Butterfly plants for hot brick wall?

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

i would probably put a passion vine on that wall (if you don't already have one)... a species that is known to do well in your area. i don't know where Edinburg, Texas is...whether it is dry or humid and what the zone is, but i'm sure there is a species of passion vine that would be successful...they are such exuberant growers and very giving in terms of providing a host for a number of butterflies, beautiful and oh so fragrant flowers, and fruit that makes the most heavenly juice.

i have one of those hot, west facing brick walls too.
i put a Tecoma stans there and the hummers love it. also have a Murraya paniculata which the butterflies love...and me too.

Am seriously contemplating using passion vines - they grow fairly fast and as you said are an excellent larval host. The couple I have in the front yard get eaten to the stem several times a year by the Gulf Frits, Zebra Longwings, Julia Heliconians and the rare Mexican Silverspots.

Guess I could plant more of the stuff to attract more butterflies - but what happens when the vines are stripped bare? Gulf Frits are abundant out here.

The wall will soak up the heat again? Bet a few Tacoma Stans will be a good for a spot of color in between the vines. Those grow like crazy here too. Skippers love those blossoms.

Excellent ideas y'all!!!

send us a photo of the "after" wall? that would be fun to see. :-D

"After" wall...do you realize I am the world's greatest procrastinator? :o)

I did buy a couple of button bush saplings and a couple of small passion vines - so hope to put those in the ground there - but alas - I need to anchor a stockyard fence panel into the ground several inches away from that wall...that means digging a couple of holes (need to get the post hole differ from the ranch), putting in some 4x4 posts and setting them with concrete, then nailing the fence panel onto the posts :o) I am also allergic to manual labor in this south Texas heat :o) Sounds like a job for the yard guys to me!!!

~ Cat

ps...I also bought ten strawberry guavas saplings - but the Guava Skippers that I bought those for don't like being out in the sun and well, planting those there means full sun for about 7 or 8 hours - they won't like that at all. So need to think of where to plant those. Here's a Guava Skipper butterfly photo for those who have never seen one. Truly a gorgeous black butterfly.

that is one gorgeous photo pud...a good 2013 calendar entry. how did you get it to stay in one place for such a good photo? skippers are so zippy and zoomy although in the early evenings they do, from time to time, like to come sit on my arm for awhile to enjoy the peacefulness of the early evening or maybe they are just tired from zipping and zooming all day. is this a firetip skipper? that is, does it have a red or orange hind end? it looks very similar to some of the firetips i get in the garden here.

does the guava skipper use the strawberry guavas as a host plant for their caterpillars, or a nectar plant, or both?

what species of passifloras will you be planting?

if you have 10 guava saplings couldn't you make a little forest of them in the sun so they can make their own shade?

I think it is an ideal spot for items such as Hop Tree or Wafer Ash...native morning glory vines...and salvias...several of the s. mexicana are evergreen...if you want a suggestion list, be happy to go through the inventory listing, Cat...might also look at choisya...there are several that could easily provide ever'green' substance against the wall...I have one that is variegated green, white and yellow and the cats love it!

The Guava Skipper is Phocides polybius - although it's a big skipper and looks like a firetip it isn't. It uses the guava tree as a larval host. Funny thing - was visiting an aunt today and although I've been to her house several times I never realized she has a big tree and a couple of smaller ones I her front yard! It had gobs of guava skipper nests!! Way cool!!! Now I know where to collect cats when I want to raise some or stock my saplings...but as we all know...if you plant it they will come! I've had one guava tree in a pot for about five years...about two weeks after I bought it the Guava Skippers showed up and laid eggs all over it. They use it several times a year so the extra ones will make them happier...more leaves to choose from!

As for getting good butterfly photos...many are sitting pretty because I raised and released them and they stay put for a while so their wings can properly pump up and dry.

You have tons of great butterflies in Mexico!!! I follow Kim & Mike's on the road website and drool!!!

I can't remember the Passiflora species...the fruit is yellow though. The name eludes me!!!

Have decided I will have the yard guy dig the holes and concrete the posts in then run stockyard fence panel between them. Might end up cutting the panels in half from 16 feet by 4 feet to 8 feet by 4 feet and utilize the height of 8 feet with the top foot bent back so the vines can grow higher and provide shade.

Time will tell...I can't procrastinate on this as the yard guy will be doing all the hard work!!! Little does he know what is in store for him next Friday! LOL!!!

MaryAnn...don't worry about plants and trees. I have stuff in pots I've yet to plant in the ground :o)
I love salvias though. I have russian blue (that what I was told it is) - it reseeds wonderfully and the plants stay green all year long. The zippy skippers love it as do the bees. Never seen any big butterflies on it though.

I've got one of them west-facing brick walls which suddenly lost its shade tree, too. fwiw, I bought some trans-pecos natives at the wildflower center plant sale this spring. All that nice hot masonry seems to suit them real well. I wasn't particularly going for butterfly plants there, since the rest of the yard has plenty of indigenous flowers, but at least they're alive and blooming and shielding the brick a little.

well, pud, i guess you are exhausted from telling the yard guy what to do by now :-D. it sounds like you have a good plan.

o yes, we have lots of wonderful butterflies in mexico...there are what i call the everyday visitors and egg layers and then every now and then something really different, special and spectacular shows up. i never have my camera, i try to stay calm...i say "just stay where you are for a couple of nanoseconds while i get the camera"...do you think they ever listen to me? once and a while i get a lucky shot. well i think you have your fair share of beauties where you live as well...here in mexico, we drool over the costa rican butterflies.

i love that guava skipper and now you've got me thinking where i can put a guava sapling. do you think one tree would be enough to encourage egg laying?

i remember the first passiflora i planted here in colima. i was pretty green regarding neotropical gardening. i looked in all the nurseries and no one had a passiflora. i wasn't sure it mattered which species i got just as long as it would grow well in zone 10b...there were no plants to buy locally so i started to search for seeds and finally received p.incarnata seeds from france. i planted them and a year later one began to grow up the fence i had had installed. then, glory be, i found a p. edulis which grows wild around here. i planted the edulis (called granada china in colima) next to the incarnata and thought they could share the same climbing fence...and so they did. the incarnata had much lighter green colored leaves and the leaves were not as leathery as the edulis, so i could easily tell the two types apart as they intertwined up the fence. within a short period of time, i began to see holes in many of the leaves (who but a butterfly gardener gets happily excited to see holes in their leaves?). what i began to notice was that all the leaves with holes in them were p. edulis leaves and the p. incarnata (which is called maypops, i believe) leaves (not even one of them) had any holes in them. all the different varieties of caterpillars on the vines were showing a most definite preference for their home-grown food...so i cut down the incarnata and allowed the edulis to grow and flourish. yes, mexico has some great butterflies and the caterpillars are discriminating eaters, the little buggers! it taught me a good lesson though...

did some searching for guava......not sure which one you are planting, but I assume all of them are tropical only ? :(

Genna (was zone 7b - now they say we are zone 8).....

Genna, there is one variety of Guava that's hardy in our zone 7b. I've one. Only I've the tree planted in a sheltered area, and perhaps I don't have a second one to have the flowers pollinated? I had the tree for at least 7-8 years now, this spring it yielded lots of flowers, but still I didn't get any fruits....I'd have settled for the beautiful butterflies that `Cat's shared, but I'm too far from where they (the butterflies) frequenting...I've not seen a one in many years. As far the tree it tolerated hard frost that we occassionally get.

Vit,

Funny about y'all drooling over Costa Rica butterflies! I've got a CR butterfly book I drool over in pictures too!

Good thing is we get several Mexican strays so we look forward to the fall season to see what new record sightings will be made.

I bought a guava tree several years ago...just a single tree...not quite four feet tall...a few branches was about it. Within a few days a Guava Skipper found it and left lots of little presents! I was so excited because it is not native here but was originaly imported from Mexico. The local butterfly parks wouldn't have them because they stick to natives. Picky! Anyway, the closest park that has a huge tree is about 20 miles away. None of my neighbors have guava trees that I knew of...so have no idea how those butterflies were able to zero in on my lone tree...but they did! They continue to use it several times a year. The added saplings may help me start a colony in my own back yard. Ya know we get folks from all over the US and some from England, Australa, Japan and other places I can't recall...they come down to the Rio Grande Valley to go butterfly and bird watching. Seeing a Guava Skipper is a lifer for most of them as it is found in the US only in south tip of Texas. Probably a yard bug for you ey?!

I firmly believe "If you plant it, they will come!"

Of course now that I know my aunt has a decent sized tree..and she lives about four miles away...reminds me to let the visiting butterfliers know they can probably see one there if they need to add it to their life list.

Also NBC (National Butterfly Center) in Mission, Tx gave in and planted two guava trees that were donated to them a few months ago. They are full of skipper nests. NBC is 22 miles from me.

yep, I will search high and low looking for specific larval host plants just to attract the uncommon butterflies. Right now I've got a dalechampia vine growing nicely..waiting for a Guatemalan or Gray Cracker to use it. Aldo have a really nice sized Tragia growing...it is a vicious plants...stings like hell if you touch it...but am hoping the Common Mestra, Blue-Eyed Sailor, Four-Spotted Sailor, Red Rim and a couple of other butterflies will come to my yard and make use of it. It's about six months old and no takers yet...but those butterflies are uncommon to rare and show up mainly in the fall. Am still hoping!!!

Where did you find that Guava plant that will take 7b? They have officially moved my area to zone 8 now...... but I suspect that occasionally we will still have that really cold winter that will wipe everything out !!

Would love to try one. .....

I am not that good on butterfly id..... but I sure enjoy them. I don't think we really have that many different types in our area, but whatever they are I have enjoyed seeing them on my butterfly bushes and other plants. I really need to try some of the non invasive milkweed to see if I can get some monarchs in the area.

Thanks for the info............. I don't think we could attract nearly as many butterfly varieties as you can in South Texas, and I dont know if I am even in the range of the guava skipper. Don't think I have ever seen anything that resembles that here......

Love looking at the photos though!
Genna