How to Start Your Butterfly Garden in North Texas
Here is how i started my butterfly garden
1. Find the area you want to put your garden in
To start your butterfly garden, the first thing you need to do is find the best space for your garden. I had to get the space ready by digging out some poison ivy that had taken over the area.
2. Check out the lighting situation
After cleaning out the poison ivy I took picture of the spot I wanted plants in every hour to see how much sun the area got during the day. My area is mostly shade with a little but of sun so my focus is going to be more on shade plants.
3. Find the type of plants you want
This area has some tall plants next to it in the back, so I will put a few taller plants in the back to help blend it in with the already existing plants. The other short plants will go in front of them. I also need to get plants for each stage of the butterfly life cycle. Keep in mind that having a variety of plants will also attract a variety of butterflies. Use the Butterfly Specific Plants page to help you pick out your plants.
4. Buy the plants
Keep in mind all of the information you have already collected when going to the store. I got tall plants that can go in the shade because up against my house where I want to put them is shady. The plants more towards the front of the garden will be shorter and they can be more part sun or full sun plants. I also got a variety of plants that will bloom at different times of the year so the butterflies can always get nectar.
There are many great places to buy plants in North Texas and these are from Weston Gardens.
the plants i bought are:
- Black-Eyed Susan (yellow petals with dark center)
- Beebalm (purple flowers on the bottom left 2 containers)
- Ruellia/Mexican Petunia (tall plants in the bottom right corner, has purple flowers at the top)
- Purple Coneflower/Echinacea (purple petals with dark center in the back of the photo)
- Columbine (green leaves in the bottom 2nd from the right, it will have flowers after it grows more)
- Milkweed (center of the plants, short green plant)
- Purple Skullcap (purple flowers in the top left of the picture)
5. Plant the plants
Place the plants in their containers roughly where you think you want to place them and make adjustments to get it exactly how you want your garden to look.
6. Certify your garden
Visit here to find the different certifications. I have added a tab under projects that also has this information.
7. Watch for butterflies
Enjoy your garden and watch for all of the butterflies that will be visiting your plants! If you want to know what type of butterflies you have visit the Identification tab under Butterflies.
Things to consider before starting your butterfly garden
1. Where do you want to put your butterfly garden?
Location is the most important thing to take into consideration before starting your butterfly garden. The location will determine the amount of sun the area gets and the amount of water the plants will have to survive. These factors are crucial to consider when picking out plants so they will thrive in the location you pick. For example, you do not want to have a hardy, drought-tolerant plant in an area that gets heavily watered because the plant will not be happy. Same goes for the amount of light, if you put a sun plant in a shaded area, the plants will not thrive and they may not produce any flowers in the wrong conditions.
Also when you are deciding where to put your butterfly garden it is important to know what type of garden you want to have. You could have a contained garden that you maintain regularly which will stay in a certain area, or you could have a more native type garden that is not maintained as often and can spread and grow as it pleases.
2. What plants are currently in that area and what can stay?
Before buying an excess amount of plants, it is best to examine and evaluate the plants in the area in which you want to put your butterfly garden. Some of the existing plants may be butterfly or pollinator friendly, so they can stay or if you want to start in that area from scratch your could relocate the plants to another part of your yard or garden.
3. What kind of light does thaT AREA get?
The light is an important factor to take into consideration thinking about how to start a butterfly garden. Most plants need either full sun, part sun/part shade, or full shade. It is important to buy plants that will get the correct amount of sunlight in order for them to flourish.
4. what plants types and colors work in the space?
Do you have a certain color scheme you would like this area to have? You should find plants that you are going to enjoy looking at. Plants here can be sorted by color, plants variety, sunlight needs, or water needs.
5. Do you have plants for each stage of butterfly?
Butterfly gardens need to have plants to host every stage of the butterfly. All of the stages of the butterfly (egg, larva, pupa, and butterfly) need to have a place to live and thrive. Different plants can be a host plants for a certain stage. For example, monarch eggs are layed on milkweed. While the monarch butterflies can egg nectar from any plant. It is important to get a variety of plants so that from eggs to butterflies they can live well.
6. Do you have plants so your garden is blooming during all seasons?
It is important for plants to be blooming at all times in the garden so butterflies always have a place to get nectar. If you choose only plants that bloom in the spring, butterflies will be forced to go somewhere else during the fall and the summer. In the winter plants will not have flowers, but do not worry, some butterflies, specifically monarchs migrate south for the winter so they still have warm weather.
