I found this online and it is one of the nicest lists I've seen for eastern gardeners who select plants to attract butterflies-
http://www.abnativeplants.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.landscapePlans/recID/1/index.htm
The plants they chose (save a few cultivars of native species) were really great and there was another area on their site where they "featured" a few and gave a short narrative of why the plant was such a butterfly magnet.
Plants they listed-
Plant List
Ornamental Grasses
Low Grasses
Carex pennsylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge)
Carex stricta (Tussock Sedge)
Perennials
Low Perennials
Aquilegia canadensis ('Little Lanterns' Columbine)
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Aster divaricatus ((Eurybia divaricata) Woodland Aster)
Dicentra eximia (Fringed Bleeding Heart)
Geranium maculatum (Geranium 'Espresso' (Cranesbill))
Phlox divaricata ('London Grove Blue' Woodland Phlox)
Polemonium reptans ('Stairway to Heaven' Jacob's Ladder)
Potentilla tridentata (Three-toothed Cinquefoil)
Pycnanthemum muticum (Short Toothed Mountain Mint)
Salvia lyrata ('Purple Knockout' Lyre-leaved Sage)
Sisyrinchium angustifolium ('Lucerne' Blue-eyed Grass)
Viola labradorica (Labrador Violet)
Medium Perennials
Solidago rugosa ('Fireworks' Goldenrod)
Medium to Tall Grasses
Aster novae-angliae ((Symphyotrichum n.a.) New England Aster)
Chelone glabra (Turtlehead)
Medium to Tall Perennials
Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root)
Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed)
Aster laevis ((Symphyotrichum laeve) Smooth Aster)
Penstemon digitalis ('Husker Red' Tall White Beardtongue)
Cimicifuga racemosa (Bugbane)
Echinacea purpurea ('Ruby Star' Coneflower)
Eupatorium dubium ('Little Joe' Dwarf Joe Pye Weed)
Heliopsis helianthoides ('Summer Nights' Oxeye Daisy)
Hibiscus moscheutos (Rose Mallow)
Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower)
Monarda didyma ('Jacob Cline' Bee balm)
Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot)
Phlox maculata ('Rosalind' Meadow Phlox)
Phlox paniculata ('Shortwood' Summer Phlox)
Physostegia virginiana ('Miss Manners' Obedient Plant)
Rudbeckia triloba (Three-lobed Coneflower)
Vernonia noveboracensis (New York Ironweed)
Vines
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia Creeper)
Trees and Shrubs
Conifers
Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar)
Pinus strobus (Eastern White Pine)
Deciduous Trees
Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud)
Betula nigra ('Heritage' River Birch)
Amelanchier canadensis (Shadblow)
Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple)
Nyssa sylvatica (Black Gum)
Quercus bicolor (Swamp White Oak)
Medium to Tall Grasses
Cephalanthus occidentalis (Button Bush)
Cornus sericea ('Cardinal' Red-Osier Dogwood)
Cornus racemosa ('Geauge' Gray Dogwood)
Medium to Tall Shrubs
Clethra alnifolia (Summer Sweet Bush)
Salix discolor (Pussy Willow)
Sambucus canadensis ('Adams' Elderberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum ('Northland' Highbush Blueberry)
Viburnum trilobum (American Cranberry Viburnum)
Vaccinium corymbosum ('Blue Jay' Highbush Blueberry)
Viburnum dentatum ('Blue Blaze' Arrowwood)
Viburnum nudum ('Winterthur' Witherod)
Small Shrubs
Hypericum kalmianum (St. Johnswort)
Rosa palustris (Swamp Rose)
Vaccinium angustifolium (Lowbush Blueberry)
Potentilla fruticosa ('Coronation Triumph' Shrubby Cinquefoil)
Vines
Aristolochia macrophylla (Dutchman's Pipe)
Lonicera sempervirens (Trumpet Honeysuckle)
For fly_girl, list of plants for eastern gardeners
Thanks EQ!
~ I talked her into posting it over here, it's a nice list and good info for everyone.
Tee he, took me a while to find this forum though because it was listed under Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening not Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening but I found it! I've got many of the plants on the above list particularly the vines, shrubs, and trees. Working on adding more of the perennials.
Nice list. Now I want to see the plant photos posted on the other thread (http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/735958/) so I know what all these plants are and what they look like! :-) Very useful list, EQ! Thanks for posting it! :-)
I have some of the perennials but definitely not all. I have every tree and shrub and both vines on the above list except the Eastern Red Cedar and even then I have the Eastern White Cedar. You're gonna make me work, eh? Gotta go grab a kid so I'll be back in about an hour or so then I'll print off the list and start walking around my yard. Boy oh boy you hummer and flutter folk are certainly a demanding lot now aren't you ;) One thing I can tell you ladies is that nobody is getting any photos of any plants out in the wetlands. There are way too many mosquitoes right about now and no way I want to end up looking like a festering zit from head to toe.
Uh...EQ, they have this product called bug spray! heehee
Can't wait for the pics! Thanks for the trouble!
I spray myself and they still manage to bite my ears, a toe that got wet, or any place that I sweat. I hate mosquitoes. I also have a skeeter suit but it's some sort of a micro fiber and you can barely breathe in that thing.
I did one step better than going out to take photos of every plant! I sat down in front of the computer and created a link to every PlantFile entry I could find. I have quite a few of my plants listed in and amongst everybody else's photos.
So, here you go-
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/734581/
EQ...wow! You really went to a lot of trouble......thank you so much!!!
I know what you mean about that one spot that has no bug spray....they'll find it. It's rained so much here the mosquitoes are awful! You can't even go out during the day without spray.
Got any pics of you in the skeeter suit? LOL
You must have a huge yard to have all those plants!
Thanks again for the pic links!
It was either that or get eaten alive and since the temps have been in the 90's, they bite me everywhere and particularly around my temples, the back of my neck, and behind my knees where I have been sweating and the skeeter spray has rolled off with the beads of sweat.
I don't think I have any photos of me in the skeeter suit but then again I haven't worn it in quite a while because it is incredibly hot. I don't even think I know where it is right now or I'd take a photo and post it. Think beekeepers suit though. Who the heck can garden in one of those?
In looking at the list above, I'm really down in the perennials department. I'll have to work on that in the years to come as I slowly but surely eliminate more lawn. We have 5 acres here.