The key is adding plants that are known to attract butterflies. When you're planting, focus on flowers with red, yellow, orange, pink, and purple blossoms.

Go to Butterfly Gardening, click on Regional Garden Guides, then click on Houston. You will be linked to a list of nectar and host plants for the central Gulf Coast.

You may know oak trees by the fantastic orange, red and yellow foliage show they put on every autumn. Mature oaks can reach up to 100 feet high, but you can find smaller varieties, such as pin oak ...

These flowers make great companion plants for zinnias. Both have bold colors and intriguing shapes and will attract ...

Many plants attract butterflies, however, some provide better sources of nutrients than others. According to Garden Design, gardeners should select plants that will support the butterfly life cycle.

In the past, most butterfly bush cultivars tended to be vigorous, large-growing shrubby plants, easily reaching 8 feet. Cutting them back hard in the each spring would help control their size.

To learn more about butterfly gardening, go to edis.ifas. ufl.edu/document_uw057. Terry Brite DelValle is a horticultural extension agent with the University of Florida and the city of Jacksonville.

Making a butterfly- worthy garden is not as difficult as you might think, however. Provide the right conditions and plants, and you’ll soon realize your goal.

Using butterfly bush, it’s easy to create a home were the butterflies roam. My first experience with butterfly bush was about 10 years ago, when I planted one in my son’s elementary school garden.