Best Plants For Butterfly Garden

[SCOTT761]

I have been interested in wildlife but especially buterflies and other insects for a few years now but as I have been living in a flat I have never had the opportunity to create a butterfly garden but recently I have moved to a bungalow in the country which has a pretty spacious garden so my intention is to create a butterfly garden next year and I would like to plant a wide range of plants including a couple of Butterfly Bushes plus several other garden flowers and native wild flowers in order to attract butterflies throughout the season from early spring until late autumn, although I am not that knowledgable about plants but I have observed over the years that the two garden plants which seem to attract way more butterflies than most others are the Butterfly Bush and the Ice Plant which are both often covered in butterflies during summer and early autumn, whilst I have been out walking in the surrounding ountryside during the past few weeks I have also observed that the Lesser Knapweed flowers have been attracting loads more butterflies of various species than most of the other wild flowers in the area so I may also plant some of these in a wild area at the bottom of my garden,

I will be starting to purchase the plants very soon but firstly I am looking to create a list of the plant species which butterflies seem to find most irresistable so I would really like to hear your recommendations and to learn which plants seem to attract the most butterflies within your gardens as well as in the countryside, also what species can I reasonably expect o visit my garden in the years to come.

[Susie]

Firstly, welcome Scott

Before I started filling my garden with new plants I would ask a couple of questions:-

1. Where is my garden situation? (area in the country but also aspect, ie southerly facing or not)
2. What is the soil like?
3. How much effort can I be bothered to put in?
4. How much do I need it to look like the general public's idea of a garden?
5. Which butterflies are in my area?
6. How much am I prepared to spend? Big plants can look dramatic and give instant effect but are expensive, seed is cheaper and can create good mass planting effect but take time.

If you want limited butterflies drawn to your garden by all means plant flowering plants, but better (in my opinion) is to plant a combination of flowering plants and larval food plants; that way you encourage butterflies into your garden for a much longer time. You also get to watch all the life stages which is fascinating

[Neil Hulme]

Good advice from Susie. Wherever you are you must get Verbena bonariensis.
And it's welcome from me too.
BWs, Neil

[David M]

Mt neighbour bought two scabious plants in early summer and they've been in flower ever since and even now there are almost always Small Tortoiseshells nectaring on them.

She's promised to let me have some next year.

[Chris Jackson]

The Royal Horticultural Society has a "Perfect for Pollinators" plant list (a bit heavy for me to digest):

https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conserva ... ollinators

As for the Buddleia, I find that Pink Delight is the most attractive to butterflies.
(I have 11 buddleias of 5 different colours in 60 m²!!)

Cheers, Chris

[essexbuzzard]

Perennial wallflower (Erisium 'Bowls Mauve') is popular with autumn Nymphalids (tortoiseshells,commas etc). The best advice we can give you is to make sure all your butterfly plants are growing in a sunny position,or the butterflies won't land on them.

[SCOTT761]

Hi All, thanks for your replies so far.

I live in south-west scotland, my back garden is south facing so it gets loads of sunshine which will be perfect for my plants as well as butterflies plus the soil type is loam which is also advantageous.

I am really keen to have quite a lot of plants in place in my gatden for next year and if that means spending a bit of money and time to accomplish this then so be it, I also think it would be a very good idea to provide the butterflies with their preferred larval foodplants especially since I have already been thinking of planting some native wild flowers, so other than growing a patch of stinging nettles what others should I consider planting?

The butterfly species which I have seen within a couple of miles of my new house since moving in mid July are as follows with those species which have been seen within or on the outskirts of my home village being marked by an asterisk.

Large White*, Small White*, Green Veined White*, Small Copper*, Common Blue, Red Admiral*, Painted Lady*, Small Tortoiseshell*, Peacock*, Dark Green Fritillary, Scotch Argus*, Meadow Brown*, Ringlet*, Small Heath*.

I have been doing a little bit of research about buterfly nectar plants online and I have looked up the ones you mentioned and they all look very promising to me, I also had a look at the RHS Perfect for Pollinators list but there are just way too many plants most of which I have never even heard of before, so if you were to narrow down your list of most attractive nectar plants for butterflies to maybe 5 or 10 then are there any others I should consider adding to my list?

Buddleja (Pink Delight so which other ones are the best)
Ice Plant (Which I happened to notice is listed by RHS as Sedum spectabile and hybrids and there seem to be loads of different ones so which are the best)
Verbena Bonariensis
Scabious
Wallflower Bowles Mauve
Lesser Knapweed

Cheers
Scott

[essexbuzzard]

Quite a good selection so far. As far as Ice Plant goes,go for Sedum spectabile if you can find it,or the variety 'Brilliant'. Avoid the hybrid 'Autumn Joy',which,i believe,is sterile.

If you want to provide for the early stages,Nastutiam growing is full sun will be full of cabbage white caterpillars in August-as will any cabbages!

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Scott

I have several Hebe bushes in my garden. They seem very attractive to butterflies. I regularly have Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Whites and Red Admiral visiting. It has a long flowering period and is low maintenance. I will try and find the variety name.

If you have space for some wild plants then they are a must. If you have a small garden (as I do) and are worried about keeping wild stuff under control then I keep stuff like wild grasses etc growing in large pots.

Buddleia is a must of course and it is also easy to propagate

[John_C]

Hi Scott

I have found the following plants to be the top butterfly nectar sources in my garden.

Butterfly Bush - Buddleja Davidii Autumn Beauty (Late Flowering), Buddleja Davidii Pink Delight, Buddleja Davidii White Profusion
Ice Plant - Sedum Spectabile Brilliant, Sedum Spectabile Carmen
Knapweed - Centaurea Nigra, Centaurea Scabiosa
Marjoram - Origanum Vulgare
Valerian - Centranthus Lecoquii, Centranthus Ruber
Verbena - Verbena Bonariensis
Wallflower - Erysimum Linifolium Bowles Mauve

Regards
John

[ChrisC]

a subject very close to my heart and as far as i am concerned a very often misrepresented subject, i hasten to add I am no expert though. one thing i would say though, do not limit your selections for butterflies only, a cloudy day and your garden could end up a fairly quiet place.
so my list for butterflies and other insects from limited experience on top of those listed (a couple like it a bit damp),
red campion
hemp agrimony
fleabane
michaelmas daisy
purple loosestrife
oxeye daisy
garlic mustard (not particularly colourful but does the business for whites)


lavender (some are better than others)
eupatorium lingustrinum (spelling might be out but a great shrub)


other shrubs for other insects
pyracantha
ceanothus
cotoneaster horizontalis

the list could be a long one as apart from the shrubs these are just the native plants i can think of, i'm pretty sure a good clump of bramble would be as good a bet as many of the above.

Chris

[kevling]

Scott,

In addition to the nectaring plants already mentioned on this thread, do not overlook or dipose of any nettles that you may have growing. I planted a couple of pots of nettles this year to sustain some Peacock larvae and a month after they departed, a Red Admiral layed several eggs on the same plants. So bang goes the theory that you need a large area of nettles to attract.
If you have an area of lawn, then I would recommend allowing a small area to grow long next spring/summer. I did this with just a 1 metre sq patch on my small lawn and it attracted numorous insects, moths and a Large Skipper (never before seen in my garden).

Good luck

Kev

[SCOTT761]

Hi All

Thanks again for all your replies and advice, just to let you know that I have just bought my first few plants this week which are listed below.

1 Buddleja Black Knight (This was the only kind of Buddleja the garden centre currently had in stock but I picked a lovely plant about 3 feet tall)
3 Sedum Spectabile and 3 Sedum Spectabile Brilliant
4 Wallflower Bowles Mauve
4 French Lavender
4 Aster (Not sure which kind they are but they have lovely purple and yellow flowers)

I will buy some more plants during the next few weeks including Verbena Bonariensis and a couple of other kind of Buddlejas.

Cheers
Scott

[Susie]

Abedelia chinensis (sp?)is a plant I wouldn't be without at this time of year.

[PhilBJohnson]

Buddleia or Buddleja? (Butterfly Bush).

Possibly first introduced from the Caribbean by the botanist, Buddle.
Not native, can be invasive. a pioneer species (first to colonise). Often found on building sites, ('Brownfield' sites, yet to be developed).
Hybrid Buddleia can have an advantage, in not setting seed (less invasive), so readily as 'wild' varieties.
April is a really good time for taking cuttings to propagate hybrids that are easy to grow.

Hybrid cultivars can have a disadvantage in not being as 'nectar rich' as wild plants.
Some cultivars are profuse bloomers but are not so attractive to butterflies as other cultivars.
Some Interesting flower colours of newer cultivars:
The bluest
The reddest
The yellowest
The 'blackest' (darkest Purple).
The named plant created by hybridisers might contain these colours in their name but the flower colour might not be completely true to it's name for marketing reasons:
So for a celebrities preference of Buuddlia, which hybridiser or seller are they supporting?

[PhilBJohnson]

Please can we have the best new cultivars for butterflies (nectar rich), compared with a buddleia's aesthetic flower appeal considered carefully by competition judges?

[Goldie M]

Hi! Scott, i've just seen your post for the first time, you said you'd bought a Boules Mauve last year, this plant is fantastic for Butterflies but can get very bushy and stalky and this year mine was hit badly in the bad weather, that didn't bother me ,for at the latter end of the season I take a few cuttings from them and leave them in the Greenhouse over the Winter so I can replace any losses, their easy to do, just some soil in a small pot, make sure they don't dry out and you've got extra plants, they soon grow and you've got an endless supply. Goldie

[David M]

I would agree with Goldie. Bowles Mauve is very attractive to all butterflies - the Pierids love it as much as the vanessids. It also stays in flower for most of the year, so it is available when many other butterfly friendly blooms such as buddleia, are not.

Scabious, Knapweed and Sedum are also nailed on although these tend to flower later in the season.

[False Apollo]

Hi Scott,
I would agree with most of the plants mentioned. I especially like Hebe Great Orme and Midsummer Beauty. I always go for the paler buddlejas, in my garden the reds and dark purples are largely ignored. They love the pink delight, white profusion and pale lilac varieties including Loch Inch. The star of the garden is a tree like yellow buddleja Sungold, which can flower into December. I also have a couple of dwarf buddlejas in pots which I can move around if needed so they are always in the sun.

Regards
Mike

[PhilBJohnson]

The Chelsea Flower show was seasonally too early for a 'yellow flowering davidii' unless one was 'forced on' to bloom early under glass.
The Hampton Court flower show is July 3rd -July 8th this year.
My best qualifications for new hybrids are specifically: (not in this order)
Profusion of flowers
Nectar rich flowers.
(assuming that different hybrids vary in nectar richness, for butterflies the flowers need to be more than aesthetically pleasing).
New 'davidii' colour (for example, yellow).
Doesn't so easily set seed.
(important as buddleja can be easily grown from cuttings but is classed by some as invasive).

2014 link:
http://www.buddlejagarden.co.uk/weyer3.html