3 butterfly favorites
By: Garden Gate staff
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3 butterfly favorites
When it comes to drawing butterflies to your yard with the nectar they need, there are pros and cons for growing native plants and cultivated varieties both.
Natives are often robust with flowers, making them easily recognizable as a food source. On the downside, natives can be too large or aggressive for smaller gardens.
Cultivated varieties provide lots of choices, and you can usually find them in garden centers without trouble. But breeding for one characteristic, such as smaller size or bigger blooms, can sometimes cause others, like nectar access or amount, to be lost.
Keep this info in mind when you’re shopping for butterfly favorites, and remember: Plant in groups so butterflies don’t have to work as hard to find their meals.
Click ahead for three fall bloomers that provide a late-season feast for butterflies.
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State Fair Mix zinnia Zinnia elegans
Invest in a packet of zinnia seeds, and you’ll be rewarded with lots of butterflies fluttering through your garden. Choose the taller cultivars, instead of the front-of-the-border types — they’re more popular with these winged wonders. Direct sow seeds in your garden after the threat of frost is past and soil has warmed to at least 55 degrees F. Flowers start in early summer and keep coming until frost.
Deadheading faded blooms encourages side branches to develop, though these blooms are usually a little smaller than the first flush. Avoid overhead watering to keep powdery mildew, a common zinnia problem, from taking hold.
Type Annual
Blooms All colors but blue from early summer to frost
Light Full sun
Soil Well-drained
Size 36 to 48 in. tall, 12 to 14 in. wide
Heat-tolerant AHS zones 12 to 1
Source Harris Seeds
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‘Sheffield’ garden mum Chrysanthemum hybrid
The single flowers of this perennial garden mum are a better food source for butterflies than the petal-packed double flowering types sold in the fall. Plant ‘Sheffield’ in spring so it has time to establish a good root system and a better chance of surviving winter.
To get the most flowers from your garden mum, be sure to provide consistent moisture and apply slow-release fertilizer with a 16-9-23 formula annually in spring. Pinching will also produce more flowers. Remove the growing tips twice — once around the end of May and again in early July.
Type Perennial
Blooms Pale pink flowers from late summer to frost
Light Full sun to part shade
Soil Well-drained
Size 24 to 36 in. tall, 18 to 24 in. wide
Cold-hardy USDA zones 5 to 9
Heat-tolerant AHS zones 9 to 1
Source Avant Gardens
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‘Fireworks’ goldenrod Solidago rugosa
Butterflies love goldenrod, but if you need a more compact plant for your garden, try ‘Fireworks’. Arching stems full of tiny individual flowers pack the plant and bloom a long time — up to five weeks, usually starting around mid-September. It’s an easy-to-care-for plant that’s super drought-tolerant, once established.
Type Perennial
Blooms Yellow flowers from late summer to frost
Light Full sun
Soil Well-drained, sandy to clay
Size 2 to 3 ft. tall and wide
Cold-hardy USDA zones 4 to 9
Heat-tolerant AHS zones 9 to 1
Source High Country Gardens
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