I'm a big fan of butterflies but I rarely see them in our garden. Which flowers do they generally prefer? Is there any way of "attracting" them?

I'm hoping to grow some new plants in the garden this year in time for next year.

You cannot help but have success with buddleia,  Sedum Spectabile, scabious,michaelmas daisies & if I am not wrong thistles. We do intend to extend more planting for butterflies.
We get Red Admirals,Peacocks, Cabbage whites, Speckled wood,  Tortoishells
Attached are some of last years pics which I am quite pleased with.
The last pic is one which I have not looked up , any clues?

Those are great pictures, and thats exactly what I want our garden to look like. I will definitely give some of those plants a try, thanks for your help!

The brighter the flower the better. Butterflies are attracted to very bright colours. They also love fruit so you could always leave some out for them. There's always the risk of attracting other animals though...

The brighter the flower the better. Butterflies are attracted to very bright colours. They also love fruit so you could always leave some out for them. There's always the risk of attracting other animals though...

I always thought the part about being attracted to bright flowers was a myth, I am pleased to be proved wrong though as that means it should be easier to pick plants.

Those bright flowers can be more attractive to the humans, too .

Kingfisher

I identified the butterfly further up the thread as a 'Gatekeeper'. It says in my book that they are from Southern areas.

Next butterfly taken by Skippy is a 'speckled wood' again should only be in southern counties. Is it that we are getting warmer. This pic was taken only 6 days ago but as you can tell from the raggedy wing it must be last year's. I saw a lot of them last year. Incidetally it is sat on a shoot of 'Snowberry' which is popping through my variagated holly. They all seem to like the holly as it is brightly coloured.

This post was last modified: 10-05-2007 09:24 PM by Xeract.

That's a great photo. It does seem to have jagged edges, but I've never heard of a butterfly living as long as a year, is that possible? (might be a stupid question)

Hi Xeract, i am Tibbar14`s "im indoors". I always wondered how butterflies survived from year to year until my old dad ( who lived in a stone cottage) found a peacock butterfly in the cellar and further investigation with the natural history section of the museum(Bolton) resulted in us being informed that butterflies hibernate!!!!!!!!!!

I have never heard that before - very interesting! Where do they hibernate? I've heard of some butterflies lasting almost a year, I didn't know this year included hibernation though.

Xeract , that came as a revelation to me to as I thought they only lived about 14 days .

Interesting little fact--butterflies which hibernate have brownish underwing surfaces, and scalloped wing edges, as they attempt to look as much like dried leaves as possible when hibernating.

Kingfisher

I used to have butterflies hibernating in my bedroom when I was a little girl . There would be quite a few (maybe 10-20) sitting on the wall high up in a corner.

We lived in an old brick farmers cottage - and I believe they were red admirals. I could be mistaken on the species - I was only 4 years old!

I used to have butterflies hibernating in my bedroom when I was a little girl . There would be quite a few (maybe 10-20) sitting on the wall high up in a corner.

We lived in an old brick farmers cottage - and I believe they were red admirals. I could be mistaken on the species - I was only 4 years old!

That must have been wonderful. I'm surprised you remember them at all let alone the species! Do you know why they chose your room? And did they hibernate there just once or every year?