It all starts with healthy soil. Your garden soil works like a chain reaction that affects your whole garden environment. Whatever you add to your soil you are inadvertently feeding millions of microorganisms. Creating healthy soil is as easy as adding compost to your sandy or clay soil. This improves the soil structure and fertility. It is a symbiotic relationship and their existence encourages the absorption of essential minerals to the plants and creates greater disease resistance. Healthy soil equals healthy plants which contribute to fewer pests and diseases.

It is best to choose a complete organic fertilizer. A pesticide and herbicide-free environment are also essential in creating a butterfly/pollinator garden. When you use herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers you are destroying the natural balance of your garden. The nitrogen in synthetic, oil-based fertilizers is derived from the petroleum industry and will leave trace elements of arsenic, lead and a long list of equally obnoxious substances – indefinitely.

The mature butterflies are looking for two things when they enter a garden: nectar and host plants. Nectar is the food that adult butterflies require. Host plants are the places where the female butterfly will lay her eggs on the food that their caterpillars will require. Both are necessary to create a successful butterfly garden.

Choose plants that flower at different times for continuous bloom from spring until fall. This will ensure that nectar sources are available throughout the growing season. Large groups of three or more of the same plants will be easier for butterflies to see than singly planted flowers. If you don’t have a large property, consider planting container gardens using groups of the butterfly’s preferred plant choices.

The books, Spectacular Plant Combinations for the Perennial Garden and A Recipe for Continuous Bloom (Sold out) are filled with many examples of plant combinations that will attract butterflies and pollinators. All of these plants (and many more) can be purchased from Plant Paradise Country Gardens.  View the complete catalog here.