Creating your own Butterfly Garden

A butterfly bush is a shrub that's typically covered in butterflies all summer long. It is an easy-care shrub that features fragrant flowers in shades of blue, purple, and white.

If your butterfly bush starts to get big, prune it back in winter or early spring. You can cut it almost all the way down to the ground.

There's a salvia for every garden: some are tall, others are short. Some have blue or purple blooms, and others have red, orange, or pink flowers.

While you might have trouble picking a salvia, the butterflies won't -- they'll reliably flock to it every summer.

Phlox bears beautiful clusters of red, pink, lavender, salmon, or white blooms throughout the summer. Their lovely scent delights our noses as much as their nectar delights hungry butterflies.

Phlox can be troubled by a disease called powdery mildew. Look for disease-resistant varieties.

A top plant for the fall garden, aster is a heavy bloomer with colorful flowers in shades of blue, purple, pink, red, and white.

Aster does double duty: The blossoms supply nectar for fall butterflies, and Pearl Crescent caterpillars feed on the plant's leaves.

Look for newer named varieties of asters; they're often more disease resistant and compact.