Our garden club has been asked to start a butterfly garden in a park in Laguna Heights. This park is right on the bay and the parks department is really trying to make it go. It is in a very poor area, a forgotten part of the county between Laguna Vista and Port Isabel. The Headstart kids are going to come out in April to plant the flowers. I need some suggestions of easy to grow plants that attract butterflies and can survive that close to the water.
I have seeds for Mexican butterflyweed and have some dill and fennel started. What else can we plant? I thought of zinnias and cosmos because the seeds are big enough for little hands to plant. Is it too late for nasturtiums? I was thinking of picking up some of the .97 packs at Wallyworld.
The park service said they will make sure the garden is watered. We're trying to get the local residents interested in their park and hopefully the vandalism and graffiti will stop.
Butterfly garden for kids
I wouldn't try nasturtiums this late here--don't forget the echinaceas if ya'll can get a hold of some plants...and rudbeckias (seeds should be ok). We did a butterfly garden at the school I work at and when the garden is new; zinnias, rudbeckias, echinaceas worked best. Don't forget esperanza (tecoma sans); I've got seeds of these if you need some--dmail. Vitex worked good for us too.
Debbie
How fun! I hope you post pictures of it when it happens. How about some salvias and lantanas? They're tough enough to hang on in Texas even if the park service forgets a day or two of watering. My favorite annual is gomphrena (globe aramath), and that's another one that loves heat and keeps blooming. I think marigolds are attractive to butterflies too. Pentas are a good choice, the butterflies love them. Sunflowers are attractive to butterflies and to humans, so some of those might be fun. I've got some rudbeckia seeds and black-eyed susan, and sunflowers and I think some gomphrena. If you'd like any of those seeds, d-mail me. I know I won't be able to use them all.
Debbie, I haven't seen any echinaceas for sale here. I'll have to call around. I have a Tacoma Stans seedling that came up beside my sidewalk, I'll pot it up now so it will be easier to transplant in April.
Ampy, thanks for the great ideas! I think all of those you mentioned would look good there and the kids could just scatter the seeds in the garden(except the sunflower). Let me check with the other women that are helping with the garden to see what seeds we have.
How about eupatorium (blue mist flower) bushes? The NABA park in Mission, Bentsen Birding Center, Edinburg World Birding Center, Frontera Audobon and most of the butterfly parks in the valley have lots of that growing in their parks. It is a fabulous butterfly nectaring magnet.
Native lantana horrida is also another excellent nectaring source. It keeps blooming when lots of the other plants are bloomed out.
Oooh, and don't forget moss verbena for ground cover. Another excellent low lying nectar source.
~ Cat
Oooh, I forgot all three of those. I have blue mist that I can dig some starts of. I think my friend has some extra lantana. The moss verbena, is that the little native purple one?
Calalily, I could send you some Coneflower seed, Western Ironweed, and Frosweed,
if you would like some,please dmail me your address.
Josephine.
Josephine, do you think they would do okay here? I haven't seen any of those growing in this area. We aren't as hot as some parts of TX, but our soil is alkaline and the area where the garden is will be right on the Bay and might be a little salty.
Susie, don't forget the 'invasive nature' of some of these.
Susie, I will have to do a little research, I don't know if they would do well under the conditions you describe, but they are beautiful hardy perennial native flowers.
Josephine.
Kay, I don't think they would be invasive in that park, it is right on the shore and is dry as a bone unless someone waters it.
Josephine, we had all three of those in TN, I liked them. I miss my coneflowers!
I looked them up and found the Coneflowers will grow in zone10, and the Western Ironweed, down to zone 9, the Frostweed to zone 8, I don't know about the salt spray.
Let me know what you would like.
Josephine.
Callalily, what about black foot daisy, and herbs like thyme, and rosemary. I don't have any seeds, but I could bring some transplants of thyme to the RU. Would Laura Bush Petunias work down there?
Mary Lee
Josephine, I think the coneflowers and frostweed would look great but we may be too warm in winter for the frostweed.
Mary Lee, yes, the blackfoot daisy would look good and I forgot about other herbs. I found zinnia, sunflower and tithonia seeds at wallyworld for .10-.25 a pack!
Callalily, do you want transplants of thyme? It's no trouble to dig them up.
I think my neighbor has some thyme already dug up for us. Let me check with her. One girl is supposed to be getting some little duranta plants and not sure what else.
I will take pictures for everyone, I'm so excited about this project!