Butterfly Nectar Plants
Take care of the butterflies in your yard by providing nectar plants! Butterflies are daytime pollinators that transfer pollen while searching for food. They require nectar as their primary food source. Providing plants that are native to your region is the most important thing you can do to help them survive. And don’t forget host plants to help them lay eggs, too!
See the list below of great nectar-rich plants to add to your garden, for sunny yards or shaded, and to welcome butterflies. Plants are available in select times of the year in our Nursery, home to trees, shrubs, and perennials.
Nectar Plants for Shade:
Foamflower – Tiarella cordifolia
Small, star-shaped flowers emerge in clusters above attract, lobed leaves. Spreads by underground stems and makes for excellent groundcover.
Virginia Bluebells – Mertensia virginica
Pink buds burst to light blue, trumpet-shaped flowers on top of gray-green, oval leaves. This perennial grows best in rich, moist, sometimes rocky, soils.
Wild Columbine – Aquilegia canadensis
This branching perennial grows up to 3ft. tall and is well-known for showy, drooping, red flowers. Red columbine like moisture, but must be in well-drained soil.
Wild Geranium – Geranium maculatum
This perennial features showy, pink, five-petaled flowers in loose clusters. Known for its 5-6 parted, deeply cut leaves. Plant in rich, acidic soils.
Woodland Phlox – Phlox divaricata
Phlox features colorful, loose, flat clusters of fragrant, lavender to pink to violet flowers. It prefers rich, moist, acidic soils.
Nectar Plants for Sun:
Asters – Symphyotrichum spp.
There are many native varieties of aster, with some drought tolerant and most unbothered by deer. Plant in well-drained, average moisture soil.
Bee Balm – Monarda didyma, fistulosa, punctata
In the mint family, bee balm is a magnet for pollinators and blooms in a white range of colors. Requires moist, but well-drained soils.
Black-eyed Susan – Rudbeckia fulgida
An easy-to-grow native perennial reaching 2-3 feet tall with showy, orange-yellow flowers with dark centers, blooming summer into early fall. Plant these flowers in well-drained, average soil.
Blazing Star – Liatris spicata
A native perennial producing a 2ft tall clump of violet flowers on stiff bloom spikes in summer. Liatris likes full sun to part shade with average to rich, moist, well-drained soil.
Milkweed – Asclepias incarnata, syriaca, tuberosa
Flower clusters of orange or pink attracts a variety of butterflies. This plant is a larval host to Monarchs. Milkweed needs full sun, but is good in various soil conditions.
Goldenrod – Solidago spp
An easy-to-grow perennial for average, dry to medium, well-drained soil. Small, bright yellow flowers in dense clusters on tall stems.
Joe-Pye Weed – Eutrochium maculatum
A native, shrub-like perennial reaching 5 feet tall with flattened clusters of rose-purple flowers blooming in the summer and fall. Joe-Pye Weed prefers moist, average to rich soil.
Purple Coneflower – Echinacea purpurea
A tough, native perennial reaching 4 feet tall with large, daisy-like, rose-pink flowers blooming throughout the summer. Purple coneflower prefers average, loamy soil.
Threadleaf Coreopsis – Coreopsis verticillata
A tough, easy-care, native perennial becoming a 2 foot mound wiht fine needle-like foliage and many yellow flowers throughout the summer. Coreopsis prefers average to rich soil.