For next year ...

[RozieMozie]

i dont have much in gardens exposed to sun ... but id like to try a butterfly garden next yr

i've already got an abundance of alyssum tht grows wild in one of my gardens ... monarch watch has them listed as a nectar source, but i've not seen any butterflies on them (anyone experienced this?) ... im looking at getting purple coneflower, dwarf phlox to go in some hanging baskets, and possibly marigold in some potters ... i know i'll need milkweed and plan to put in common and butterfly weed

do i need much to make it work? ... will 6 types of flowers attract butterflies?

[Keith Petrosky]

The monarchs are only attracted to the flowers of those other plants. Milkweed though will attract female monarchs even if it has no flowers.

Mabye there wasnt enough flowers this year, with more varieties you have a better chance of having a butterfly appear. I heard they like black eyed susans.

[RozieMozie]

ty ... i've got more butterfly flowers than i think i do ... just saw a monarch on a rose of sharon in my neighbor yard ... i've got some first yr cuttings of them, thy'll bloom in a couple of yrs ... and i do have a small patch of black eyed susan ... so looks like with a bigger verity of flowers i should be well on me way

[Orangeaid]

Plant lots of butterfly bushes in blue or white colors and you will get all the butterflys coming to your house ! They will do alright in part sun.

[Teresa]

Monarchs love the butterfly bush, purple coneflower, zinias, and the blazing star liatris.

[Pat]

Also verbena bonariensis. I think every butterfly in town goes for that one and it mixes very nicely with other flowers. Mostly flower heads, and not too heavy on the foliage.

[RozieMozie]

thank you all ... i dont have all tht much room for large plants, though i think i'll give the butterfly bush a try

[Madilily]

Since you seem to have limited space for gardening, have you considered container gardening? We have tropical milkweed that grows well in containers as well as lantana which monarchs love. You can plant many nectar plants in containers so that you can do a sort of vertical gardening which increases your gardening space. Swamp milkweed could even be grown in a watertight container if you have a bit of space that has full sun for a pot to sit in. So instead of spreading out - spread up!!

[RozieMozie]

i do plan to put a few plants in pots ... now im not quite sure what u mean by spreading up ... im still rather new to the gardening thing too ... mind sharing a pic of yr garden? ...

[Keith Petrosky]

Actually a monarchs favorite flower in a garden is common milkweed, even over butterfly weed! I've had 3 females visit my small common milkweed plant and lay eggs, none layed eggs on my other milkweed species.

[RozieMozie]

oh thts good ... i am planing on putting in common milkweed

[mommalepapillon]

Our local garden centers here in New Hampshire are having great sales on perinnials now! I got quite a few at half off... 1.95 for some they are small and need a little tlc but next year I'll feed them and hopefully I'll attract more than 20 this year~
thanks for all of hte great info in this forum... so glad I found it

[Gwynne]

Any ideas for me? I live in an apartment so of course dont have a garden but do have a balcony. I face north and get the morning sun then the balcony gets some shade later in the afternoon. Does that sound right? I always get my directions mixed up? Anyway, I have some planters and some pots and I put out plants to attract butterflies. So far all I have seen are beetle, bees, and a lone lady bug. But all my deformed monarchs seem to enjoy hanging out there.

[John Beaulieu]

The most popular flower in our garden (for the monarchs) has been the phlox, which starts blooming in early July and is still going strong after that they prefer the milkweeds. In order of popularity they are... potted tropical milkweed, swamp milkweed, common milkweed and least popular is the butterfly weed (as it is one of the tougher leaved milkweeds). I have no luck overwintering the ever popular butterfly bush (zone 4). The tropical milkweed must be brought in for the winter or restarted from seed each spring.

In the late spring/early summer, the monarchs visit the siberian irises. The lilacs are the most popular for the swallowtails.

John

[mommalepapillon]

WOW!

[aggscott]

Oh I wish I had a yard like that! Wow, that is one nice garden...I would be sitting in it all day long!

Mary

[froglegs]

I have common milkweed at three spots-have seen Monarchs on them, but no caterpillars-I suspect eggs are getting eaten. The white butterfly bush (I have yellow, white, deep purple and pink side by side) seems to be the favorite nectar plant--had two hanging around most of the day yesterday. Large grouping of purple coneflowers will sometimes draw a monarch, but less then expected. The Stokes butterfly book lists the top 10 nectar plants as: black eyed Susan, Joe-pye weed, liatris, coreopsis, pentas, asters, butterfly weed, lantana, purple coneflower and butterfly bush. I've got 9 out of 10, and the butterfly bush attracts more than all the rest combined, in my yard.

[RozieMozie]

ty froglegs

[harpo787]

Any ideas for me? I live in an apartment so of course dont have a garden but do have a balcony...

I used to live in little...townhouse I guess it was...and I had a butterfly garden of sorts on my second floor balcony. It was succesful for quite some time.

Initially I just had plants out there and I'd get caterpillars from mom's garden. They'd do fine and eventually they'd pupate, and I'd never find them again. Every once in a while, they'd pupate somewhere still on the balcony. So I built a cage that was 4 ft. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. high. This way the cats wouldn't "get away" (they usually climbed to the top of the cage and pupated up there), and then I could see the butterflies as they hatched. That worked well, but for whatever reason, I couldn't keep the butterflies in there for more than 2 days or they'd begin to die. So I'd keep them for 24 hours (so they could their wings ready to go) and then I'd release them roughly a day later.

It's definitely possible though. Amazingly, even though it was on the second floor, I STILL got aphids, and I STILL got red spider mites, so you can't avoid them!

[soundbell1]

for anyone out there try butterfly bushes in big planters i learned that off a garden program-----but put compost in pot not dirt ( dirt doesn't breath in the pot well) and the butterfly bush will do very well---i have six that way and believe me the they grow very well and the butterflies love them i trim them back every year and bloom like crazy.

[RozieMozie]

ty for the tip!

[freda]

We have several varieties of milkweed cultivars and they certainly are second choice for oviposting. The leaves of these hybrids are also too slender to sustain actively growing cats. Common milkweed in our garden has been by far the most successful. Swamp milkweed and another smaller white-flowered wild variety are also ‘way down on the list of choices for our Monarchs. As for nectar plants here in Kenora, ON, without exception Echinacea (purple coneflower) is the big attraction. We have literally dozens of frittilaries, painted ladies, tortoiseshell, hairstreaks and skippers that fight for nectar territory on the Echinacea while they’re surrounded by dozens of rudbeckia, heliopsis, monarda and others. This week I’m converting a tomato garden to more Echinacea. I have many small plants growing up in the current flower garden and I’ll just move them out. It has been so entertaining watching the butterfly action in the coneflowers.