7 Flowers

by Ken Lain, The Mountain Gardener,

This list of butterflyattracting plants is not exhaustive but ensures your landscape will have more butterflies than you do now.

Because butterflies have their favorite foods, the answer is the same whether you are in a townhome, cabin in the pines or the newest track home on the block: It all comes down to the right plants.

Butterfly bush is the essential plant to attract more of these majestic creatures to your landscape. Most are in bloom at the garden center now in a rainbow of colors. For easier care with the same number of flowers, look for mountain dwarf varieties that are equally attractive to butterflies and to the gardeners who plant them.

Butterfly weed has clusters of butterflyattractive yellow and scarlet red flowers. This easy-care, well-behaved plant needs little attention and delivers terrific landscape color. For a real show, try planting this beauty in a glazed pot right on the deck or patio.

Whiteout Candytuft is an improved variety of good ol’ Candytuft. Dense branching and uniform flowering keeps