I'm growing butterflies in my flower garden!!

[Skidmore]

Bonus crop. I planted a couple of little butterfly plants this spring--the ones with the orange flowers. When I was down weeding yesterday, I found them covered with about a dozen monarch catepillars, all cheerfully munching away on the foliage. I've never been so happy to see a plant being chewed up in my life. Maybe we'll get emerging butterflies for the grandkid to watch next time they are down.

[Blue Gardener]

1. Yeah!

I'm cleaning out a flower bed in the spring, maybe I'll plant some of those. Are they Butterfly Milkweed?

[Skidmore]

2. I found them on line for you.

http://www.gardenguides.com/seedcatalog/flowers/butterflyflower.htm

They are very pretty.

[Blue Gardener]

3. Thanks

I've seen them in prairie plantings, so they should do well if I plant them here.

[Gato Moteado]

4. are they asclepias tuberosa or asclepias currassavica?

break off a leaf and see if it bleeds a white milky substance. if not they're tuberosa. if yes, they're probably currassavica. they're both milkweeds but the monarchs prefer to lay eggs on currassavica if available. tuberosa has the lowest toxicity of all tyhe milkweeds and so it's the monarchs last choice. if you're in the south (like zone 7 or warmer) you should be able to grow A. currassavica. if you're up north it'll croak in the winter. if you're up north, try some of the other native milkweeds and you'll get even more monarchs in your yard. in addition plant some Tithonia rotundifolia....its common name is mexican sunflower and it's a reseeding annual that will attract so many monarchs, other butterflies, and hummingbirds to your yard that you'll have to swat them out of the way.

[Imalittleteapot]

5. I grew Swallowtails

on parsley. The ate it down to the stems. Now the parsley is vigorously coming back, ready for some more caterpillars. They are always
welcome. The Passion Vine had no leaves after the Gulf Fritilaries got through. It's coming back and I'm inspecting for eggs daily. I hate to remove the eggs, but the vine needs a break and I want and I want to see some flowers.

[Gato Moteado]

6. plant some dill, fennel and rue for a bigger host selection for those....

...swallowtails. they were probably eastern black swallowtails if they laid eggs on the parseley. they'll like those other plants i mentioned also. the rue will also attract giant swallowtails since it's a citrus family herb. if you're far enough south, plant some citrus trees for the giant swallowtails. they also like wafer ash (Ptelia trifoliata) very much.