Butterfly Bed?

[big rockpile]

Was going to plant attractors along the road.

Seems I no longer have a say. People have decided that I need to plant it in a Raised Bed.

What do you think of Perennials for this?

big rockpile

 

[redback]

Buddleias and salvias are a good start. Butterflies, bees and moths are all bunched together seeking nectar and a few birds doing the same. Anything with big flowers - cosmos, foxglove, echinacea, daisies and marigolds to name a few.

 

[big rockpile]

Ordered Butterfly Milk Weed, Purple Cone Flower and White Daisy.

Figuring their going to build me a 4X10 Raised Bed.

Got some Petunia Seed and Geranium.

big rockpile

 

[redback]

It's a great idea. I've a few more to add-
Agastache Mexicana blue, Penstemon strictus, Dianthus barbatus, Digitalis purpurea and Borago officinalis.

 

[Tetters]

.....and out of all the great options rockpile the Buddleia takes the crown. Try to find the sort that doesn't seed like mad and grow weedy. Get some ''Black Knight'' and ''Royal Red'' and ''White Profusion'' the butterflies will love those. There is another one that flowers earlier than all the rest, and it's called ''Alternifolia'' it is lovely and highly scented too.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

not sure what grows in your area. in my garden, I have butterflies attracted to my Phlox, my tree hydranea, and Joe Pye weed. Butterfly bushes are not as good as Joe pye weed, so I have none of those.

 

[roadrunner]

I don't understand the connection between a raised bed and planting to attract butterflies?

When it comes to attracting butterflies, they're easy and actually I don't spend one cent to attract them with plants that grow naturally in my area, two really good examples of this are my native Spanish needle (Bidens alba) and Snow Squarestem (Melanthera nivea) plants, which are both naturally growing in my area and not only attract butterflies in droves, but many other pollinators.

However, to take any butterfly garden to the ultimate level, you must learn the host plants and plant them and eventually butterflies will become a nuisance insect. I planted a host tree for the Cloudless Sulfur butterfly and I saw my first Chrysalis this year, less than a year from planting the tree.

And I've seen a record number of Monarch caterpillars becoming butterflies this year -- this is the time of year they have the best chance for survival, because the wasps are still making their nests, so their only food source is nectar, because they don't have any larvae to feed.

Again, this is where many "weeds" can play a part. A good example in my area is the Pellitory (Parietaria judaica) and False Nettle (Parietaria judaica). I got tons of Red Admiral butterflies around. Not to mention other butterflies, including the Monarch, which supposedly is endangered, but you wouldn't know that from my yard, it's the most common butterfly.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

If you have decent amount of sun in the space your thinking about. There, usually, at Home Depo, for sale a bag of wild flower seeds for butterflies. Easy, just toss the seeds out and move on.

 

[redback]

There you have it - native plants are best for native butterflies. The 'butterfly' bed is actually a bio-diversity bed. If it's good for the local butterflies it's good for the local bees, moths and birds as well. I looked up Missouri government 'food for finches' and they have quite a lot on local plant recommendations.

 

[big rockpile]

If you have decent amount of sun in the space your thinking about. There, usually, at Home Depo, for sale a bag of wild flower seeds for butterflies. Easy, just toss the seeds out and move on.

I have the seed ordered.

big rockpile

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I have the seed ordered.

big rockpile

I have run across a few big plots of ground that has been seeded for pollinators at those different Rest Stops on the long highways. They were full of lots of types of wild flowers and some black eye susans and some that I know will reseed themselves. There is a sign posted about the plot, types of flowers and what they attracts.

 

[big rockpile]

I was just reading the Butterfly Milk Weed needs to be put in the Refrigerator for 4 weeks I'm thinking shorter time.

I keep saying I'm going to plant here, then I'm told no plant here.

big rockpile

 

[roadrunner]

I've been finding caterpillars all over the yard, because they are eating away my milkweed plants...so many of them. I still have so many, because this is the time of year that the wasps are not hunting, because they're making nests and laying eggs, so no larvae to feed.

However, today I found 3 more small caterpillars lost in the weeds, because the milkweed in that area are bare. So, like I've been doing all year, I relocate them and eventually they form a chrysalis and become a butterfly.

However, today I noticed that two were missing and as I put the third one on the plant I went to finish planting my sunflowers, then came back in about 10-minutes and it was being devoured by a wasp.

I guess the wasps have their nests made and the first batch of larvae are now hungry. Hunting season starting early this year...Nature is cruel

 

[big rockpile]

I've had Wasps in the Greenhouse.

big rockpile

 

[roadrunner]

Wasps are your friend, unless you're a caterpillar