Royal Horticultural Society - Biodiversity: Plants for Butterflies

Plants for butterflies

Skipper butterfly - Photograph copyright RHS Adult butterflies visit flowers to obtain nectar, which they suck up with their long tongue or proboscis. They make use of a wide range of flowers and other sweet substances, such as the juices of over-ripe fruits.

The plants listed here will generally attract butterflies, but to get the best results they should be grown in sunny, sheltered places. Clumps of plants are usually more attractive than single scattered plants.

The butterflies most likely to be seen in gardens are the large cabbage white, small cabbage white, green-veined white, brimstone, small tortoiseshell, peacock, comma, painted lady and red admiral.

The numbers of painted lady and red admiral butterflies can vary considerably from year to year since they are migratory butterflies which breed in Britain but generally do not survive the winter. Their presence here is dependent on migrations from across the English Channel, which can take place at any time between early spring and late summer.

Nectar-providing flowers are also used by other insects, such as bees and moths.

Wild plants

Angelica ( Angelica sylvestris )
Bugle ( Ajuga reptans )
Buttercups ( Ranunculus species)
Clovers ( Trifolium species)
Dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale )
Fleabane ( Pulicaria dysenterica )
Garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata )
Hawkweeds ( Hieracium species)
Hemp agrimony ( Eupatorium cannabinum )
Hogweed ( Heracleum sphondylium )
Knapweeds ( Centaurea species)
Lady's smock ( Cardamine pratensis )
Marjoram ( Origanum vulgare )
Purple loosestrife ( Lythrum salicaria )
Sallows ( Salix species, especially male forms of Salix caprea )
Scabious ( Knautia arvensis and Succisa pratensis )
Stonecrop ( Sedum acre )
Teasel ( Dipsacus fullonum )
Thistles ( Cirsium species and Carduus species)
Valerian ( Valeriana officinalis )
Water mint ( Mentha aquatica )

Annual and biennial garden flowers

African marigold ( Tagetes erecta )
Ageratum ( Ageratum houstonianum )
Alyssum ( Lobularia maritima )
Candytuft ( Iberis amara )
China aster ( Callistephus chinensis )
Cornflower ( Centaurea cyanus )
French marigold ( Tagetes patula )
Heliotrope/cherry pie ( Heliotropium cultivars)
Honesty ( Lunaria annua )
Marigold ( Calendula officinalis )
Mignonette ( Reseda odorata )
Stocks ( Matthiola incana and hybrids)
Sweet William ( Dianthus barbatus )
Verbena ( Verbena rigida )
Wallflower ( Erysimum cheiri )
Zinnia ( Zinnia elegans )

Herbaceous perennials

Alyssum ( Aurinia saxatilis )
Agastache foeniculum
Arabis ( Arabis alpina subsp. caucasica )
Asperula hexaphylla
Astrantia major
Aubrieta ( Aubrieta deltoidea )
Blanket flower ( Gaillardia cultivars)
Catmint ( Nepeta x faassenii )
Centaurea species e.g. C. dealbata , C. montana , C. macrocephala
Dahlias - single-flowered types
Elephant's ears ( Bergenia species)
Eryngium species
Garden mint ( Mentha spicata )
Globe artichoke ( Cynara cardunculus )
Globe thistles ( Echinops species)
Golden rod ( Solidago species)
Hyssop ( Hyssopus officinalis )
Ice plant ( Sedum spectabile - dark red cultivars are less attractive)
Jacob's ladder ( Polemonium caeruleum )
Liatris spicata
Michaelmas daisies ( Aster novae-angliae , A. amellus )
Perennial candytuft ( Iberis sempervirens )
Phlox ( Phlox paniculata )
Red valerian ( Centranthus ruber )
Scabious ( Scabiosa species)
Soapwort ( Saponaria species, especially S. ocymoides )
Sweet rocket ( Hesperis matronalis )
Thrift ( Armeria species)
Verbena bonariensis

Shrubs

Blackberry ( Rubus fruticosus )
Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii, also B. globosa , B. alternifolia )
Caryopteris ( Caryopteris x clandonensis )
Cherry laurel * ( Prunus laurocerasus )
Escallonia hybrids
Firethorn ( Pyracantha cultivars)
Hawthorn * ( Crataegus monogyna )
Heather ( Calluna vulgaris )
Heaths ( Erica species, Daboecia species)
Hebe species
Ivy * ( Hedera helix )
Lavender ( Lavandula species)
Oregon grape ( Mahonia aquifolium )
Privet * ( Ligustrum species)
Sallows ( Salix species, especially male forms of Salix caprea )
Thyme ( Thymus species)

* These will not flower as young plants and severe pruning, such as clipping to make a formal hedge, inhibits flowering.

Larval food plants

The flowers listed above will attract the more common and mobile species of butterfly, but most are unsuitable as food plants for the larvae. The caterpillars eat leaves and often have a narrow range of suitable host plants. With the exception of the ubiquitous cabbage white butterflies, the larval food plants are often wild plants.

Not all butterflies will lay eggs and breed in gardens, even if the appropriate food plants are provided. Some butterflies, such as woodland species like the fritillaries, need conditions that cannot be created elsewhere.

The following plants will provide food for the larvae of those species that might breed in gardens, although some butterflies tend to fly in restricted areas and will not readily colonise a new suitable habitat unless it is very close to existing butterfly colonies.

Stinging nettles Used by peacock, red admiral, comma and small tortoiseshell. Needs to be grown in a sunny position to encourage egg laying. Prevent seeding by cutting down in mid-summer after the first brood of the small tortoiseshell has developed.

Thistles Painted lady lays eggs on plants such as welted thistle and creeping thistle.

Cabbages, other brassicas and nasturtiums Large cabbage white and small cabbage white.

Garlic mustard and lady's smock Orange-tip and green-veined white

Mixed grasses Various grasses are used by speckled wood, wall butterfly, meadow brown, gatekeeper, marbled white, ringlet, small heath, large skipper, small skipper and Essex skipper. The habitat requirements of these butterflies vary, particularly regarding the types of grass, the height of the sward and whether it is dry or damp grassland. Generally the grass should be left uncut during the growing season and scythed in the spring, leaving a good basal growth on the tussocks.

Holly and ivy Holly blue lays eggs on holly flowers in spring and on ivy flowers in late summer.

Alder buckthorn and purging buckthorn Brimstone butterfly.

Birdsfoot trefoil Common blue.

Docks and sorrels Small copper.

Plants for butterflies

Plants for butterflies

Wild plants

Annual and biennial garden flowers

Herbaceous perennials

Shrubs

Larval food plants

Further reading