Herbs: Butterflies in the Herb Garden, 1 by tabasco

tabasco wrote:
Hi all--

I don't post often on the Herbs forum but I lurk daily here and grow several kinds of herbs. I enjoy all your posts and the good info...

So I was googl-ing for plants to fill in a sunny dry space in our front garden and came across this very informative article about particular herbs that butterflies like for nectar and to ovipost (lay their eggs that turn into caterpillars that turn into butterflies) on. And I thought of the herb forum and I thought I'd share it so that others could learn a bit more about this fun aspect of growing herbs...

http://butterflygardeners.com/herb.htm

When I have to make a choice between plants to add to the garden, I always like to choose the variety/cultivar that the butterflies like the best. Sometimes its difficult to know which is most attractive to the butterflies with out having actually tried out the different herbs in the garden, but it's always nice to have some tips...

Of course, some gardeners don't like butterflies because their caterpillars eat some herb foliage (i.e., parsley, dill, artimesia) but I just plant extras for them....

I am also wondering if any of you have noticed any particular herb of interest to the Butterflies and if so, which ones??... thanks so much. t.

Photo: Swallowtails on my verbena (wildly popular herb flower with most of the BFs that visit our garden here in the Midwest.)