Grow your own Butterfly Garden
Help the Monarch Butterflies
Created by: Britney Free
Why Help?
Missouri is the heart of the
annual monarch butterfly
migration route, making our
state a key geographic
location for monarch
butterfly restoration efforts.
Because of loss of habitat in
the last 20 years there has
been upwards of a 90%
decline in monarch
populations. Monarchs are
pollinators and share many
of the same habitat
requirements as other native
pollinators. In turn, the
declining monarch
population parallels other
declining pollinator
populations. Providing
enough habitat, like
milkweed and nectar plants
for monarchs, is essential in
maintaining a balanced
food web within the
ecosystems that are critical
in sustaining us.
What is a Butterfly
Garden?
Butterfly gardens can come in Host plants are important
all sorts of sizes ranging from a to butterfly gardens as
couple planted pots in a sunny they help sustain the
spot to several acres. The entire life cycle of a
general requirements for a
butterfly, including
butterfly garden are full sun,
nectar plants, host plants for providing food for the
butterfly larvae, a pesticide free larvae of butterflies. The
environment, and a little bit of
knowledge about your local
Monarch’s host plant is
Milkweed, the only plant
butterfly species and their host monarch caterpillars will
plant requirements. One eat. When planting your
common mistake when garden use native
planting a butterfly garden is
species which are
only providing one nectar
already well adapted to
source. Plant a variety of nectar
plants and host plants to the area and help
encourage butterflies to promote local
continue visiting your garden. ecosystems.
For more information about
monarchs and pollinator
friendly habitats visit:
⇨ https://monarchwatch.org/
⇨ https://xerces.org/
⇨ https://grownative.org/
⇨ https://monarchjointventure.org/
⇨ https://moformonarchs.org/
 Native Plant Species Recommended for Missouri
Perennial Plants for Monarch Butterflies

Light
Name Preference Moisture Flower Color Height Space Bloom
(Inches) (inches) Period
New England Aster sun - med avg - moist purple 40 - 60 24 - 36 Sept - Oct
(Aster novae-angliae) shade
Smooth Aster sun - light dry - avg blue 20 - 30 16 - 20 Sept - Oct
(Aster laevis) shade
Common Milkweed sun - light average lavender 48 - 60 36 - 60 June - Aug
(Asclepias syriaca) shade
Purple Milkweed sun - med dry - avg rose-purple 24 - 48 18 - 24 May - June
(Asclepias purpurascens) shade
Butterfly Weed sun - light average orange 24 - 36 18 - 30 June - July
(Asclepias tuberosa) shade
Whorled Milkweed sun - light dry - avg white 12 - 36 10 - 20 May - Sept
(Asclepias verticillate) shade
Prairie Coreopsis sun - med dry - avg yellow 18 - 24 18 - 24 June - July
(Coreopsis palmata) shade
White Prairie Clover sun dry - avg white 18 - 26 16 - 20 June - July
(Dalea candida)
Purple Coneflower sun- med avg - moist pink/purple 30 - 40 18 - 24 June - Aug
(Echinacea purpurea) shade
Rattlesnake Master sun - light average white 30 - 48 16 - 24 July - Aug
(Eryngium yuccifolium) shade
Boneset sun - light avg - wet white 36 - 48 24 - 36 July - Sept
Eupatorium perfoliatum) shade
Ox-eye Sunflower sun - light dry - moist yellow 24 - 48 18 - 30 June - Sept
(Heliopsis helianthoides) shade
Rough blazing star sun - light dry - avg purple 24 - 48 12 - 16 Sept
(Liatris aspera) shade
Blue Lobelia sun - light avg - moist blue 18 - 30 10 - 16 Sept - Oct
(Liatris aspera) shade
Wild bergamot sun - light average lavender 36 - 48 16 - 24 June - July
(Monarda fistulosa) shade
Obedient plant sun - light avg - moist pink/white 36 - 60 16 - 20 July - Sept
(Physostegia virginiana) shade
Black-eyed Susan sun - light average yellow 24 - 36 16 - 24 June
shade
Compass Plant sun average yellow 48 - 96 18 - 30 July - Aug
(Silphium laciniatum)
Gray Goldenrod sun - light dry - avg yellow 18 - 30 16 - 24 Aug - Sept
(Solidago nemoralis) shade
Culver's Root sun - light avg - moist white 36 - 48 16 - 20 June - Aug
(Veronicastrum virginicum) shade

Above is a list of native wildlife flowers recommended for monarchs from the Missouri Department of
Conservation. For the full list visit: https://mdc.mo.gov/wildlife/attracting-wildlife/backyard-habitat-monarch-
butterflies