Do Geraniums Attract Butterflies?

Every gardener dreams of seeing butterflies hovering all over their plants. These beautiful creatures can make your garden seem livelier, especially if you have planted attractive flowers such as geraniums. We all know that certain plants are ideal for creating a butterfly-friendly garden. Is geranium one of them? Keep on reading to find out.

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Will Geraniums Attract Butterflies?

A fun fact about geraniums is that butterflies love them as much as we do. This hardy and easy-to-grow plant is known for its showy flowers that come in pink, white, and red.

Depending on the variety, geraniums also have a sweet scent that can smell like pineapple, rose, lemon, and peppermint. It’s this sweet scent and the brightly colored flowers that attract butterflies.

As long as you shelter your geranium indoors during winter. When you finally take it outside and plant it in a bright, sunny spot. It will be surrounded by different varieties of butterflies. If you keep watering it every week, its blooms will be flocked by butterflies all summer long.

Besides Being a Butterfly Attracting Plant – What’s So Special About Geraniums?

Geraniums are a popular garden plant. Obviously, the fact that it has bright blooms and fragrant foliage is a contributing factor. And so is its ability to draw beautifully colored butterflies to your garden is another reason. There are plenty of reasons why you should introduce geraniums to your garden, which include;

There are hundreds of varieties, and each has distinctive features.
Most of these varieties are grown as annuals.
The green foliage of the geraniums is heavily scented with a sweet aroma. These fragrances range from lemon to strawberry. This is one of the main reasons why butterflies love geraniums so much.
It’s an edible plant. The leaves can be used to flavor drinks and salads.
Geraniums are drought-tolerant. They thrive when exposed to a lot of sun. Geraniums don’t need to be watered all the time and are quite low maintenance.
These plants can also survive in pots and make an excellent indoor plant. Provided you place the pot next to a sunny spot.
If you have a herb garden, geranium would be an excellent addition, especially the peppermint variety.

Tips on How to Make Your Geraniums Attract More Butterflies

If you crave a butterfly garden, planting geraniums is just but the first step. There are many things that you will have to do to create a butterfly-friendly garden.

Plant the geraniums as annuals. Some gardeners treat geraniums as perennials. Butterflies are mostly attracted to annual flowers because their nectar is sweeter. A geranium grown annually will receive more butterflies than its perennial counterpart.
Ensure that the geraniums are planted in sunny spots. Butterflies also love plants that directly face the sun. If it’s possible, ensure that your geraniums receive adequate sunlight.
Keep off pesticides as they will kill the caterpillars that grow into butterflies. There is one dilemma that most gardeners usually find themselves in. You may want your garden to flock with butterflies. But surprisingly, no gardener wants to have the caterpillars on their plants because they feed on the leaves. If you use a pesticide, it will kill the caterpillars and butterflies. It’s advisable to stick to organic control methods if you want butterflies to grow and produce in your garden. It’s also important that your desire to have butterflies in your garden doesn’t cloud your judgment. Too many caterpillars will eat the leaves of your geraniums and make it hard for the plant to survive. Strive to achieve a balance between the two.
Set up dish mud puddles around your geranium garden. Butterflies also need moisture to survive. If they have to go far in search of water, the chances of coming back or even hanging around will be rare. Because butterflies can’t land on water to quench their thirst, creating fountains or garden ponds won’t make much sense. The best option would be mud puddles where butterflies can sip liquid from.
If possible, make a shelter for them. For gardeners who are determined to have butterflies in their gardens, you should be willing to take the extra step of providing shelter. Butterflies often seek refuge from branches and leaves. However, heavy rains and winds can be too much for butterflies to handle. There are special butterfly houses found online or in birding specialty stores. Investing in one or two butterfly houses and putting them strategically in your garden where you have grown geranium will ensure your butterflies have a safe place to take shelter.
The last tip on making your geraniums attract more butterflies is by growing them alongside other butterfly plants. Plants such as Pentas, Verbena, Marigold, Petunia, and heliotrope have a beautiful foliage, attractive flowers, and sweet scents that will draw more butterflies. The more plants you add, the more butterflies will be attracted to your garden.