South Florida is a perfect heaven for butterfly gardening, with the warm climate and hundreds of butterfly plants. You can create the perfect butterfly garden with the right plants that will attract butterflies into your landscaping. There are plenty of shrubs and flowers to choose from, regardless of your experience with gardening. The most important thing to remember is that you are creating a haven for them in your own backyard. You’ll need to choose flowers with bright colors, adult nectar sources. Reds, blues, and yellows seem to be the most common colors for attracting butterflies and they should be thoughtfully incorporated into the overall design.
Butterfly plants fall into two basic groups: Host plants and Nectar plants.
Host plants, where butterflies lay their eggs, are vital to the butterfly lifecycle and will encourage butterflies to linger and explore. Common examples of host plants are milkweed for monarch butterflies and their caterpillars, and parsley, for black swallowtails and their caterpillars.
Nectar plants are the flowers that adult butterflies feed on. Be sure to pick a few flowers that bloom throughout the spring and summer to provide nectar throughout the season.
A perennial plant that grows into a small shrub that blooms for months on end from spring to fall. This plant has unique golden flower bracts and white blossoms for part sun or part shade area. Blooms during warm months and grows 2 to 3 feet tall. Shrimp plants are extremely butterfly-friendly and provide beautiful colors in the garden.
Read MoreA true showstopper for any landscape! Dombeya puts on one of the best flower displays of any shrub. Known as the tropical hydrangea or tropical snowball, the genus contains a few hundred species of plants that are native to tropical Africa and Madagascar.
Read MoreFlorida Flame Vine, aka Orange Trumpet Creeper, Golden Shower Vine, and Hanging Fire Vine is an easy to grow vine, and is an ideal choice for a quick cover, and provides a truly spectacular, traffic-stopping show of color.
Read MoreHibiscus plants are known for their large colorful flowers. Growing hibiscus is an easy way to add exotic appeal to your garden. The Hibiscus, which blooms year-round in south Florida, is one of the most popular flowering plants in Florida with over 200 species.
Read MoreThe Jatropha can be categorized as a tropical shrub or small tree that makes a beautiful accent in any landscape. The tree is fast growing with dramatic scarlet flowers that bloom year-round. Extremely butterfly-friendly plant from spring through to fall.
Read MoreThe Butterfly bush (Buddleia Davidii) is a beautiful, fast-growing, deciduous shrub with masses of blossoms and long, spiked trusses. They bloom in spring and summer, the naturally attractive shape of the shrub and evergreen foliage keep the bush interesting, even when it is not in bloom.
Read MorePentas is one of the best pollinator-attracting plants around. Plant Pentas and the butterflies, hummingbirds will come! Great butterfly attraction that does best in part sun to part shade. Pentas have always been a staple to any Perennial or Butterfly Garden.
Read MoreA wonderful wildlife plant and one of the prettiest native plants Florida has to offer. This orange/yellow tubular flowers-blooms for months. A favorite for butterflies, birds, and hummingbirds. extremely hummingbird and butterfly friendly.
Read MoreThis exotic Passion flower is native to Florida and famous for its rapid growth, winding vines, and stunning, unique flowers. The stunning, three- to five-inch flowers come in shades of lavender or purple, with a wavy fringe over five petals.
Read More"Yellow Elder aka Yellow Bells, Esperanza, or Yellow Trumpetbush, is an attractive, fast-growing accent shrub that produces a bright yellow cluster of bell-shaped yellow trumpet blossoms from March through December. The plant is colorful, with bright green leaves that turn yellow or orange in the fall. In the spring…
Read MoreMilkweed is beautiful American wildflowers and delightful garden plants. Fragrant clusters of flowers are a magnet for butterflies and pollinators. Four species of native milkweed are found in most states: the Whorled Milkweed, Common Milkweed, and Swamp Milkweeds, and Butterfly Weed.
Read MoreIts name means "beautiful" in Greek, and it earns it with every bloom. Cosmos is a sun-loving annual that comes in many forms, all easy to direct-sow into the garden or containers from seed, all long-blooming, and all beautiful. Cosmos develops lovely bowl- or open-cupped flower heads on long stems.
Read MorePanama rose plant is a small, sprawling evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves. It blooms nearly year-round with bright reddish-pink flower clusters that attract butterflies.
Read MoreHoneysuckles are heat-tolerant and wildly attractive in any garden. A honeysuckle plant is a great addition to any landscape and will draw abundant butterflies and wildlife with its sweet, yellow to bright-red blossoms.
Read MoreThis ground cover thrives in sun to partial shade with plants reaching heights of twelve inches and widths of over eighteen inches. The aromatic gold flowers make this a favorite for butterfly gardens with flowers blooming from summer through fall.
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