Redwood Barn Nursery, Inc.

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Redwood Barn Nursery, Inc.
1607 Fifth Street
Davis, Ca 95616
(530) 758-2276
(530) 758-0912 Fax

A family-owned, independent retail nursery since 1981

Regular store hours are: Monday-Saturday, 9:00 am -> 5:30 pm....
Sunday, 12 Noon -> 5:00 pm
We are ONLY closed on: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, & New Years Day!

Recently a boy asked me for advice on plants to attract butterflies.

This got me ruminating about my own childhood, growing up with a somewhat fanatical butterfly collector. Any interesting butterfly that drifted through our yard was likely to find itself netted, labeled, and pressed in glass by my mother. (Ruthless entomology apparently runs in my family. My great grandfather, author of Manual of North American Diptera, would enliven his lectures by snatching flies from mid-air to identify them, and then return to his prepared text.)

In the hopes that our contemporary youth, and you, have a more live and let live attitude towards butterflies, I offer these suggestions.

Where should your garden be?

A sunny location, sheltered from winds if possible. Being cold-blooded, they warm up in the morning by basking. Light-colored rocks placed in areas with morning sun may attract them. Water is not necessary, but males of some species congregate around shallow puddles or damp sand or gravel. Some species are attracted to smelly food sources: stale beer, bird feeders with cut-up fruit, or even manure may draw them!

What kind of flowers do they like?

Colorful, fragrant flowers in shapes that they can get nectar from. They feed with a long tongue (proboscis) which they use to reach the nectar far inside tubular flowers. Plants that attract hummingbirds often attract butterflies.

Butterflies will visit a plant longer if it has numerous tubular flowers in clusters and they can alight on some larger petals. They have compound eyes and can see color, but are near-sighted and respond best to large splashes of color. If you have room, plant large blocks of flowers in the same color range. Annuals from seed are an economical way to do this: a pack of Cosmos seed will plant 10- 20 feet, and bloom all summer.

Which colors do they like?

Blue-green apparently doesn't attract them. Various species respond to the pink – purple range, others like red, orange, and even some to white. "Nectar guides" in the form of visually contrasting colors on the petals will steer them towards some flowers, but we humans often don't see those as they are in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Which plants?

A mix of types that bloom spring through fall. Include some shrubs, lots of perennials, and big patches of seasonal annuals.

© 2008 Don Shor, Redwood Barn Nursery, Inc