Z5 New Butterfly Garden Suggestions

I'm so excited...last year I began a new butterfly/humming bird garden. When I first moved into my new home it was half woods (which I kept) and half dust dirt, you know the kind you can't get a shovel in? After two years of working I still have so much room..this includes my butterfly garden.

Right now I have butterfly bush, zinnias, cannas, and, I hate to admit it...but I have bulbs coming up that I don't remember what I planted. I have a small flowering tree that is yet to be ID and crocus and a small, very small pond surrounded by flat rocks for drying and warming all in full sun. I am planning to buy two rose of sharon's to add at the back of the garden, mexican sunflowers, and butterfly weed as well.

I need height, gradual height. Great nectar plants in the range of 18 inches and higher oh but maybe some kind of nectar ground cover or very short plant to go where my crocus are after they are spent, it's right next to the pond or puddle, lol. I have plenty of room and can add on as well. I have *some* host plants in my other gardens for them. I'm hoping for suggestions on plants to make this a wonderful nectar garden!!!!

Thank you,

Mishkas

Welcome Mishkas! I live waaaay south of you so I'm not sure how much help I can be. I know there are some Northerners on the forum - wake up and respond! It sounds like you have a great plan in place already. I have the best success with blanket flowers, porterweed, and plumbago. Cassias and sennas are good for nectar and they host the sulphur butterflies. The Mexican sunflowers are a great idea, any kind of verbena generally works, too. I just bought pentas to add to my butterfly garden.

Feel free to join us in the Daily Butterfly thread. We all just chime in and talk about what's going on in our region. We could use some more Northerners, too. The Texans and Floridians can be a little dominant! : )

Melanie

First thing that came to my mind for the groundcover is this verbena - http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/VECAS.html (I don't know why this isn't working! Itried to fix it! sorry :( )
Second is http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/CEPLS.html - now the reason I suggest this is because it is supposed to be a late waking perennial and good for interplanting with bulbs! :)
The only problemo is both could likely succumb to a hard new england winter. I am going to try anyway though! Lol

I find in my garden, the big butterflies that most people are most excited to see stick mostly to taller stuff. At least in my yard. I'm trying to think of stuff that hasn't already been mentioned: Fritillaries love my monarda I started from a burpee seed pack - it was called fireworks. Monarchs loved my Annual Mexican Sunflower (mine got about 7"!) and my new england aster. I've heard verbena bonariensis is as popular for bf's as they are in the south, I am trying some seeds now. These ones are tough to germinate! I have like 6 seedlings from planting what I thought was a ton of seeds! Did you already say purple coneflowers? Although I mostly see mostly small butterflies on those, some kind of skippers, I think. With some bigger ones like fritillaries and painted ladies.

Now all the stuff mellielong has mentioned sound good too, I just noticed she had two of the same suggestions as me. :) I just want to let you know that I've heard talk of how some things from the south don't draw butterflies in as good as they do down there. People think it has something to do with not as much heat and sun for the nectar production of certain things. Pentas was one of the big ones that people noticed weren't real attractive to northern butterflies. Just remember that they migrate north, and probably the ones that hatch up here, probably have it in their genes to go for stuff that has always been here. I have been trying a lot of natives from seed, and because a lot are from seed I have not gotten to see if they all are attractive to butterflies as I've found in books or what not. But I could put you to sleep listing all of them anyway ;)

That's what I got for now, LMK if you want more suggestions, I'm trying to stick with stuff I've seen bf's swarm here! I'm sure I will think of more stuff as soon as I post this!

Oh looky I did fix it! :)
This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 7:35 PM

This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 7:36 PM

I highly agree with using natives. It makes sense to plant things the butterflies have been eating for thousands of years. Plus, they tend to be on the same schedule as the butterflies. Things bloom at a certain time for a reason I suppose.

I don't think I read Lantanna above....the butterlfies go stupid crazy over it in my newly hatched garden. Someone gave me some last year.....and it went nuts!....I think at times it had more BFs on it than anything else.

I usually don't recommend lantana because some varieties can be so invasive. But that far north they would probably freeze so it should be okay. I think most of the hybrid ones aren't as invasive, but maybe some members who have grown them can recommend one. That being said, the butterflies do love lantana. It grows like a weed around here, and I try to leave some down by the road for the butterflies. But if if gets too close to my yard, it gets pulled!

Melanie

Oh wow! Lantana is pretty, I love the multi colored ones, very nice...I'll definately have to add.

Thank you for the added thoughts on what attacts them and why. I have to admit I didn't think of it that way. I'll look for more natives, makes it so much easier to grow them too. I do know my hummers love my canas and holly hocks don't remember if I've seen butterflies on them, don't think so. I could probably get a nice list of natives from the new england wild flower site.

It's so funny you suggested verbena, I've always liked that flower just didn't know the name! Monarda I have but planted it before I really learned to garden, it's in the shade, silly!! I'll have to transplant or buy new plants. I like them, they just never bloomed alot, gee I wonder why, lol. And how silly to forget the new england aster, going to get that one too.

Thank you for all the suggestions! You're a friendly group :) I extended my front garden to go along side my yard...I have so much to buy and plant, I'm overwhelmed. My hubby wanted me to take up some of our massive lawn so there is less to mow. That means loads of gardening for me. These suggestions will really help thanks. Oh and thank you for the welcome, I'm going to check out the daily thread!

How about agastache and crocosmia? I don't know anything about them firsthand, but I keep seeing them pop up on various lists. I am waiting for some lucifer crocosmia corms to come in, so next year I will have personal information.

High country gardens has a nice selection of agastache and some taller salvias. Alot of these are 36"+. Plus they tell you on each page which ones are supposed to attract hummingbirds.

Here's one that 4 -5' high. Make sure you click on the other view near the bottom. Its really pretty.

http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/11821/

I had Lucifer given to me last year. Very very beautiful, but alas, they have not returned this year. The lady who gave them to me lives maybe 10 minutes away and hers are all coming up with a vengence. Mine grew and bloomed last year, but obviously did not survive the winter. Such a shame.

Hi, mishkas, welcome to the wonderful obsession known as Butterfly Gardening!

Of course I have a couple thoughts to add, and I'm sorry I didn't see your post 'til now...

First of all, I found this nice essay about how to set up your butterfly garden. This is from New Jersey Audubon, which I don't know if the zones are similar to yours, but it's at least in the same general part of the world.

http://www.njaudubon.org/education/backyardhabitat/Butterhummgarden2.html

And the Massachusetts Butterfly Club publishes a very nice pdf brochure on Butterfly garden favorites for the area:

http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/downloads/Butterfly%20Gardening%20for%20web-MC3-24-08.pdf

And here's the plant list advice from NABA for Massachusetts. Many plants on their list are native to MA. http://www.naba.org/ftp/eama.pdf

Then I have to tell you my 10 favorite butterfly plants, both nectar and host plants, that work for us in Ohio, and I don't think it would be a whole lot different in MA. Favorites in our garden include:

Purple Coneflower, Liatris squarrosa and spicata, Milkweed incarnata (swamp milkweed), Milkweed curassavica, Verbena bonarienses, Buddleia, Parsley, Dill, Old-fashioned simple zinnias, and tithonia (mexican sunflower). We have a lot of other favorites, but I thought I'd keep it to these ten for simplicity's sake!

Not all of these are native, but I don't think any of them are particularly invasive in the North. Just in case, we like to dead head regularly to limit seed production.

And finally, I think "Rose Franklin's" butterfly perennials website has some nice guidance on basic nectar plants for butterflies in the East. I have not purchased plants from her (only seeds) but she has tested these in Pennsylvania and they should work in Massachusetts, too I think. You can see there are many mid-size choices for nectar flowers for your border.

http://www.butterflybushes.com/butterfly_nectar_plants.htm

I look forward to hearing more about your garden and butterflies you attract. I hope you have loads of fun! t.

Hi everyone,

I'm really having fun outside in my new gardens that's why I have not been on the net! I think agastache's are stunning, I've got to get some, have to look into it, yup yup yup. I could not agree more with crocosmia. In fact, I loved them so much I planted tons of them. Made a wonderful meal for the underground varmits, lol...needless to say I never saw a thing :( Got to work with mother nature...I'm in the woods. I'm am happy the squirrels never ate my crocus, probably didn't know they were there.

Thank you for the great websites! I didn't know MA had a butterfly club! That must be tons of fun. My hubby just bought me some buttefly weed (hello yellow) and rose of sharon! It's raining today and tomorrow so I'll be in combing the net for more. My poor pond looks so sad. I have to pull it all out and begin again...I just keep in mind how thankful for a small pond my winged friends will be in august...keeps me going.

So far here in western ma we are having a great season. Everything is moving right along! Oh I added 4 oclocks too...both white and multi-colored. You know, something funny happened with my butterfly bush. It's coming back from the base and two of the old branches. So this is the type I don't cut back? I'm confused since most of the branches were dead. I still have one unknown in my garden....maybe i'll take a picture of the greens and ask here....such a helpful group! This way I won't sit in wonder for weeks until it blooms.

On the butterfly bush I'd wait to see if anything more comes back, for as long as you can stand it. Then, if you'd like you can cut the old branches all down, to the highest point of growth. The rest will most likely not grow back and just act as a support for the new branches. I have one that only grows back from the base, it's bicolor. Last year my nanhoe blue & " purple only grew back from the base, but this year they are almost completely coming back on the old branches. It's probably because the 2006 winter was tough on plants. Where as this one had good snow cover and maybe 1 night below zero. The plants are all very happy with this :) Hope you are having fun with your garden.

This message was edited Apr 28, 2008 4:51 PM

I understand buddleias are easy to grow from cuttings, too, so I'm trying a few.

I'm growing some buddeia from seed this spring, too, and I can't believe they are actually spouting.

I have verbena bonarienses seedlings that I can share if you would like some, too. Just d-mail me your addresses and I'll send a few off.

I want to try starting some cuttings of my bicolor. I love this one, and even though it has to completely regrow every summer, it still gets taller than my other two. I usually deadhead my buddleias but I got a little lazy at the end of the season last year, so maybe I will have some volunteers. :)
I'm happy to say I have some tiny little verbena bonariensis as well :) I tried some out in my unheated porch, some in the house at room temps. and one on a heat mat. The one on the heat mat got 3 sprouts which died a day or two after putting them under lights. The one at room temps still has done nothing. The one I left on the unheated porch started sprouting last week, and I moved it to a zip up greenhouse and more have sprouted. So I am thinking this ones a good candidate for winter sowing. How did you get yours to germinate T?

The wintersowed verbena bonarienses are quite numerous and healthy looking. I also just crumbled the seed head out into the garden and those are smaller seedlings now but zillions of them.

Some people find verbena bonarienses invasive, but I just pull them or turn the soil if they are where I don't want them.