There are many species of butterfly that are attracted to lavender. Lavender is a beautiful purple plant that not only smells wonderful and has calming properties, attracts butterflies as well. Planting Lavender in your yard will add a natural air freshener, and you'll soon see butterflies fluttering about.
In fact as a general rule butterflies prefer flowers that are white, pink, purple, red, yellow and orange. Least favorite colors are blue and green. Butterflies may learn which colored flowers tend to produce their favorite types of nectar.
Fragrance is another lure. Bees and butterflies are attracted to scent.
For butterflies, Joe-Pye weed, ironweed, coneflowers, goldenrod, and brightly-hued asters are nectar-filled favorites.
You can attract butterflies using homemade nectar or old fruit, but we recommend sticking to nectar to help avoid attracting flies and stinging pests like wasps and hornets. You can make your own nectar by using two simple household ingredients: granulated sugar and water. Making the nectar is easy.
In addition to these water features, creating a damp salt lick can encourage both butterflies and bees.
Plant type and color is important - Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple blossoms that are flat-topped or clustered and have short flower tubes. Plant good nectar sources in the sun - Your key butterfly nectar source plants should receive full sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.
Just plant flowers that butterflies like and they'll fly in to feed. You'll have your very own Butterfly Bouquet! If you have a bit more room, you could plant things that will give them a place to lay their eggs, and provide food for their caterpillars.
They are social animals & crave companionship, & so bond easily with humans. Insects operate largely on instinctual behaviour. Survival instincts like flight from shadows & sudden movement are hard-wired & inherited. Any insect which does not respond to perceived threats will be eliminated & not pass on its genes.
Smell sweet. If you're wearing a skin lotion or perfume that smells a bit like flowers, that attract a hungry butterfly.
Many butterflies are also attracted to human skin and suck sweat or blood from cuts with their proboscis. They love wet, sweaty socks and shoes, and absolutely adore the stuff that seeps out latrines.
Because it is difficult to keep a plant full of nectar producing flowers blooming indoors, most of us use an alternate food. There are many types of food that will feed butterflies well. Fruit juice, 15% honey water, 15% sugar water, or Gatorade are the easiest for us.
Multiple photoreceptors discovered in a swallowtail's eye
Butterflies may not have a human's sharp vision, but their eyes beat us in other ways. Their visual fields are larger, they're better at perceiving fast-moving objects, and they can distinguish ultraviolet and polarized light.
Butterfly's are prey to a number of predators, which includes birds, spiders, lizards, small mammals and even other insects.
Our simulation indicated that the Papilio vision is tetrachromatic, employing the ultraviolet, blue, green and red receptors. The random array of three ommatidial types is a common feature in butterflies.
In summary, unlike humans, butterflies cannot remember personal experiences (if any) from their time as a caterpillar. Their memory is strictly biological, allowing them to recall things that endanger their well-being—like an electric shock!
Butterflies don't bite because they can't. Caterpillars munch on leaves and eat voraciously with their chewing mouthparts, and some of them do bite if they feel threatened. But once they become butterflies, they only have a long, curled proboscis, which is like a soft drinking straw—their jaws are gone.
They see on the ultraviolet light spectrum, which is why pink, red and white are especially popular with them.
In spirituality, butterflies often represent change, transformation, hope, and your inner self. A loved one, angel, or spirit guide may be trying to send you a message of hope or peace if a butterfly lands on you. Butterflies could gravitate to you if you have a kind, compassionate, and/or imaginative spirit.
Lavender. Who isn't familiar with the sweet scent of lavender? This beautiful perennial is popular with butterflies and people. Lavender grows best well-drained soil and full sun, and thrives with minimal care.
Mint (Mentha spp.)
Its small white, pink, or purple summer blooms flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Mint is planted in the spring after the threat of frost has passed.
Some butterflies love flower nectar, while others prefer to eat sugar from a rotting fruit.
The sugar water will drip slowly onto the ground. The butterflies will be attracted to the sweet-smelling water and come to drink [source: RSPCA].
Butterflies may also get energy from eating fruit juice, sugar water, tree sap, fungi, and organic matter from animals. Male butterflies need a source of salt and minerals and will get this from drinking muddy water.