Last week marked the official beginning of summer here in the UK. And there’s no better way to celebrate the season than to get out into the garden and plant some flowers?
If you’re keen to attract more butterflies into your garden this year, then choosing the right blooms is absolutely crucial. Butterflies are vital for pollinating plants and trees, so it’s important that they are given the best chance to thrive. And according to the experts at Price Your Job, there are four vibrant plants that will do the trick and make them flock to your garden.
Lavender
This pretty purple plant, with its distinct floral aroma, is hugely popular with pollinators such as butterflies. They are drawn to the vibrant purple hues, accessible shape and sweet nectar.
Lavender is also pretty easy to grow, as they can tolerate dry weather, and they associate well with other shrubs or perennial plants – making them a hugely popular choice in many UK gardens.
Aster
These plants produce beautiful daisy-like flowers in a range of vibrant colours – which makes them very popular when it comes to butterflies. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, most types of aster are fairly easy to grow.
The late-blooming varieties are especially useful for butterflies, because they provide that vital nectar at a time of year when it’s a little more scarce.
Milkweed
Despite its name, this plant isn’t actually a weed at all. This wildflower is the favourite plant of the iconic monarch butterfly, because it acts as a food source and it’s also the ‘host plant’ for this variety of insect.
They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, which are then eaten by the larvae after they hatch. However, the good news is that this doesn’t cause any permanent damage to the plant.
Sunflowers
Finally, there’s nothing like the bright yellow hues of a gorgeous sunflowers if you want to attract butterflies to your garden.
They provide that vital nectar that’s needed for pollination, and thanks to their large, flat faces, sunflowers are very accessible to butterflies and bees too. And similar to milkweed, some butterflies lay their eggs on sunflowers, so they provide an excellent food source.