The colors that attract butterflies depend on the species, and research shows most butterflies are born favoring certain colors but learn new ones quickly. Naive monarchs pick orange and yellow first, while pipevine swallowtails lean yellow and then blue and purple.
That means the best butterfly garden mixes colors and keeps the nectar flowing. Here is what the lab studies found, species by species.
Key Takeaways
- In a six-color test, 47% of naive monarchs’ visits went to orange and only 4% to purple.
- Pipevine swallowtails start out favoring yellow, then blue and purple, and learn a new rewarding color within 10 flower visits.
- Monarchs learn flower color more readily than flower shape.
- Sight draws monarchs to flowers, and scent makes the visual signal stronger.
Butterfly Color Preference by Species
Researchers test color preference with butterflies that have never fed from a flower. They offer paper or plastic “flowers” in different colors and record which ones the butterflies visit first.
| Butterfly | Colors naive butterflies favor | Can they learn other colors? | Study |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monarch (Danaus plexippus) | Orange first, then yellow; purple least | Yes, any of six colors after eight days of training | Blackiston, Briscoe and Weiss, 2011 |
| Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) | Yellow first, then blue and purple | Yes, within 10 flower visits | Weiss, 1997 |
| Asian swallowtail (Papilio xuthus) | Females yellow and red; males blue | Preferences shift with plant scents | Kinoshita and Arikawa lab, 2015 |
The pattern is clear. Each species arrives with a built-in bias, but none of them is locked into it.
What Colors Attract Monarch Butterflies
Douglas Blackiston, Adriana Briscoe and Martha Weiss tested naive monarchs in the Journal of Experimental Biology in 2011. In an array of six colors, orange drew 72 visits, or 47%, and purple drew only six, or 4%.
In a second test with three colors, yellow won 18 of the first 24 visits. Red and blue drew three visits each.
The same study trained separate groups of monarchs on red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Monarchs learned the colors they didn’t naturally prefer just as well as the ones they did, and they readily switched when the reward moved to a new color.
A follow-up by Cepero, Rosenwald and Weiss in 2015 found that monarchs learn color more readily than shape. They can still learn shapes, but color is the faster cue.
Swallowtails Favor Different Colors
Martha Weiss’s 1997 study of the pipevine swallowtail, published in Animal Behaviour, found naive butterflies favored yellow, and to a lesser degree blue and purple. Within 10 flower visits they learned to link a flower color with nectar, using yellow and magenta lantana.
Work on the Asian swallowtail from the Kinoshita and Arikawa lab found a split by sex. Naive females favored yellow and red, males leaned blue, and plant scents shifted those preferences.
Our guide to how butterflies see explains the eyes behind these choices, including the ultraviolet signals people can’t see.
Do Butterflies Choose Flowers by Color or Scent?
Mostly by sight, with scent as a booster. A 2025 study by Darene Assadia and Delbert Green in Ecology and Evolution tested naive monarchs with lantana, one of their favorite nectar plants.
Visual cues alone were enough to keep monarchs coming back. Adding the flower’s scent made the visual signal more attractive, which is why fragrant, brightly colored flowers do so well in butterfly gardens.
What This Means for Your Garden
Plant for the butterflies you want, and give them plenty of nectar so they learn your garden pays off.
- Grow orange and yellow flowers such as butterfly weed, zinnias and lantana for monarchs.
- Add purple and blue flowers for swallowtails and other species that lean that way.
- Plant each color in clumps so butterflies can find it and learn it quickly.
- Choose flowers with strong scent, since smell makes the visual signal work better.
For plant ideas by color and season, see our lists of the best butterfly plants and flowers butterflies feed on.
FAQ
What is a butterfly’s favorite color?
It depends on the species. Naive monarchs favor orange and yellow, while pipevine swallowtails start with yellow and then blue and purple.
What color flowers attract monarch butterflies?
Orange and yellow draw naive monarchs most, according to a 2011 study.
Monarchs also learn any color that reliably offers nectar.
Can butterflies learn flower colors?
Yes. Pipevine swallowtails learned a rewarding color within 10 flower visits, and monarchs learned all six colors tested.
Do butterflies prefer color or shape?
Color. Monarchs learn color more readily than shape, though they can learn both.
