Sunday, December 12, 2010

Plants for Butterflies


It is cold outside, let’s think of pretty gardens and particularly butterflies in our gardens.
Encourage butterflies into your garden by growing the food they enjoy. You then have a double bonus, lovely flowers throughout the seasons and the joy of spotting the ”Painted Lady”, “Peacock Butterfly” “Red Admiral”,  “Anise Swallowtail”, “ Black Swallowtail”,  “ Cloudless Sulfur (children love them)”, “Cabbage White Butterflies”, Monarch” to name just a few.
You will notice that red, purple and yellow flowers attract butterflies more than other colors. Butterflies usually find easier to sip the nectar from flat open blooms. Fallen fruits, apples pears, plums, even fermented are a butterfly delight.

Plants attracting butterflies:
Spring flowers: Alyssum, Aubretia, Erysimum (Wallflowers), Matthiola, Primula (Primrose), Viola (Violets Pansies).

Early summer flowers: Arabis (Rock Cress, Wall Cress), Armeria, Dianthus (Carnation), Iberis, Lunaria, Myosotis (Forget-me-not), Scabiosa (Pincushion).


Late summer flowers: Buddleia ( Butterfly Bush), Hyssopus, Lavandula (Lavender), Lonicera (Honeysuckle), Nepeta (Catnip), Verbena

Autumn flowers: Aster, Sedum, Solidago (Goldenrod).

 Make a note in your Gardenista App to plant these butterfly delights in due time.

No comments: