# Butterflies



## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

Has anyone hung butterfly houses in their yard to attract or keep butterflies around? I've read mixed things about them.


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## daniel3507 (Jul 31, 2018)

I'm not familiar with butterfly houses. I've planted a lot of native plants that attract lots of butterflies and bees though


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

I plant a lot of butterfly friendly flowers myself.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Hadn't heard of butterfly houses either.
But we've tried to use plants in our landscaping that will attract them.
We have a couple of butterfly bushes in the back yard, one that blooms purple and another that's more magenta. They mostly attract Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (fun fact, the state butterfly of VA). Here's a shot I took several years ago.
20150707-DSC_4263 by Scott W, on Flickr

We had Blackeyed Susans that got a lot of skippers on them. But the Blackeyed Susans grew like weeds and were a pain to keep up with, and we decided we weren't in love with their appearance, so we wound up removing them.
20150815-DSC_5257 by Scott W, on Flickr

Our Russian Sage is blooming now and is attracting smaller butterflies. I'll grab some pics if I remember.


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## Skiney12 (7 mo ago)

I have planted butterfly bushes and their flowers attract bees and butterflies into my garden.


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## aarogb (Oct 13, 2020)

We've got two butterfly bushes in our front yard that attract tons of butterflies. But no butterfly houses specifically.


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## PNW_George (May 28, 2018)

ScottW said:


> Hadn't heard of butterfly houses either.
> But we've tried to use plants in our landscaping that will attract them.
> We have a couple of butterfly bushes in the back yard, one that blooms purple and another that's more magenta. They mostly attract Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (fun fact, the state butterfly of VA). Here's a shot I took several years ago.
> 20150707-DSC_4263 by Scott W, on Flickr
> ...


I have always thought the large Yellow Butterflies were Monarch's but it seems they are Eastern Tiger Swallowtails though we are as far from east as you can get? We have at least a few flying around our yard at all times. We tend to buy plants that attract Hummingbirds and I believe many of them also attract butterflies. Never thought of houses for them though. These were taken in the last couple days while sitting on my patio.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

PNW_George said:


> I have always thought the large Yellow Butterflies were Monarch's but it seems they are Eastern Tiger Swallowtails though we are as far from east as you can get?


There are at least 4 different kinds of tiger swallowtail. One website I found (butterfliesandmoths.org) shows the ranges of the different types and it doesn't show the Eastern being sighted in WA. Yours is more likely a Western, whereas in my area of VA we get Eastern, Appalachian, and occasionally Canadian tiger swallowtails. They're all in the genus _Papilio_ and although they're listed as distinct species, from reference pics on the web they look mostly the same to me. Not sure how one would tell them apart other than just going by geography. Even within the same species some can have a dark form which looks completely different (mostly black/blue instead of yellow). I've seen a handful of dark form over the years but most I've seen are the yellow form. Females have more blue on them so the one in your pic is more likely a male.

We definitely get Monarchs around here too. I see fewer of them than the tiger swallowtails, but I'll spot them when hiking around.


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## 01Bullitt (Aug 31, 2020)

I tend to plant flowers that attract pollinators especially hummingbirds. I love to sit outside and watch them compete for food.

Black & Blue salvia is a hummingbird magnet 


Cigar plant or cuphea another great hummingbird plant


Agastache- Butterfly & bee magnet


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