Colorful butterflies just outside your door or window brighten a summer day. Draw butterflies near by providing one or more of the basics: water, warmth, shelter, or food.

Quick Tip

Butterfly houses can shelter butterflies from the cold, but generally are not for hosting butterfly larvae.

1. Water

Butterflies, unlike most of the critters you can attract to your outdoor area, do not drink from water containers. Instead, they prefer getting their moisture from mud. Yes, that's right, mud. A tray of moistened sand or mud is the preferred drink of butterflies.

2. Warmth

Most butterflies are not active if temperatures fall below 85 degrees. So, butterflies are more likely to visit if they have a warm rock, log, or balcony ledge protected from the wind where they can sit and bask in the sun.

3. Shelter

Overwintering butterflies need shelter from the elements, while other butterflies need plants that shelter and provide food.

4. Food

Although you can provide overripe fruit or a sugar solution for certain butterflies, providing plants for butterflies to munch on is the most natural and effective.