Michigan’s spring brings with it not only gorgeous flowers and bright green grass, but it also brings out the butterfly population! If your landscaping is looking a little worse-for-wear, consider adding some of the following plants. You’ll love the popping colors, and so will your butterfly friends!

Boost Your Garden – And Butterfly Populations – With These Lovely Plants

If you didn’t know, bee and butterfly populations are in decline due to the loss of natural habitat. By adding any or all of these plants to your garden beds, you’ll get to enjoy visits from these whimsical critters, and you’ll be doing your part to help out their numbers!

Black-eyed Susans are great for beginning gardeners or those with a brown thumb. They’re hardier than other plants, and like well-drained soil, so you won’t have to worry if you forget to water. They love direct sunlight and produce petals with red, orange, yellow, or even golden hues. Be sure to prune them throughout the spring and summer – this will encourage the plant to produce even more blooms.

Daylily

Another incredibly low-maintenance option for your butterfly garden is the daylily. It’s a perennial, which means you won’t have to worry about replanting it every year, and it isn’t targeted by most pests, so you won’t have to worry about keeping them at bay. It’s tolerant of drought, mixed lighting conditions, and even soil with low nutrient levels. There are so many colors of daylilies to choose from, and, depending on what kind you get, you can plant different varieties, so there is always a daylily blooming throughout the season – right up until the first frost.

Lilacs

Lilacs are one of the most popular shrubs, and it’s not hard to see why. Not only do they provide a lovely splash of color, but their fragrance is unparalleled. Another hardy and low-maintenance plant, lilacs, grow between 5 and 15 feet, depending on the variety. They like fertile, well-drained soil and lots of sun. However, they don’t like to be overfertilized, so be sure to ask your lawn care professional what’s the best ratio of nutrients to use. Blooms range from dark to light purple, white, red, and yellow.

Milkweed

Milkweed is hands-down the best plant to add to your garden if you want to help butterflies. It’s the only host plant for monarchs. This plant nurtures them throughout their entire life cycle. Blossoms produced by milkweed range in color from magenta to brilliant orange. They will make do with various soil conditions, and they grow quickly, so you won’t have to wait long for them to be established in the garden.

Coneflower

Coneflowers are most famous for their purple hues, but they come in various colors. You can find them in orange and yellow varieties, thanks to the work of breeders. Having coneflowers in your yard will not only attract butterflies, but it may also attract hummingbirds!

Phlox

Like lilacs, phlox produces a wonderful fragrance on top of looking gorgeous in your landscaping beds. They work nicely as a ground cover but will reach middling height if allowed to grow unhindered. They’re relatively low maintenance and produce star-shaped flowers. Many varieties are native to North America, so be sure to ask your lawn care service technician if planting native plants is important to you.

Shasta Daisies

Shasta daisies will add a touch of Europe to your garden, as they were originally only found across the Pond. They’ll spread aggressively, which is nice if you have space you’d like to see filled in. Their colorful blooms attract butterflies aplenty, and you should expect your shastas to reach about 3 feet in height, with clumps between one and two feet in width. Shasta daisies make great cuttings as well, so you’ll get to enjoy them just as much as your butterfly friends.

Zinnias

Zinnias are easy to grow and produce blossoms very fast. Their blooms are bright and bold in warm shades like magenta, yellow, orange, and red. They’re annuals, so you’ll need to have them replanted annually. They come in several varieties, including single-flowered, double-flowered, and semi double-flowered. These names all refer to the number of rows the flowers produce. The blossoms are solitary, with daisy-like flowers on a single stem.

Get Butterfly-Friendly Landscaping – Contact Images Landscaping & Construction

If you’re ready to welcome some butterfly friends to your garden, give the experts at Images Landscaping & Construction a call! From renovating your existing garden beds to installing flowering trees, our landscaping services will freshen up your yard, so it looks gorgeous and attracts Michigan’s butterfly population. To learn more about our services or schedule a consultation, give us a call (248) 866-5442, or you can reach us online.

For more ideas and inspiration on rejuvenating your yard in 2022, be sure to visit our blog page!

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