How to Plant a Butterfly Garden in Dallas, Texas

Locate a part of your property that is in direct sunlight throughout the day. Butterflies generally do not venture out of the heat of the sun into shade. A place along a fence, building or a shrub hedge is ideal to also provide shelter from wind or rain.

Design your layout for your garden. You can follow a design you found in a book or magazine or online, or print or sketch out your own using design software or paper and pencil. Place taller plants towards the back if you're gardening along a border, or in the middle if not. Utilize textures and colors that are known to attract butterflies and that suit your own tastes and current landscape design. Visit the Butterfly Gardens at the Texas Discovery Garden in Dallas for inspiration and for advice from the local experts who are employed there.

Test your soil and follow any recommendations for amending it to a healthy nutrient-rich loam for the best plant growth. Visit the Texas A&M Extension office's website for information on how to submit your sample for testing.

Plant perennials, following the specific instructions provided for your particular selections. Dallas is situated in USDA Hardiness Zone 8a, and some recommended perennials known to attract butterflies include: purple coneflower, yarrow, Mexican sunflower, salvia, butterfly weed, butterfly bush, common buttonbush, gayfeaterh, lantana, and mist flowers. Your local full-service garden center and most large garden centers should have a selection of the cultivars that are right for your area, along with plants marked as "attractive to butterflies." Native wildflower selections such as milkweed, thistle, clover and goldenrod all provide food for catepillars and encourage butterflies to stay permanently.

Plant herbs such as dill, fennel, nasturtium and parsley, especially if you have no room to add native wildflowers, as these provide food for growing caterpillars as well.

Fill in the garden along the borders and between plants with butterfly-attracting annuals such as marigolds, cosmos, impatiens, zinnia, sweet peas, snapdragon, gaillardia, penstemon, sweet alyssum, verbena, foxglove, sunflower and hollyhock, to name a few.

Add a border of flat rocks to give the winged visitors a place to warm in the sun and rest, along with a shallow place to get a drink of water. A birdbath with a flat rock in the center can achieve the same effect.