Top 10 Butterfly Favorites

It's not that hard to add some winged wonder to your backyard...just add flowers!

Photo: RDA GID

Aster

A wonderful cut flower, asters make any garden explode with color at the end of the growing season. From miniature alpine plants to giants up to 6 feet tall, there are over 250 asters, with plenty of colors to choose from. Asters are a great way to brighten up the fall landscape in your backyard.

• Common Names: Aster, Michaelmas daisy.
• Botanical Name: Aster.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 8.
• Bloom Time: Late summer through fall.
• Size: 3 to 6 feet high (dwarf varieties are shorter).
• Flowers: Purple, white, pink, blue, and red daisy-like flowers.
• Light Needs: Full sun to partial shade.
• Growing Advice: Can be planted any time during growing season, preferably early in northern states, so cultivars can get established before winter. Plant at least 2 feet apart with the crown even with the soil surface.
• Prize Picks: For the ultimate in low-maintenance gardening, choose Purple Dome asters, which form a small, tight mass of blooms that require no pinching or staking. Alma Potschke can reach heights of 4 feet and usually need staking; its flowers are vivid pink.

Photo: RDA GID

Blazing star

Also called gayfeather or liatris, this flower attracts butterflies and hummingbirds to its spikes of lavender, rose, or white flowers. American goldfinches, tufted titmice and other seed eaters savor its seed heads.

• Common Names: Blazing star, gayfeather.
• Botanical Name: Liatris species and cultivars.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Summer.
• Size: 2 to 5 feet high, 1 to 2 feet wide.
• Flowers: Pink-purple or white flowerheads, produced in dense spikes.
• Light Needs: Full to partial sun.
• Growing Advice: Once established, its tuberous rootstock will anchor it and enable it to survive drought amazingly well.
• Prize Picks: Kobold (or Goblin), though no higher than 2 feet tall, has large, full, rosy-lilac blooms.

Photo: Bluestone Perennials

Butterfly bush

Though its exuberant profile can be fairly informal, this plant is a staple in many hummingbird gardens. The blooms also easily attract birds and butterflies with their arching branches of vibrant flower clusters.

While it may seem like hummingbirds flock to the blooms for the sweet fragrance, it's actually the plant's nectar that makes it so attractive to the birds.

• Common Names: Butterfly bush, summer lilac.
• Botanical Name: Buddleja davidii.
• Hardiness: Zones 5 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Midsummer through first frost.
• Size: 5 to 15 feet high.
• Flowers: Tubular blooms of purple, white, pink, or yellow.
• Light Needs: Full sun or light shade.
• Growing Advice: Should be planted in spring before rapid growth begins, spaced 4 to 5 feet apart. May be cut low in late fall or early spring; new growth will generate and bloom as summer progresses.
• Prize Picks: Black Knight is a favorite source of rich purple color. Royal Red's dark red-purple flowers grow on panicles up to 20 inches long.

Photo: Dutch Gardens

Butterfly weed

Increase your winged population and decrease your water bill with butterfly weed. This beauty's flat-topped clusters provide a nectar source for butterflies and hummingbirds, proving that despite its name, its anything but a pest.

• Common Names: Butterfly weed.
• Botanical Name: Asclepias tuberosa.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Summer.
• Size: 1-1/2 to 3 feet tall, up to 12 inches wide.
• Flowers: Orange or yellow flat-topped clusters.
• Light Needs: Full sun.
• Growing Advice: Plant in moist well-drained to dry soil.
• Prize Picks: Plant Gay Butterflies for a brilliant mix of red, yellow, and orange.

Photo: RDA GID

Coreopsis

With its demure veil of jeweled blooms, coreopsis adds charm to cottage gardens and formal flower beds alike. Dainty flowers, thin stems and fine foliage disguise the fact that this plant's as tough as nails. It's also great for cutting and readily attracts butterflies.

• Common Names: Coreopsis, tickseed, butter daisy.
• Botanical Name: Coreopsis.
• Hardiness: Both annual and perennial varieties are available; zones vary by variety.
• Bloom Time: Late spring through late summer.
• Size: 8 to 48 inches high, 8 to 36 inches wide.
• Flowers: Yellow, orange, maroon, red, and pink; daisy-like single, semi-double, or double blooms 1/2 to 3 inches wide. Petals are often notched.
• Light needs: Full sun.
• Growing Advice: Keep the soil around newly planted coreopsis moist, but resist the urge to overwater. Check the soil first. If the top 3 inches or so are on the dry side, then you can pull out your watering can.
• Prize Picks: Perennial threadleaf varieties offer distinctive foliage and yellow flowers, and require little maintenance. Some excellent choices include: Sunray, Early Sunrise, and the pretty pastel Moonbeam. Closely related Coreopsis rosea bears pink blooms and tolerates dry conditions; it's a good groundcover for arid slopes.

Photo: Park Seed, www.parkseed.com

Pentas

Once used primarily as a houseplant, pentas have made their way from hothouses and windowsills into seed catalogs, nurseries and backyard landscapes.

The versatile plant - valued for its vibrantly hued blossoms and continuous bloom - is equally at home in flower borders, cutting gardens, hanging baskets, rock gardens, and patio containers.

Pentas are gotta-have-it inclusions in wildlife gardens - the plants' star-shaped flowers attract bevies of nectar-seeking hummingbirds.

• Common Names: Pentas, Egyptian star clusters, star clusters.
• Botanical Name: Pentas lanceolata.
• Hardiness: Zones 10 to 11; annual in other zones.
• Bloom Time: Summer through frost; year-round in tropical zones.
• Size: 8 inches to 3 feet high, 1 to 2 wide.
• Flowers: Red, magenta, pink, lilac, blue, and white tubular, five-petaled stars.
• Light Needs: Full sun.
• Growing Advice: Sow seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost date, or plant nursery plants after the danger of frost has passed. Propagate via root cuttings anytime during the growing season.
• Prize Picks: Stars and Stripes, Pioneer Red, Kermesina, Avalanche, and cultivars from the New Look, Graffiti, Star, and Butterfly series.


Photo: Dutch Gardens, www.dutchgardens.com

Pincushion flower

This flower earned its name from how its stamens stick into the flowerhead, resembling that useful sewing tool, the pincushion. However, pincushion flower doesn't rest on its beautiful form, it functions quite usefully itself. Blooming long and often, it does double duty first attracting butterfly and hummingbirds and then complementing cut-flower arrangements. Here's one you should definitely "stick" in your garden.

• Common Names: Pincushion flower.
• Botanical Name: Scabiosa columbaria.
• Hardiness: Annual.
• Bloom Time: Summer.
• Size: Up to 3 feet high and 9 inches wide.
• Flowers: White, purple, blue, pink or crimson.
• Light Needs: Full sun to partial shade.
• Growing Advice: Plant in average, well-draining soil. Don't over water.
• Prize Picks: Butterfly Blue won Perennial Plant of the Year in 2000. Giants Mix offers double blooms up to 3 inches across.




Photo: Lucinda Moriarty

Purple coneflower

This easy-to-grow native flower is a cousin to the black-eyed Susan. The large showy blooms attract birds, butterflies and bees, and make long-lasting cut flowers. Coneflowers need little upkeep, are drought-tolerant and thrive in almost any soil with adequate drainage. This plant self-sows readily. To minimize "volunteers," apply a layer of mulch and remove any unwanted seedlings in spring.

• Common Names: Purple coneflower.
• Botanical Name: Echinacea purpurea.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Midsummer to early fall.
• Size: 2 to 5 feet high, 2 feet wide.
• Flowers: Purple, pink, crimson, white and new varieties like yellow and orange; daisy-like drooping petals surround a bristly cone-shaped center.
• Light needs: Full sun; will tolerate light shade.
• Growing Advice: Plant bare-root perennials in spring or container-grown specimens anytime during the growing season. To propagate, sow seeds in fall or early spring (it may take 2 to 3 years to flower).
• Prize Picks: Magnus, the 1998 Perennial Plant of the Year, has showy flat flower heads up to 7 inches across. The smaller White Swan has white petals and produces fewer seedlings. Meadowbrite and Mango Pixie are lively orange versions that sport light fragrances.




Photo: RDA GID

Yarrow

Don't be fooled by its delicate beauty - yarrow's tough as nails. This extremely tolerant plant offers lacy flat-topped clusters of tiny flowers to attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

• Common Names: Yarrow.
• Botanical Name: Achillea.
• Hardiness: Zones 3 to 9.
• Bloom Time: Summer.
• Size: 6 to 52 inches high, 12 to 24 inches wide.
• Flowers: Yellow, white, red, and pink.
• Light Needs: Full sun.
• Growing Advice: Sow seeds outdoors in spring or early summer. Divide in spring. Long-lasting when cut or dried.
• Prize Picks: Moonshine is indispensable for abundant bright light yellow. Achillea millefolium species contribute pink and red but can be weedy; good choices include Paprika, Christel and Red Beauty.




Photo:

Salvia

Want your summer gardens to kick off with a bang and end with a grand finale? Then plant red salvia, an annual that'll light up your yard like it's the Fourth of July.

There are few garden flowers as bold or reliable as these brilliant red spikes some gardeners call firecracker plant. They stand at attention in a large border garden and are just as striking when confined to containers. And they provide the perfect crimson color for a patriotic red, white and blue garden.

• Common Names: Red salvia, scarlet sage, and firecracker plant.
• Botanical Name: Salvia splendens.
• Hardiness: Grown as an annual in all zones.
• Bloom Time: Summer to autumn.
• Size: 8 to 30 inches high, 8 to 12 inches wide.
• Flowers: Bright red, spiky clusters of tubular flowers. Also available in orange, white, pink, lavender or blue.
• Light Needs: Full sun; where summers are especially hot, some shade is appreciated.
• Growing Advice: Sold as bedding plants. Plant at same level as growing in containers and pinch tops to encourage branching. Mulch to retain moisture and keep soil cool.
• Prize Picks: Incredible red varieties include Bonfire, with its 24-inch-tall, late-blooming spires, and the compact Firecracker series, which grows only 12 inches tall. For those seeking variety, the Sizzler and Salsa series bloom in an interesting palette of colors, including orange, white, pink, lavender, and blue.