Zone 7 Perennials?

[Kay]

Looking to plant some perennials in my school's courtyard to attract monarchs. We have a variety of milkweed plants and some annual flowers. At home my butterfly bush is a sure fire attraction, but I don't believe it's a native plant for VA so I'm looking for another bush to plant. Ideas?

[Mona Miller]

How much room? How much sun?

http://www.virginia.edu/blandy/Virginia ... rflies.pdf
Virginia Native Plants to Attract Butterflies

http://leplog.wordpress.com/washington- ... -material/
Gardening for Butterflies
http://home.earthlink.net/~drkilmer/Plantlist.html
Larval Hostplant List for Butterflies of the Washington, DC Area

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_her ... ants.shtml
Native Plants for Conservation, Restoration, and Landscaping
These are on the upper right, go to the above website to access them.
Native Plant Tables
-Ferns/Grasses/Vines (PDF)
- Grasslands (PDF)
- Herbs (PDF)
- Riparian Buffer Plants (PDF)
- Shrubs (PDF)
- Trees (PDF)

[Wyvern]

Looking to plant some perennials in my school's courtyard to attract monarchs. We have a variety of milkweed plants and some annual flowers. At home my butterfly bush is a sure fire attraction, but I don't believe it's a native plant for VA so I'm looking for another bush to plant. Ideas?

The butterfly bush is not native, but it is one of the best butterfly attractants you can have for a garden. It does not behave like an invasive weed at zone 6/7 so it's ok to plant. It's very easy to keep them under control with a nice monthly trimming. There have been years I never bother to dead head since I do want to obtain seedlings to pull up in the spring and pot up to use in other locations or as gifts and even then it's only a few plants that do manage to sprout. Anytime I've personally tried growing them in pots directly from seeds has been a failure - much easier to let nature do the work for me.

I also like joe-pye-weeds and iron weeds, but those do not bloom during the spring/summer.. so they tend to only be good for the migration south in the fall.

Another great flower (but not native) is Tithonia/Mexican sunflower. Monarchs simply adore Tithonia in the fall and it is one of the few plants I've noticed that will continue to flower even after the early frosts hit...so late migrant stragglers have something to seek out.

[SammyG]

I'm in Virginia, too, and last year (when I moved into my house), started filling my yard with natives. I've noticed this summer that I have had a hard time with a constant supply of nectar from the natives alone. One of my favorites for a long blooming nectar supply is Lantana, and I've added a couple of those to make up for the lag between native blooms.