I love butterflies and I’ve never heard of anyone stating the opposite. Who wouldn’t be touched, stunned and fascinated by these beautiful and multicolored creatures?
I remember having a lot of butterflies in my lost garden. Though it wasn’t entirely my doing - I had a plant school as a neighbour and they drawn a lot of butterfly species over to my garden too 
I’m sure that some of the butterflies wasn’t even common in our country, they had sort of “hitchhiked” with the big transport of flowers from the Netherlands they got. (Together with the spiders!)
I know, that if I ever get an own garden again, I will definitely plant a lot of flowers to make it to a paradise for the butterflies!
It’s just a matter of having enough of different plants which produces nectar and provides blooming flowers from mid to late summer, because that’s when most butterflies are active. In the southern Sweden butterflies is active during May-September.
Did you know that butterflies can see the color of the flowers? Plants that is established for butterflies visits has certain colors and pattern, especially those that produce nectar has visible spot, honey signs. They can even smell the scent and is testing if they are tasty!
Butterflies don’t just suck on any flower - oh no, they are connoisseur’s like myself - they often prefer certain plant species or choose after what the season has to offer. Some prefer rotten rised fruits, sap from newly fallen trees or even excrements or rotten cheese. (Not my taste exactly…)
A butterfly’s lifetime is on average 2-5 weeks. The male butterfly usually has a shorter lifetime than the female and very often he dies after the mating. (Sorry guys 
There probably is as much stunningly beautiful butterflies as there is flowers, if not more. However, as long as I stay in Sweden, I’ll never ever be able to attract any Hummingbirds with any plants, since we don’t have them over here ;-(
The photos below are butterflies we’ve spotted at the islands FÃ¥rö and Gotland outside Swedens east coast.
[Click to enlarge pic and get facts]
Some useful links about Butterfly Gardening:
Fact sheets about Butterfly Gardening
Creating a Butterfly Friendly Garden
Butterfly Gardening
Butterfly Garden Plants (They even have a table for which butterfly caterpillar eating which plant!)
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That is the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen! It can’t be an aussie obviously! Stunning! And a great shot to boot! Fantastic!
Lifecruiser: Thank you John, I’m glad you liked it so much. We do too actually. I had never seen that one before, even if they use to be able to spot here.
Love the butterflies! I only had a few around my house this year but I hope to have more next year!
Lifecruiser: this year in Sweden was a really good Butterfly year, I’ve never seen so many
Oh yeah… I love butterflies…. One of these days i’ll just break down and plant a butterfly garden again…. That’s another thing I haven’t done since we moved… the old house had a great one.
Lifecruiser: Yes, please do, so I can look at your stunning picture of the visitors
and oops again… Here I go forgetting where i came from… and BTW - my GTS is up finally
Lifecruiser: Sooo, I popped over and yes there it was, a huge…. beautiful…. *lol*
I wonder if male butterfly’s take out huge insurance policies to keep the females in luxury after they have passed on..
Lifecruiser: In that case I wonder what the femal butterflies consider being luxury life…? *curious*
Those are the most colorful butterflies, I’ve ever seen.
Even the one that looked like a LEAF! Very pretty!
Thank you for sharing those butterfly links, I’m going to check them out, and find out which are the best plants to survive the HOT Summers here.
Lifecruiser: What? don’t you have colorful ones where you are? Maybe it’s too hot then? That must be a huge problem when planting a garden!
Well I greatly enjoyed my Green Thumb Butterfly Education Day!
Thank You!
Lovely pics
Lifecruiser: Thanks. *lol* Glad you enjoyed it
Butterflies ARE remarkable creatures. Beautiful… each and every one! And I DID know that they are picky about the flowers they choose! Ya have to plant certain ones if you want them to come and visit!
Lifecruiser: I can only agree again. I did know that they liked certain flowers, but not that certain species prefer certain flowers and areas for that matter, they have territories they guard too. I learn all the time
I also love butterflies. And they are such a perfect symbol of growing up, becoming something beautiful and evolotuion. There is this Mariah Carey’s song (I kniw I knoiw nobody likes Mariah, but she has an amazing voice) called “Butterfly”:
When you love someone so deeply
They become your life
It’s easy to succumb to overwhelming fears inside
Blindly I imagined I could
Keep you under glass
Now I understand to hold you
I must open up my hands and watch you rise
Chorus
Spread you wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly (Oooh)
Fly abandonedly into the sun
If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be, so spread your wings and fly
Butterfly
Are you one too?:)
Lifecruiser: Well, sometimes we have to listen to the song only and ignore the personality of the singer. I’m sure flying enough to be one
But I’ll keep Mr Lifecruiser around me all the time, so no need of coming back, I’m there already… *S*
I love butterflies too! they enjoy our life!
The first thing I did with my little pupils this year is… to decorate the classroom with butterflies that children painted with nice colours inks. You take a white paper that you fold in two. you put your enks only on one side and you fold the other side over.
After when the paint is dry you can cut up your butterfly and clip the antennas. If you want a nice butterfly polish it! Now I can see all the day many butterflies of different colour flying in my class!
Have a good night with many butterflies in your dreams!
Lifecruiser: Ah, I bet that the children loved that! How inventive of you to let them do that. You must be a popular teacher
They are just so beautiful. I don’t try to attract butterflies to our garden, though. Our cats seem to have taken a liking to them, and they chase them.. poor things.
I’m joining GTS by the way! I just have to lol
Mandy :=)
Lifecruiser: Well, I suppose that’s just natural behaviour we have to accept. Wonderful that you’re joining GTS Many! I’ve just waited for you! How curious I gonna be on your posts now
Lovely shot all. I love butterflys. Found out the neighbor owns the butterfly bush so I am taking some new growth cutting to see if I can grow my own! Then I will have my own bush to enjoy! She fusses so when I am taking shots near it! But I do want a section of my front garden to be devoted to the butterflys. Love your shots and the colors in them!
Lifecruiser: Thanks Debbie
Sounds like a little stingy neighbour to me. *sigh* . Well, I think you’re doing the right thing there, growing your own instead - I’m sure you’re going to have many butterfly visitors.
That is so weird, I was just telling my friend about butterflies yesterday (their life span and stuff) and now today I read about it.
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment on my 100th post.
Lifecruiser: That’s weird yes
You’re welcome! You’re doing a very good thing, spreading knowledge about mental illness, it really needs to get out in the air!
Me again. I linkes to you from my Worthless Trivia site. Hope that’s okay.
Lifecruiser: Of course that’s OK! I’ll link back of course, I already had that in mind, but it sort of slipped
That’s a beautiful butterfly at the top of your post. I’ve never seen one like it before. Actually I think all of the butterflies that you have shown us are very different than most of the types we see around here. Very pretty.
I’ve grown a lot of different types of flowers and plants that butterflies love including two types of milkweed in my garden. this year it really paid off- butterflies everywhere, especially Monarchs.
Lifecruiser: I hadn’t seen one before either, but I read that we can have them here. I guess, living in the capital, I can’t count on seeing so many species right here. These one was after all out on the countryside, on an island, more south in Sweden. But this year was exceptional, a real butterfly summer. It was the weather that was unusually good
I wanted to thank you for your comment on my gardening blog and for inviting me to join GTS! (This is a great post, by the way.) I can’t manage it just now, but I am thinking it would be a great thing for the winter months ahead. I am certainly going to keep it in mind!
Lifecruiser: Thanks Karen. You’re welcome whenever you join us, I’m looking forward to seeing your postings