Butterflies and moths can add colour and life to your garden. They are not only visually stunning but are also important in the pollination of many Australian plants.

Attracting butterflies to your garden is easy. The two key ingredients to attracting butterflies to your garden are nectar and caterpillar food.

All you need to do is provide a range of suitable indigenous plants - which will provide the nectar - and suitable leaves for laying eggs on.

Butterflies are most active during the day, whereas moths are more likely to be seen at night.

Here are a few tips for attracting beautiful butterflies and moths to your garden:

• Avoid using chemical sprays and insecticides.
• Plant open flowers for landing, and feeding platforms for butterflies.
• Plant fragrant, cream and white flowers for moths.

You may be wondering exactly which plants will see butterflies descend upon your backyard. Well, here is a list of flowering plants, trees, shrubs and grasses which should do the job:

Flowering plants:

• Cut-leaf Daisy
• Everlasting
• Grey Parrot-pea
• Nodding Saltbush
• Running Postman

Trees:

• Yellow Box
• Blackwood
• Silver Wattle
• Sweet Bursaria

Shrubs:

• River Bottlebursh
• Austral Indigo
• Cluster Pomaderris

Grasses:

• Wallaby Grass
• Tall Sedge
• Mat-rush
• Weeping Grass
• Tussock Grass
• Kangaroo Grass

For more information:

• the Victorian Indigenous Nursery Co-operative (www.vinc.net.au) can provide plants and information
• nest boxes can be purchased from Keelbundoora Nursery (La Trobe University)
• websites such as Sustainable Gardening Australia (www.sga.org.au) and Flora for Fauna (www.floraforfauna.com.au) offer useful tips and ideas on wildlife-attracting plants.