When building out a butterfly garden, it’s important to plant a mix of blooming annuals and perennials, as explained by Gardeners.com. Annual plants are planted in the spring or summer, then bloom, then die at the end of the season, and never grow back. Perennial plants need only be planted once — they bloom every year in the spring or summer, then seemingly die during the winter, and bloom once again once the weather gets warmer.

This mix of annuals and perennials ensures that there will be plenty of nectar and pollen for butterflies for the entire growing season. It’s also good to plant flowers of all different colors, especially colors like white, yellow, orange, pink, red, and purple, SFGate noted. Butterflies’ favorite plants are ones packed with nectar, open petals, and short tubular blooms (which are the easiest for them to eat from), as per American Meadows.

According to Gardeners.com and The Old Farmer’s Almanac, here are some of the plants that do well at attracting butterflies: