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What flowers go in a bee/butterfly garden?
I live in Northwest Florida and I have been thinking about planting a bee/butterfly garden this spring. I’m not sure what flowers are especially alluring to bees or butterflies. I already have some Lantanas and Oxalis, but other than that I’m pretty much lost. What should I plant to help out my little winged buddies?
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This will help you:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/Butterflies.htm
Yo Allison, I’m not sure about the native plants in your neck of the woods but make sure you have a mix of plants that will provide pollen early till late in the year. Marigolds will attract Hover-flies, which eat aphids…good organic veg protection.
Peace.
be sure to provide food and habitat for larval and adults. That means — caterpillars. Caterpillars will chew leaves.
Here is a link with info on gardening for butterflies. http://www.nwf.org/backyard/butterflies.cfm
then also go to http://www.wildflower.org/explore/ to find plants that are native to your area.
some good bee and butterfly plants in general are asters and goldenrods. find the species that are native to your state with above link.
For the butterflies you will want to plant the host plants too. The butterflies will lay there eggs and live on the host plants. You will get a better variety that way. With allot of these plants you will also attract the hummingbird and hummingbird moth.
Each species of butterfly lays its eggs
on particular plants. The caterpillars
will starve to death rather than to eat
any other plants than the ones they are
designed to eat. So, if you are serious
about attracting more varieties of
butterflies to your garden, you need to
consider the host plants that the
butterflies seek out to lay their eggs on.
http://www.butterflynature.com/butterflies.html
The list of plants are endless
http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?number=500&op=OR&first=1&v1=bfy&listonly=1
Buddleias are known as “The Butterfly bush” becaue they attract butterflies. Asters are an attractant, as are flowers which have a long neck to the nectaries – remember that butterflies use their curled tongue to suck up nectar. Any member of the primrose family which rely on a butterfly for cross pollination is a good bet.
You will be happiest if you plant plants that provide flower sources of the nectar that adult butterflies love. If you try to provide food sources for the caterpillars you will have raggedy plants that are half-eaten, or worse, completely defoliated by the caterpillars. Great for scientists and those who want to aid nature, but not a very lovely garden.
In your part of Florida, here are some easy-to-obtain flowers that will draw and feed the adults:
Coneflowers – Echinacea purpurea and its hybrids – shades of pink, yellow and orange.
Blue Mistflower – Eupatorium coelestinum – beautiful blue
Swamp Sunflowers – Helianthus angustifolia – vibrant yellow
Blazingstar – Liatris spicata and others – glowing magenta
Cardinal Flower – Lobelia cardinalis – fire engine red
Egyptian Star Flower – Pentas lanceolata – various colors
Garden Phlox – Phlox paniculata – bright magenta, white, & others
Mexican Hat – Ratibida pinnata – yellow-and-burgundy
Goldenrod – Solidago speciosa and others – golden yellow
Autumn Joy Sedum – Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ – soft pink turning rust
Stokes Aster – Stokesia laevis – sky blue
Purple Verbena – Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’ – Barney purple
Cat’s Whiskers – Orthosiphon stamineus – frilly white
Sages – Salvia spp. – many different blues, pinks and reds
Blanket Flower – Gaillardia x grandiflora, oranges, yellows and reds
I live in Florida to, personally I love Scarlet Milkweed, It has beautiful flowers and hence the name Milk”Weed” it grows very well and is a exceptional butterfly attractor
Bee Balm also called Manarda. It is part of the mint family and can be used in tea. It is a diuretic and a spice. Here is photo’s of mine.
http://internetfreebies.freehosting.net/photo.html
Also butterfly bush. Here is a photo that was on an ad for ornamental peppers. But the photo is butterfly bush.
http://miami.kijiji.com/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=77884306&img=http%3A%2F%2Fkijiji.ebayimg.com%2Fi9%2F07%2Fk%2F000%2F7c%2Fc1%2Fc5c0_18.JPG