Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Sucha Deal!, 1 by debnes_dfw_tx

debnes_dfw_tx wrote:
Hi Chuck!
I'm still here, been a lil busy preparing for a local DG Round Up. Here is a list of some plants for hosting various Butterflies:

Butterfly: Host Plants:
Black Swallowtail ~Dill, Parsley, Fennel, Rue, Queen Anne's Lace
Tiger Swallowtail~ Wild Cherry, Yellow Poplar
Spicebush Swallowtail~ Spicebush, Sassafras
Giant Swallowtail~ Citrus Trees, Prickly Ash, Gas Plant (Dictamnus)
Great-Spangled Fritillary~ Violets
Meadow Fritillary~ Violets
Question Mark~ Nettle, False Nettle, Elm, Hops,
Hackberry Comma~ (Hop Merchant) Nettle, False Nettle, Elm,
Hops Mourning Cloak~ Willow, Birch, Elm, Hackberry
Painted Lady~ Hollyhock, Pearly Everlasting, 'Silver Brocade' Artemisia
Common Buckeye~ Snapdragon, Heliotrope, Verbena
Viceroy Willow~ Aspen, Poplar, Cherry
Red-Spotted Purple~ Wild Cherry, Poplar, Aspen
Gray Hairstreak~ Hibiscus, Rose of Sharon, Hollyhock
Silvery Blue~ Lupine
Sulphers~ Cassia Alata

Gulf Fritilary~ Passionvine

The most common types of asclepias around here in the northeast are:

syriaca - tall, heavy mauve-colored flowers with a heady scent, very broad leaves, that's the "common" milkweed - perennial

incarnata - bushy perennial, with mauve flowers with not much scent, called "swamp" milkweed. One strain will put forth more branches and blooms if you snip off the deadheads; one strain blooms only once whether you trim it or not.

curassavica - shorter, gets about 3 feet tall, with clusters of red-and-yellow bicolor flowers and much more tender leaves than the others, also called "bloodflower" or "tropical" - not perennial this far north, you have to restart it from collected seeds each year.

tuberosa - also shorter, but perennial here; these are the ones with the orange flowers and the rather fuzzy leaves, also called the "butterfly milkweed". I have also seen a strain of this being sold that's supposed to be all-yellow, called Asclepias tuberosa 'Hello Yellow'.

Some more plants for Butterfly nectaring:

Red valerian
Centranthus
Columbine
Sky Blue Aster
Smooth Aster
Pale Purple Coneflower
Purple Coneflower
Joe Pye Weed
Meadow Blazingstar
Prairie Blazingstar
Bergamot
Black-eyed Susan
Ohio Goldenrod
Stiff Goldenrod
Little Bluestem
Prairie Dropseed

It is hard to find many of these plants at your local nurseries. When I have asked for some of these they look at me as if i grew another head. The people here at DG are good about sharing seeds though if you look up some of these plants and see who has them. I should have a few to share also, after this weekend's RoundUp.
A great plant you might find easier as a nectar bar is Buddelia, however make room, they grow fairly large. There is a dwarf variety they love just as much and that is called Nano. I had some Monarchs come by today and nectar from the Buddelia White Profussion.

:oDeb