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Grow your butterfly plants

Enjoy the beauty of butterflies in your garden this summer! Growing nectar plants and host plants together is a wonderful way to attract butterflies. Read below to learn how to germinate your seeds, plant the sprouts, and which plants you can add to expand your butterfly garden.

Image by Sam Mgrdichian

You have taken home one host plant and one nectar plant for your butterfly garden. Host plants are plants where butterflies lay their eggs, and nectar plants are where butterflies consume nectar. The milkweed, or asclepias tuberosa, is the host plant (it also provides nectar). Monarch butterflies lay eggs on milkweed plants. The seeds have already been cold stratified for you. Cold stratification is a process that benefits some seeds through which they are exposed to cold and moisture for a few weeks. The coneflower, or echinacea purpurea, seeds are nectar plants that support many varieties of pollinators and butterflies. 

Place your cups with the peat pods in a sunny window at home, and leave the saran wrap on top. The saran wrap will create a mini-greenhouse for your seeds, helping to regulate moisture and temperature.  

Pull back the saran wrap each day to check the moisture level. Lightly touch the top of each peat pod. If the pod feels dry, then add water to the bottom of the cup (the pod will draw up the water from the bottom). To ensure you don't overwater or underwater, the pod should feel moist at the top after watering, but there should be no or minimal standing water in the bottom of the cup. 

Once the seeds germinate and a sprout appears, remove the saran wrap so the sprout has room to grow. Seed germination can take about three weeks. 

Grow the sprouts in the cups in the windowsill until they are at least two inches tall. You will keep watering them from the bottom (filling the cup with a bit of water) until you are ready to plant them outside. 

Grow the sprouts in the cups in the windowsill until they are at least two inches tall. You will keep watering them from the bottom (filling the cup with a bit of water) until you are ready to plant them outside. Both plants can be planted in 12" round pots or into the ground. If planting in the ground, amend the soil with a light compost (the "Cotton Burr" compost from Archie's Garden Land works really well in our area). Water regularly through the summer. To determine if the plant needs water, stick your finger into the top inch of the soil. If the soil feels dry, the plant needs to be watered deeply. 

Expand your butterfly garden

Butterfly gardens benefit from a wide variety of host and nectar plants. Below are a list of native plants that attract butterflies and grow really well in the Fort Worth area. The plants can be found at Eco Blossom Nursery or Archie's Garden Land, and all benefit from the addition of compost to the soil. 

  • Gregg's Mistflower 

  • White Mistflower/Shrubby Boneset 

  • Late Boneset

  • Catmint 

  • Yarrow 

  • Texas lantana

  • Columbine 

  • Antelope Horn Milkweed

  • Zizotes Milkweed

  • Whorled Milkweed

  • Green Milkweed

  • Winecup

  • Desert Willow

  • Crossvine

  • Indian Blanket

  • Maximilian Sunflower

  • Ashy Sunflower

  • Red Yucca

  • Texas Sage

  • Yellow Honeysuckle

  • Blackfoot Daisy

  • Mexican Plum

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