As a source of nectar and pollen, aromatic plants are the best, especially those in the mint family (e.g., oregano, lemon balm, mint, sage, thyme), the carrot family (e.g., dill, coriander, chervil), and the legume family. Additionally, cornflower, lavender, thistle, Joe-Pye weed, and elderberry are excellent. Daisies, sunflowers, and marigolds are also great additions to a butterfly-friendly garden.
Additionally, butterflies take interest in their host plants, where they lay eggs and which their caterpillars subsequently feed on (e.g. thyme, bird’s-foot trefoil, sainfoin, fennel, nettle, or even hawthorn). They will also seek out dry shelters where they can overwinter – this could be our attic or a decayed tree trunk.
Moreover, plants flowering in the autumn can help butterflies remain active if the winter is late to arrive: such as toadflax, dead-nettle, shepherd’s purse, or heather.
A short-cut lawn may seem very neat to some, but for wildlife, it is basically a green colored desert. Insects only come with a flowering meadow, and with them, animals that feed on them – songbirds, lizards, bats, and many others. It is the meadow, not the lawn, that gives them food, shelter, and a place to breed.
Frequent mowing to a short length is what flowering herbs hate the most. They do not have time to seed, and over time, grasses and plants with basal leaf rosettes dominate. But for a garden full of butterflies, it is flowers, not grasses, that we need to emphasize. Another equally big mistake is to mow everything at once.
1. When mowing, we must focus on the areas where grasses are currently flowering. Grasses flower gradually between May and September, and to suppress them, they need to be mowed precisely during their flowering period (pollen shedding).
2. If selective mowing of grasses is not possible, the solution is called incremental mowing. We divide the area into, for instance, three sections, which we mow separately 1 to 2 times a year at different times. For mowing, we primarily choose areas where the fewest herbs are currently flowering. This way, insects have a chance to gradually move between the different sections.
3. For maintaining larger gardens, you can try using sheep or goats.
4. Seed mixtures for flowering meadows are available for purchase, but ideally, one should use regional seeds.
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