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The garden also needs protection from the wind. Butterfly's wings are very fragile and they can tear easily in any strong wind. (Chennai cannot boast of strong winds anyway!). However fence, wall or hedge of shrubs creates a wind break and provides shelter and protection. Building a butterfly house will also provide night time and hibernation protection for the butterflies. Be sure to include both larval and nectar plants in your garden. Try to include spring, summer and fall blooming varieties of both nectar and larval plants.
Attracting butterflies to your garden can increase its natural beauty and charm. It's also an excellent way to provide a home for threatened butterfly species. Providing a cultivated habitat for them counterbalances the ongoing destruction of their natural habitats. Butterflies have a honed sense of smell and can detect nectar from miles away. When they sense the blossoming of a plant they thrive on, they will travel for hours to reach it. Their determination to feed on certain plants is so strong that hours after a butterfly-attracting plant blossoms, butterflies will be there to sup. This makes your job very easy. In fact, if you don't have a garden, you can attract butterflies to a window box by planting the right flowers.
In general, butterflies are attracted to yellow, purple, white, and light pink flowers. They're also attracted to plants that have broad, flat blooms. These types of blossoms make it easier for butterflies to land and feed. Continuous bloom. If you want butterflies to stay in your garden throughout the year, you'll need to present them with a variety of plants that bloom throughout this period and provide nectar. Source of water. Butterflies need to drink, too. A simple water dish that holds water will suffice. No pesticides or herbicides. Never use these in or near your garden. They're toxic to all bugs, not just the ones you think you're targeting. A few of the plants that attract butterflies are asters, beard tongue, butterfly bush, common heliotrope, cosmos, daylily, iris, lavender, milkweed, petunia, phlox, red clover, thyme, and zinnia. Remember to choose a plant that is common to your area, so it will grow easily and attract butterflies that are native to your region.
Compiled from internet sources
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Flowers attract butterflies.
A successful garden should include several types of flowers for a continuous bloom time throughout the growing season. Butterflies are active from early spring until late fall. The nectar-producing flowers will attract the butterflies. These plants provide their source of food. The larval plants will lure the female butterflies where she will deposit her eggs. The newly hatched caterpillars need a ready food supply. Including a source of water will also lure butterflies to your garden. Never use pesticides or herbicides in or near your garden. These are toxic to butterflies, caterpillars and other good bugs. 
Variety of plants. If you want butterflies to spend as much time as possible in your garden, set it up so they can complete several life cycles there. This means caterpillars, and it means a few eaten leaves. If you can stand the sight of eaten plants, you'll be able to coax butterflies into considering your garden their home.
The growth cycle of butterflies takes only a few weeks. So the journey--from egg to caterpillar, to chrysalis, to newly emergent butterfly--is a cycle you can easily watch unfold. Watching butterflies emerge from cocoons is just one of the many pleasures offered by a butterfly garden. By planting one, you'll provide yourself and your family with bright, beautiful flowers; the constant company of butterflies sunning themselves or flying from plant to plant; and the knowledge that you're helping to support our environment and the insects that are an integral part of it.
