How to Create a Butterfly Garden in a Pot

Lure butterflies right to your door with a collection of containers filled with nectar-rich flowers. Here are three ways to create a beautiful butterfly garden with "pots" you may already have on hand.

By Nancy Ondra
Filed under: Butterfly Garden, Container Gardening

Learn how to care for your butterfly garden.

Place your butterfly-attracting containers in a sunny spot to keep them flowering freely, and water them often to keep the soil evenly moist. (In hot or windy weather, they may need watering every day.) Adding a liquid fertilizer to the water every so often will help keep the flowers coming; follow the mixing directions and application schedule on the fertilizer bottle. It's normal for annuals that prefer cool temperatures, such as sweet alyssum and petunias, to slow down or even stop blooming during hot summers. Replacing them with verbenas, dwarf zinnias or other heat-tolerant flowers will keep your container collection bringing in the butterflies through the rest of the growing season.