plants that attract butterflies, but not rabbits??

Hi,

My goal is to have a butterfly garden. I have a fairly good start with a butterfly bush (not invasive in my area), shasta daisy, coreopsis, Mexican Petunia, Michaelmas Daisy....

However, there is a "waskily wabbit" in my midst. He really enjoys my Mexican Petunia and Michaelmas Daisy. (and the liriope) He keeps them chopped to the ground. I was counting on them to grow a fairly large area.

Does anybody have any ideas for butterfly attracting plants that rabbits do not love??? Or maybe some plants that will deter rabbits, but not deter butterflies? I am starting to think I just need to dig up the petunia and Michaelmas Daisy and put in containers until I can figure something out.

Any help is appreciated.

You can also try sprinkling those plants with a heavy dose of Cayenne peppers. I buy the biggest cheapest bottle I can find and liberally sprinkle my plants and veggies to discourage the little pests. They don't like it spicy!! :)

Blood meal works sometimes, with the added value of nitrogen. 'Liquid Fence' works very well.

Thanks to you both! I will try the cayenne pepper first and if that does not work, I'll try the blood meal.

We save seed and plant masses of tall zinnias every year in and around our veggie garden. Brings tons of a wide variety of butterflies, but no rabbits or deer. One year I noticed a rather sizable pile of 'petals' on the ground. They were actually butterfly wings--dozens and dozens. I started checking out the plants and discovered a very happy praying mantis munching away on her most recent catch.

Asclepias or milkweed is a good choice. The orange variety is called butterfly weed. I have them and the taller pink swamp milkweed. They've never been bothered by rabbits and we have plenty around here. Milkweeds are very important for the survival of the monarch butterfly, which uses milkweeds almost exclusively as its hosts. If you see eggs or caterpillars, leave them there. They will eat the leaves, but not injure the plant.
Another plant is the eupatorium, Joe Pye weed, a native prairie plant. It gets pretty tall, 6 feet or more, but there are shorter cultivars. My plant books recommend planting them with butterfly weed. My Joe Pye loves it's spot and grows to 10-12 feet!
Here are some more from a list in my Gardening Encyclopedia and my own experience: (besides the ones you mentioned)
Hardy and annual ageratum, hollyhock, asters, shasta daisy, echinacea (purple coneflower), helenium (sneezeweed), daylilies, lavender, alyssum, beebalms and other mints (be careful of their invasiveness), phlox, perovskia (russian sage), rudbeckia (black-eyed susan), salvia, sedum, goldenrod, thyme, verbena, ironweeds and zinnias.
I have most of these and the bunnies don't bother them. Many of them have a strong fragrance, which is a rabbit deterrent. I plant zinnias and cosmos from seeds in mid-summer to fill in gaps between my perennials, especially the coreopsis early sunrise which needs to be pulled out to make room for the million babies coming up. The butterflies love zinnias and cosmos. Other herbals besides thyme, mints, salvia (sage), perovskia, echinacea and lavender attract butterflies that use them as hosts: fennel, dill, basil and parsley. Also good are alliums (onion family), foxglove, artemisia and yarrow. Many of these also attract beneficial wasps with their flat flower heads.
Rudbeckias can sometimes be bunny food when they are very young and small. I've have to use the methods listed below to ward the critters off till the plants are bigger. Planting them with "smelly" plants will help, too.

I have had bunny problems with other plants and sometimes have to resort to the "4-pronged attack".
1. bloodmeal
2. pepper spray
3. dog hair (the dog odor scares them off)
4. stockade of bamboo skewers broken in half and sticking in the soil around the plant with the pointy ends up. This is a last resort, but effective. After doing this a couple of years, the bunnies got smart and they don't mess with me much anymore. LOL