Published on Saturday, April 25, 2026

By Victoria Torley

One of my readers recently asked me a BIG question: How do you make a butterfly garden?

Since everyone has their own plot of land, different sizes, different locations, and different shapes, I am going to start with the basics.

People often forget that butterflies need something other than food to be safe and happy. A water source is always a plus (your birds will use it too), but more important is a place to hide during storms. You can put in wide-leaved plants like heliconia and banana for that, or you can build your own butterfly hideaway.


A plastic or wooden box with shallow sides turned upside-down on a post is the perfect place for a fragile butterfly to get out of the rain and the wind. If you brave the weather, you can get terrific pictures, too.

Separate your butterfly garden from your vegetables and fruit trees if you are someone who needs to use an insecticide, organic or chemical,  and make sure of the direction of the wind when you spray. There is no sense planting things to attract butterflies and then extinguishing them in a puff of aphid spray.

Some butterflies are picky. Blue morphos love rotting bananas, so if you have a banana plant, leave a few bananas around for the morphos. June Silverspots have a special affinity for the ordinary wild white passionflowers.

They will lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves, and you will have nothing left of the leaves when they hatch. Don’t worry, the vines come back for the next round of caterpillars.

Other butterflies are not so picky. They love porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensi) in any of its colors, although they seem partial to blues. The Pachystachys lutea, called shrimp plant if it is pink and lollypop plant if it is yellow, will draw butterflies well.

 

Ixorias and roses, salvia and lantana will keep your yard fluttering. Purple passionflower will draw a crowd of butterflies. Poinciana comes in both dwarf and standard-sized plants. Did I forget orchids? And hibiscus? What about daylilies – in fact, just about any lily will draw butterflies.


Don’t forget to find yourself some milkweed, the favorite of the monarch butterfly. Daisies are wonderful attracters, as are red cardinal flowers.

Even yucca in flower will have the neighborhood fluttering. Sanchezia flowers attract both butterflies and hummingbirds, so it’s always good to have them around.

Now, I know you want to be wide awake watching the dancing color, but don’t forget moths. Moths are pollinators of the angel trumpet, which is why those plants are most fragrant at night. If you have never seen a giant moth sipping nectar, you have missed something. Watch on a night with a full moon.

Well, that’s a start. Keep your eyes open, and you can add to my list.

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Find more interesting stories about gardening in Costa Rica on the AM Costa Rica Garden Magazine. Questions on this article, Ms. Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached by emailing victoriatorley1@gmail.com
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