I stopped using insecticides this year. I am planting a lot of flowers butterflies love. I still only see the occasional butterfly.
Butterflies please come!
Hi, ctindell, It looks like you have quite a magnificent butterfly bush already in bloom! I suspect your bf season is still young and that you will have to be patient for another week or so....we have just started to see butterflies on a regular basis here. Sometimes it takes a bit of time for the BFs to find your plants if your garden is new this season, too...
--You might bide your time by planting a few more nectar plants or some milkweed if you don't already have them. Virginia lepidopterists have made several really informative sites about BFs in your state and you might find some good recommendations here on one of these---
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8fvo3/id1.html
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8fvo3/id14.html
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/virginia-butterflies.shtml
Good luck! t.
ctindell - You get a lot a really great butterflies and moths in your county:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/map?dc=474&_dcc=1&si=47
Here's another website to check out. Click on the butterfly names to see what host and nectar plants they prefer. Then you will know what plants to put in your yard and garden beds. :-)
Ct...
Good for you in stopping the use of insecticides!!!
You've got a great butterfly bush growing which is a wonderful nectar source.
Remember you need to add a mix of larval hosts to your yard to keep the butterflies coming back to lay eggs and continue the cycle. Those are excellent websites that Tab and Becky listed. That butterflies and moths one will show which butterflies are native to your location and which plants serve as their larval hosts.
Not sure what the best butterfly season is Virginia. I've gone to DC in the summer season and know for sure that wasn't it :o) Out here out best time for butterflies is the Fall season. Pretty much starting around mid September and lasting all the way through February...if we don't get a cold snap that is.
~ Cat
I Have planted a purple cone flower and some daisies. I have one milkweed it is small. I just planted it last year. Then I moved it this spring knowing they don't like to be moved. It survived and is doing ok .I got the whole taproot. I don't think it is big enough to support any cats. I want to plant a lot more plants for butterflys and hummingbirds. Especially milkweed.
Ct...
Rule # 1...you can never have enough milkweed :o)
The same goes for dill, fennel, rue and parsley :o)
Best thing to do is look at the butterflies that frequent your location and plant the larval hosts of the top ones you want to attract. I have a pretty big yard and have a variety of about 15 larval hosts (multiple plants of course) planted to specifically attract the uncommon and rare species to my yard. It has worked too! I have raised a couple of rare species as well as numerous uncommon ones. Ah, as well as gobs of the common ones too.
If you plant it...they will come.
~ Cat
ctindell, your asclepias tuberosa looks pretty happy considering the move! But you're right, it's just enough for the appetizer course for the cats, I think!
I have been watching my little butterfly garden trying to deterimine which asclepias is the most popular--it's hard to say, but they do seem to go for the (tropical) milkweed curassavica (tropical) which is an annual in our climate (6a) along with the nice perennial tuberosa. I have a third kind new this year--I think it is swamp milkweed, purpurens, maybe--which is a surprisingly nice garden plant, too, and the bfs like to nectar on it.
I watch the bargain tables at the garden centers for $1 sales on asclepias and I also start some from cuttings and seeds. If you are interested in adding more A. to your garden, I believe there are threads on how to grow from seed and cuttings. Or check this out. http://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm which is a handy thing to know.
Ctindell, your A. tuberosa looks just like mine! I planted several of them in April and they're still quite tiny, though one is blooming. From what I've read, it takes them a good while to set their tap root before they take off. So I'm not expecting anything this year, but have high hopes for next.
Carla
Ct-You're doing great! Just continue to read and learn on here(like we all do) and they'll be buzzing your Yard real soon!
Adrienne
Ctindell, don't give up on small plants. I had just put some tiny milkweed seedlings in the ground and then found Monarch cats on them the following week. Glad to hear you plan to plant more milkweed. I wish everyone in my neighborhood would plant milkweed.