Butterfly magnets

Lure butterflies to the garden by growing their favourite flowers, says Hazel Sillver, as she looks at the best plants to supply these beautiful insects with nectar for months

- Hazel Sillver

EVERYONE loves butterflies, and the sight of them in the garden, fluttering from flower to flower, is a joy. You can attract as many as possible by growing the plants that provide them with food.

“Most butterflies have a long proboscis for drinking nectar, meaning they can feed from flowers that shorter tongued insects like bees can’t access,” says Anthony McCluskey at Butterfly Conservation ( butterfly-conservation. org). “Phlox and sweet Williams are two examples. And all butterfly species are happy on flowers with large heads that they can land on to feed, such as scabious and cardoon.”

Late-blooming food plants

Butterflies also famously love buddleja (commonly known as the butterfly bush), resting on its honey-scented flower panicles to sup nectar in July, August and September. Along with other late blooming food plants – such as asters and stonecrop – buddleja provides vital fuel for butterflies. “Some use the energy to migrate south, while others store it as fat to get them through the winter in the UK,” says Anthony. “Some butterflies are great long-distance flyers. Painted lady butterflies can fly for thousands of miles on their annual migration and roam the countryside and towns looking for a pitstop of nectar (such as buddleja and stonecrop) to help them on their way.”

Gardens are a particularly important source of food during this period, but have an urgent role to play in butterfly conservation all year round. This is because butterfly numbers are down by over 75% since the 1970s due to habitat loss, pesticide use and waterway pollution. Gardeners can help them out by providing habitat, shelter and food.