If you love butterflies then you also need to love caterpillars (the larvae of butterflies and moths). But sadly caterpillars have a bad reputation. This is mostly due to the large white butterfly. Its caterpillars are heavy feeders. Just about every veg grower fears them decimating their crops. Hence their nickname as cabbage white butterflies.

But in reality most butterflies are picky. They favour one type of plant or species as the place for their eggs, and the feeding caterpillars which emerge will remain there. So unlike slugs, they won’t go on a general rampage through your garden. Also, unlike slugs, they’re apparently quite tidy eaters (who knew!) They won’t pepper all the leaves of a plant with holes.

So, be brave, and let’s encourage more caterpillars into our gardens. Here are the top plants for them:

• Nasturtiums – popular with small and large white, and green-veined white caterpillars
• Holly and Ivy – ideal for holly blue caterpillars (eggs are laid and caterpillars emerge in two batches – Spring on Holly, Summer on Ivy)
• Bird’s-foot trefoil – great for the common blue, silver-studded blue, wood white and green hairstreak caterpillars
• Garlic Mustard and Honesty – orange tips butterflies lay their eggs on these
• Stinging Nettles – perfect for small tortoiseshell, red admiral, comma and peacock

I’ve got a lot of ivy in my garden and I’ve some nettles. But I’m going to try planting some Bird’s foot trefoil. I also think pots of Nasturtiums in my hot corner are an idea. They would look good it they survived, and would be going to a good butterfly home if they didn’t!

I could probably grow a block of the shade-loving Garlic Mustard at the back of my north-facing bed. The bed has all white planting and is in deep shade so will be a good spot for this plant which grows about 1m tall and has a white flower.

I may try some honesty – the variety Lunaria annua ‘Chedglow’  towards the back of my semi shaded woodland bed. Apparently it grows about 1m tall and has wonderful chocolate leaves and lilac flowers. The combination of the words chocolate and flowers in the same sentence puts an enormous smile on my face! 

Some Final Tips

So those are the plants, but what else do we need to consider?

First up, butterflies like warmth. Indeed they need heat to be able to move. I read on a fun facts page aimed at children (that’s about my level) that when you see them resting in the sunshine, they are warming up their wings so they can fly. Isn’t that facinating! So the key lesson is plant your butterfly friendly plants mostly in a warm sheltered spot.

The same page informed me that butterflies taste with their feet! This isn’t really a useful gardening tip, but it will go down a storm at a dinner party!

Anyway, back to the serious stuff. The secret with whatever butterfly friendly plants you go for is to have a decent block of each plant. That way butterflies will find it easy to get plenty of food in one sitting, as they flit from flower to flower. You want to give them a large buffet table well stocked with a few things, rather than an ecclectic pic n mix snack!

You also want to keep your plants well watered, and mulched so they produce plenty of nectar. And it seems obvious to say this but deadhead regularly. It’s not just you who will be grateful for the extended flowering period!

In my previous blog about having a wildlife friendly garden one of the key tips was to avoid being too tidy. And this is certainly helpful to butterflies. If you leave long grass and piles of leaves these will be important sources of shelter over winter for chrysalises. Indeed, if you can bear it, The Butterfly Conservation Trust advises not cutting back old plants until the Spring.

Avoid using any chemicals. They really do kill precious insects. I’ve been chemical free all of this year and although I suffered a terrible blackfly infestation on my honeysuckle, I resisted doing anything drastic other than cutting off some very damaged parts. Wonderful old nature took care of the problem for me.

Do check that the compost you buy is peat free. Our peat bogs are home to many special animals and plants, including the large heath butterfly, which I’ve read is declining across Europe. So we really shouldn’t be plundering them for compost. Indeed, there are now plenty of good alternatives to peat available from garden centres.

So that’s it. I hope this gives you some inspiration to inject even more butterfly love into your garden.