How enjoyable it is to sit and watch a butterfly as it flutters around from flower to flower until it flys away again. Attracting butterflies to your garden is easy. Just give butterflies what they are looking for food, water and shelter.

The first step to creating a butterfly garden is to provide food for the butterflies. Some plants that attract butterflies are cosmos, daisies, petunias, purple coneflower, coreopsis, verbena, yarrow and lavender. Butterflies are attracted to vivid colors such as pink, purple, red and yellow. They also especially like single petal flowers over double petal varieties as single petal blooms are easier to land on.

Be sure to include some plants that can be used as shelter when creating your butterfly garden. Adding vines or shrubs with thick foilage will help provide shelter for the butterflies in your garden.

A source of water is another essential for attacting butterflies to your garden. Some butterflies will drink from a wet spot on the ground, but others prefer to drink from a shallow pan or something like a birdbath. Lay some small flat rock in the water so the butterflies will have a place to land.