How to Plant a Butterfly Garden in the State of Colorado
- 1). Select a flower bed location where Colorado's windy weather will be minimized by building walls or windbreak plantings such as shrubs.
- 2). Prepare the garden bed and buy plants keeping in mind Colorado's arid climate and soil varieties. Select xeriscapic (drought-tolerant) plants. Colorado soils range from sandy loams to heavy clays. Dig in lots of organic matter, such as compost, to loosen the soil and improve its nutrients for a variety of plants. Do not add too much fertilizer, because many butterfly favorites prefer soil that isn't too rich.
- 3). Provide access to plenty of sunshine as well as puddles of water. Some butterflies, particularly males, collect in damp areas, a behavior referred to as forming "mud puddle clubs." This may be due to the muddiness making essential minerals in the soil more accessible. The soil dries out quickly in Colorado, so replenish the puddles daily.
- 4). Add plants like the Nanking cherry, the rose of Sharon and potentilla, which grow well in Colorado and are attractive to butterflies. Consider growing milkweed, because it is drought tolerant and its leaves are the only ones on which monarch caterpillars will dine. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and rose mallow (Asclepias incarnata) are milkweed plants that do well in Colorado.
- 5). Plant a variety of plants that provide caterpillar forage and nectar for grown butterflies. Look for kinds that more than one kind of butterfly native to Colorado likes. Consider alfalfa, because clouded sulfur and Melissa blue caterpillars both like it. But be aware that even if two species of caterpillars like the same food, their adult butterflies may not. Clouded sulfur butterflies like alfalfa nectar, but Melissa blues prefer the juice of bee balm and sweet clover. Provide all three plants in the garden and they will attract both kinds of butterflies.
- 6). Plant large patches of butterfly favorites that bloom in sequence, so there will be a continuous supply of nectar to prolong their stay. Rabbitbrush is a Colorado butterfly favorite that only blooms in late summer. Mix it in with other butterfly-attracting plant families, such as the penstemons, which grow well in Colorado and offer species blooming from spring through fall. Try a variety of drought-tolerant, nectar-producing plants, including asters and zinnias, many of which bloom from summer through fall.
- 7). Feed a wide variety of butterfly appetites. Place pieces of fruit in the flower bed to rot, because they attract species such as the hackberry butterfly, which is common to Colorado. Its caterpillars like the leaves of hackberry trees, which do well in the state.
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