Pick Best Plants for Butterfly Garden

Paul Thomas

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Nov. 10, 2009

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4 min read

For a successful butterfly garden, it’s vital to select
nectar-producing plants with accessible flowers. Even in hot
weather, when many flowers aren’t in bloom, butterflies still
need nectar.

Lantana and purple coneflower (Echinaceae purpurea)
produce nectar and attract butterflies continuously, even in the
hottest droughts.

Butterfly gardeners need to look at annuals and perennials
in a different light. It may mean a trip to the library or World
Wide Web to learn more about bloom time, nectar and forage
characteristics.

Bloom Time

Provide plants that will bloom in sequence, providing nectar
from March 1 to the first
killing frost.

Georgia has two butterfly broods, or flushes: one in early
spring and another in
midsummer. It’s essential to have nectar then.

Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ will flush in early
spring through early summer,
then “rest” and flower again in late fall. This
provides nectar for early- and
late-season butterflies such as question mark, red admiral and
zebra and tiger
swallowtails.

Plants such as blue anise sage (Salvia guaranitica)
and purple coneflower will
flush in cycles if you pick off the spent flowers.

Verbena bonariensis will stop flowering. But you
can cut it halfway back in
early August to stimulate new flowers.

Almost all of your plants will be blooming when butterfly
numbers surge in August.

Food for
caterpillars

Having a food source for caterpillars is vital, too. To
accommodate this early
butterfly stage, include an ornamental fennel, the favorite
food of eastern black
swallowtails.

About midsummer, look for tiny, yellow eggs on the plant.
Check every couple of days,
and you’ll see a green caterpillar with yellow and black
stripes.

These black swallowtail larvae may eat your fennel to the
base. But in three weeks,
lots of beautiful butterflies will reward your patience.

Dill, fennel, carrot and parsley do well, too. Add these to
your garden freely to
encourage more caterpillars.

Plant height,
vigor

Pay attention to plants’ height and vigor. Lantana
camara ‘Miss Huff’ and the
butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii ‘Black
Knight’) may look small the day
you plant them. But each can grow into a bush 4 feet wide.
Planted too close to other
plants, these “towers with flowers” can crowd out and
even kill them.

Take note of each plant selection’s dimensions. Space them
accordingly. 1996 Gold Medal
selection Petunia ‘Purple Wave’ will spread fast. But
it’s OK to let it run,
since it will die at the first frost.

Examples of potentially troublesome, but wonderfully
spreading, plants include Monarda,
Physostegia, Lycoris, Helianthus Viola and Lysmachia.

Examples of improved, noninvasive plants include
Passiflora ‘Byron’s Beauty,’
a sterile, nonrunning Maypop with dark green leaves and huge,
fragrant flowers. A great
forage plant for frittilaries, it’s like a butterfly garden in
a container.

Here are some butterfly-attracting flowers (those with
asterisks may be considered
annuals in more northern climates):

Annuals

Tithonia rotundifolia, Salvia splendens,
Phlox drummondii, Zinnia
elegans, Impatiens capensis, Nasturtium
glauca, Petunia x
hybrida, Justica brandegeana, Nicotiana
alata, Plumbago
aurantiaca, Pentas lanceolata, Catharanthus
roseus (Vinca), Bougainvillea
spectabilis and Antirrhinum majus.

Vines

Aristolochia (most kinds)*, Passiflora
(most kinds)*, Ipomoea
quamoclit*, Lonicera japonica, Campsis
radicans and Phaseolus
coccineus*.

Perennials

Salvia coccinea*, Lantana camara*,
Lavandula (most kinds), Liatris
spicata , Nepeta gigantea*, Rudbeckia
hirta, Echinacea purpurea,
Sedum (most kinds), Verbena bonariensis*,
Verbena tenuisecta*, Verbena
canadensis*, Veronica spicata, Gaura
lindheimeri, Asclepias
tuberosa, Amsonia tabernaemontana, Aster
novi-belgi, Salvia
(most kinds)*, Phlox paniculata, Centranthus
ruber*, Kniphofia
uvaria, Lobelia cardinalis, Monarda
didyma, Penstemon barbatus,
Boltonia asteroides, Passiflora (perennial
sp.)*, Solidago
(most kinds).

Woody
Ornamentals

Abelia grandiflora, Aesculus pavia,
Weigela florida, Lonicera
sempervirens, Azalea (most kinds), Rhododendron (most),
Buddleia davidii, Caryopteris
x clandonensis and Viburnum (most kinds).