Butterflies can add a beautiful grace note to our yards, and it is easy to attract them!  Would you like to be able to watch flocks of butterflies flutter by? Now is the time to plant your butterfly garden in the Southwest USA.  

Butterflies, moths, and skippers are in the insect family Lepidoptera. What is so cool is that the American Southwest is one of the most species rich areas in the world when it comes to Lepidoptera. Yes, more than a tropical rainforest – because we have more diverse kinds of habitat!

Build It and They Will Come

This saying does not just apply to baseball fields.  It works for pollinator gardens as well.  For many years, I have been giving my “Butterfly Gardening” class to adults. First we go over the five basics I will share here, but then we look at tons of plants that you can add to your yard to attract and nurture butterflies.  I will be speaking on a related topic “Pollinator Gardens” at the fantastic Desert Green Conference in Las Vegas on October 1 & 2, 2025.  If you live in the Las Vegas area it is certainly worth attending Desert Green – held generally in October each year.  

I also offer a class called “Build a Butterfly Feeder.” It’s aimed for the younger crowd (age 3 and up). That class was especially popular in 2017 when the US Libraries had a summer reading program called “Build a Better World.” In 2017 I helped kids from 19 different towns and 2 summer camps across Vermont “Build a Better World for Butterflies.” I guess it was around 500 kids by the end of the summer – and I had a blast! I was worn out too. But delighted with the memories of all those excited faces.

You don’t need specific feeders though.  In fact it is better to build an entire habitat that supports all aspects of their butterfly life. So here are my five butterfly gardening basics.

Build A Butterfly Garden

Late spring and early fall are peak butterfly viewing times throughout the Southwest. There are over 2200 species of lepidoptera that call the Southwest home, so there are many to look for. For ease of viewing, entice these “flying flowers” into your yard. There are five simple steps to creating a habitat for them (and you) to enjoy.

1. The Right Space: Quiet, Protected, Sunny

I am going to start with this necessary component because many people quickly realize that they do not have the right kind of yard. You will need a quiet, protected, sunny site for your butterfly garden.

Quiet is important. Too much coming and going of humans or pets will discourage butterflies. Try to find a quiet spot for them. This might mean a part of your yard that is pet free. Also, not to close to the bird feeder. Many birds are not averse to snarfing down a tasty butterfly.

Butterflies need protection from wind when feeding. Given the large sail area of their wings, they can literally be blown away.

Butterflies are cold-blooded and need sunlight to warm the muscles they use to fly. Consider a large decorative boulder in your butterfly garden. This gives them somewhere to sit and warm up.

I know I said sun, but butterflies also need some shade. They need to get out of the hot summer sun, and to rest from feeding. Evergreen shrubs will provide protection from intense heat, cold, or wind. An evergreen shrub could even be silver-green and part of your Moon Garden! Example – the regionally native woolly butterfly bush (Buddleia marrubifolia).

2. Food Variety

When it comes time to feed your butterflies, plant diversity and variety are important. To attract many different species, you will need different foods over a long season. Long season in the Southwest – virtually any month with non-freezing nights. For some of you reading this that is 12 months out of the year!

While adult butterflies are beautiful, the babies are often less so. You will need to provide food for both caterpillars and adults. I address this further in my book on Butterfly Gardening. The title mentions Southern Arizona because me, as a plant nerd, was being very specific.  The plants and techniques in this book will work in most Sonoran and Mohave Desert landscapes – including northern Arizona, southern Nevada, eastern California, and over into the Chihuahuan Desert areas of New Mexico. 

3. Attractive Colors

Get your yard noticed with the favorite butterfly colors – white, purple, and yellow.

You will need masses of color. Butterflies have very tiny brains. Highly visible masses of their food plants are needed to attract them to the garden. Especially plant flowers of white, purple and yellow, their favorite colors. This is one reason that desert zinnia and aloysia are popular plants for Southwest butterflies.

Butterflies are less attracted to orange, red, or blue flowered plants. Something about how those show up in their brains?

Note that a single individual plants are relatively small, you will need to plant a cluster of plants for ease of fly-by recognition.

4. Water

Every living thing needs water. Butterflies are no exception, and will appreciate a shallow puddle or patch of moist soil. Set a plant saucer down into the soil, and fill it with sand. Now put a plant drip emitter into it. This will fill when your irrigation runs and offer a watering hole to butterflies.

Butterflies also need mineral salts. You could construct a “butterfly salt lick.” Mix composted steer manure into the soil in that saucer and moisten it to provide salts for your butterflies.

5. Avoid These

You will need to avoid using any pesticides or any gene altered plants.  Pesticides, even organic ones are designed to kill insects.  Butterflies are insects.

Gene altered plants?  The bacteria known as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is deadly to all members of the Lepidoptera – butterflies, skippers, and moths. It can kill both adults and larvae. Bt is now artificially cloned into a number of plants and it kills any Lepidoptera that land on that plant, or debris from that plant. Gene altered plants are variously called GE or GMO. There full meanings of those terms is too much to go into here.

Bottom line.  If you buy non-organic produce – but especially corn to eat – you can not compost your plant bits, especially corn cobs or husks.  Nor can you feed them to your horses. The Bt will survive home composting and your compost will kill Lepidoptera.  Bt will also survive the digestive tracts of horses, and their manure will then be toxic to Lepidoptera. I can’t find info on if it will survive in cows or chickens.

Five Simple Things

Food, water, and shelter are the prime requisites for all living things. If you provide the right kind of food, a little water, some shelter, some peace and quiet, and a toxin-free zone, you should have some butterflies fluttering by in your yard to delight you.

2026 Addendum

Sometimes your butterfly garden can be too successful.  Reminder that butterfly babies are caterpillars and perhaps not as welcome as their parents.  Here’s more about the good, bad, and the ugly in the garden.

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