10 Beautiful Butterflies (Photos)

Butterflies are beautiful pollinating insects in the order Lepidoptera. Their colorful wings and interesting life cycle make butterflies a welcome addition to balcony container gardens. Gardeners often plant flowers that will attract local butterfly species to their gardens.

Enjoy these 10 beautiful butterfly photos!

 

 

Swallowtail Butterfly on Phloz

This swallowtail butterfly is on a phlox flower, a plant that also attracts hummingbirds to the garden. Photo by Sfajane.

 

Butterfly

Many public gardens have dedicated butterfly gardens where you can see many different species. Photo by David Blaikie.

 

Butterfly garden flower

Butterflies migrate, so you may see them only several months out of the year. Photo by Derek Keats.

 

Butterfly garden flower

Butterflies are insects closely related to moths. They have an complicated life cycle that includes an egg, larva, pupa and adult stage. Photo Gordon Wrigley.

 

Butterfly garden flower

There are somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 butterfly species worldwide. Photo by Robert Claypool.

 

Clouded sulpher salvia

This clouded sulpher butterfly is on a Salvia species. Photo Laura Perlick/USFWS.

 

Monarch butterfly

Monarch butterflies are the most easily recognized species in North America. Photo by Greg Thompson/USFWS.

 

Monarch caterpillar

The monarch butterfly needs to eat milkweed plants while it grows. Photo by Maddie List/USFWS.

 

Skipper on phlox plant

Skipper butterflies are a type of butterfly that flit and dart through the air. Photo Frank Miles/USFWS.

 

Monarch butterfly

Butterflies are great pollinating insects, and they are attracted to nectar-producing flowers. Photo by Ron Holmes/USFWS.

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