Attracting and Feeding Adults and Larvae

Butterfly garden host plants are where the butterflies prefer to lay their eggs. 

They are chosen because of what the larvae, or caterpillars, eat after hatching. 
Obviously, these plants will be chewed up by the larvae, and might look better at the back of the garden, or hidden behind another tall plant. 

Flowers - Plant butterfly milkweed, arabis, sweet rocket, black-eyed susan, purple coneflower, honesty, hollyhocks, sweet william, white and purple alyssum, cosmos, coreopsis, phlox, daisies, catnip, heliotrope, sea holly, asters, stocks, zinnias, yarrow, globe thistles, lavender, rosemary, thyme, stonecrops, sweet woodruff, candytuft, verbena and gaillardia.

Shrubs/Trees - Butterfly bush, common lilac, mock orange, beauty bush, blackberry, potentilla, honeysuckle, hawthorn, weigela, sumac, rose of Sharon, spirea, privet and pussy willow. 

The Butterfly Bush is very hardy in both my zone 6 and zone 8 gardens, evergreen in zone 8,  dies to the ground in zone 6 
The plant is incredibly prolific - the southern garden needed thinning out and cutting back every year, and the plants are much sturdier than the same variety planted in zone 6. I can't think of a thing that can kill them. They don't care about too much water, too little water, no fertilizer needed. And it doesn't seem to get bugs.

Butterfly bushes have long, arching stems. Mine are about 6 ft. long. There's one big flower on the ends of the stems. I have seen two or three butterflies feeding on one big bloom.

       

My Milkweed in the Pollinator Garden

Let's not forget the value of the Butterfly Bush (buddleia)