RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — One of spring’s most elegant bugs, the butterfly, will soon be reappearing all across Virginia, but to see more of the flying critters in your own yard, you’ll have to provide just the right types of tantalizing attractions.

There are dozens of species of butterfly common to Virginia, from Black Swallowtails, to Monarchs, the summer and spring azures, and the white admirals. With each individual species, comes a different preference in diet and breeding grounds.

Check out the list below, created by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program, to find out which native plants your favorite Virginia butterflies prefer, and curate your own backyard garden to entice them your way!

  • A red admiral butterfly sits on a blossom and collects nectar on July 23, 2012 in a garden in Schoenebeck, eastern Germany. After a long period of rain and fresh temperatures, summer came back to most parts of the country. AFP PHOTO / PETER FOERSTER GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read PETER FOERSTER/AFP/GettyImages)
  • This photo taken August 9, 2014 shows an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail along Skyline Drive in the Shenadoah National Park in Virginia. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are found all over, especially near water, but also in meadows, gardens, parks, and roadsides. AFP PHOTO / Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)
  • GO WITH AFP STORY IN SPANISH BY JULIA RIOS Blue Prince butterflies (Morpho Peleides), as seen in in the Nicaraguan National Zoo, April 22, 2009 during Earth Day in Managua. Different species of animals in danger of exctintion are in many zoos around the world. AFP PHOTO/Miguel ALVAREZ (Photo credit should read MIGUEL ALVAREZ/AFP via Getty Images)
  • ROCHFORD, ENGLAND – JULY 13: A Small Skipper (left) and a Gatekeeper buterfly at the RSPB’s Wallasea Island Reserve on July 13, 2015 near Rochford, England. Wallasea Island Wild Coast project has been created using around three million tonnes of soil excavated from the Crossrail Tunnel project, which has helped create Europe’s largest man-made nature reserve. The construction is transforming the levee-protected farmland into a thriving wetland reserve twice the size of the City of London, as part of a 20 year plan. The site is managed by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and hopes to attract an array of wildlife including Avocet, Redshank and lapwing, along with large flocks of Brent geese, Dunlin, Wigeon and Curlew. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
  • A Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is pictured at the Sanctuary of El Rosario, Ocampo municipality, Michoacan state, Mexico, on February 3, 2020. – The body of Raul Hernandez Romero, a Monarch butterfly defender, was found murdered February 1, 2020, less than a week after the body of environmentalist Homero Gomez was found, the regional prosecutor’s office reported. Romero was found in the town of Las Balsitas, in the municipality of Ocampo, Michoacan, with “bruises on different parts of the body and a head wound, caused by a sharp object,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement February 3. (Photo by Enrique Castro / AFP) (Photo by ENRIQUE CASTRO/AFP via Getty Images)
  • SAN FRANCISCO, CA – MAY 08: A Buckeye butterfy sits on a flower during the first day of the “Butterflies and Blooms” exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park on May 8, 2013 in San Francisco, California. The popular “Butterflies and Blooms” exhibit has returned to the Conservatory of Flowers and features more than 20 species of North American butterflies including Monarchs, Western Swallowtails and more. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
  • American Lady — pussytoe, ironweed
  • Azures — flowers of dogwood, New Jersey tea, cherry, meadowsweet, holly, viburnum
  • Black Swallowtail — dill, parsley, fennel, carrot
  • Buckeye — gerardia, plantain, snapdragon, foxglove, ruellia, monkey flower, verbena
  • Clouded Sulphur — clover (mainly white)
  • Eastern Comma — nettle, elm, hops
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue — clover, vetch, legumes
  • Fritillaries — violet, pansy, sedum, passionflower
  • Gray Hairstreak — legumes, cotton flowers, oaks
  • Monarch — milkweed species
  • Orange Sulphur — alfalfa, clover, wild indigo
  • Pearl Crescent — aster (probably not New York, flat-top or white wood asters)
  • Red Admiral — nettle, Pennsylvania pellitory
  • Red-Spotted Purple — cherry, serviceberry, cottonwood, aspen, willow, scrub & black oaks
  • Silver-Spotted Skipper — black & honey locusts, wisteria
  • Skippers (various) — native grasses & sedges
  • Spicebush Swallowtail — sassafras, spicebush
  • Tiger Swallowtail (Eastern) — tulip tree, wild black cherry, lilac, ash, basswood, willow

You can also check out this report by the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener’s program for more information on how to make your garden a better home for native birds and wildlife.