Buds with a flutter Grow best f lowers for butterflies
THINK like a butterfly – and your garden is guaranteed to be bright and beautiful.
These “flying flowers” are attracted to a wide range of fragrant, nectar-rich plants that will grace any garden.
Butterflies prefer flowers in blue, purple or yellow and most hate red.
Flower heads should be flat, like yellow achilleas, or cup-shaped like nasturtiums. But avoid petal-packed modern varieties that lack nectar, such as roses.
Butterflies are not strong fliers and are likely to stay i n a warm, sunny sheltered garden.
The sweet, fruity flowers of buddleia will bring in swarms, especially peacocks, red admirals and small tortoiseshells
The purple varieties have the most animal magnetism. Nandho Purple and Nandho Blue have neat, compact habits, suitable for smaller plots.
The blue flower spikes of Veronica are also a favourite.
And the bright pink spikes on shrubby Veronica, or Hebe Great Orme, will provide nectar from July to October for holly blues, monarchs, small coppers and brimstones.
These compact evergreen bushes prefer mild winters and cool summers and will grow especially well in a seaside gardens.
Valerian, or centranthus, will grow anywhere, from damp ditches to dry walls. If planted near vegetables, it is said to boost growth.
It is easy to grow but don’t feed it or you will inhibit its flowers. Beware – as well as butterflies, it attracts cats.
To encourage comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies, plant purple coneflower, or Echinacea, with its large, daisy-like flower heads with a central brown-orange cone.
The “pin cushion” heads of scabious will also attract small tortoiseshells as well as common blues and holly blues.
And pink daisy-like erigeron flowers will give most passing butterflies a perfect stopping-off place.