Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Butterfly plants for hot brick wall?, 1 by TexasPuddyPrint

TexasPuddyPrint wrote:
Any ideas on what good nectar or larval plants, vines, bushes etc. I can plant against a west facing wall?

My neighbors used to have a tree on their side of the fence that provided some shade but a few years ago hurricane split it and they removed it.

There is no shade from around high noon to late afternoon and the bricks on that side of my house get really hot. The bricks retain the heat for a couple of hours even after the sun sets!

Remember I live in the deep south tip of Texas and the sun beats on this side of the house something fierce!

I tried planting creeping fig but they got toasted before they got a foothold. There's still a couple of at the base of the brick and they haven't grown an inch! I planted a dozen there last fall.

Right now I've got a couple of Blue Mist Bushes planted there too but they haven't grown much at all. The ones I planted at the same time on a east wall are already five feet tall and really bushy.

I just replaced the fence so don't have much planted on that strip of land - mainly because it just stays too hot. Do have a Dalechampia Vine growing on an arched livestock panel.

I want something that would provide shade for a length of about 24 feet a height of at least 7 feet.

Was thinking maybe I should just use a couple of livestock fence panels against that wall and plant some passion vines? Or plant some firebushes and just keep them hedged back?

The distance between the wall and fence is only 7 feet wide so would still like to be able to walk through there as butterflies use the lantana bush at the end as a nectar source.

~ Cat