Flowers for butterflies

[Cotham Marble]

I think there are a couple of difficulties with defining which are, and which are not the “best” butterfly plants.

Firstly, the volume of nectar available from any one plant will be variable depending on location and stage of development so it’s quite possible that two plants of even the same species, separated by just a few metres, will actually yield very different volumes of nectar and consequently attract different numbers of feeders on any given day. This difference will potentially be even greater between plants of different species, and the overall difference of feeder numbers on a single plant will be compounded by the timing of emergence of new adult feeders.

Secondly I’m sure there are location preferences for specific butterfly species, that results in a specimen of one plant species in a given location receiving high feeder numbers, while a specimen of the same plant species in a different location, gets low or even no attention from feeding butterflies. What these location preferences might be is difficult to ascertain but I’d suggest that sunny ‘arbour’ like locations get higher numbers of feeders than open locations – certainly that is the explanation I’d give for my lavender plants getting good numbers of butterfly visits while my neighbour’s buddleia seems to be of no interest to butterflies at all.

On balance I think a scatter gun approach is the best option, lots of different types of plants in a range of locations, at least as far the size of one’s garden allows. Garden layout of course can have it’s own influence quite apart from food sources, more by accident than intent my small urban garden is regularly inhabited by Speckled Woods, none of which I’ve ever seen feed. The reason they are attracted is that with a small strip of grass between flower beds and a tall hedge the whole thing resembles a woodland glade, just the sort of place a male Speckled Wood will patrol to encounter passing females.

CM

[kiltoncomp]

the Ice plant - Sedum spectabile & S.maximum being late flowering, always attract lots of different species in my garden, as well as moths, when most other flowers have gone over,
the peacocks and tortoiseshells are especially fond of it,
the ones we have are just beginning to show the flowers


Brian.

[watsthat]

I grow organically on my allotment and always have Phacelia in bloom. It`s classed as a "green manure" plant but that`s not a very scientific description. It flowers profusely with attractive blue flowers but no way could you call it a flower border plant because it tends to sprawl all over the place so needs a bit of room. However; its an absolute magnet for bees, wasps and hoverflies. I like to cultivate a patch amongst my brassicas, where the wasps and hoverflies seem to have a beneficial effect.

Cheers

Pete

[Cheryl]

Originally Posted by kiltoncomp

the Ice plant - Sedum spectabile & S.maximum being late flowering, always attract lots of different species in my garden, as well as moths, when most other flowers have gone over,
the peacocks and tortoiseshells are especially fond of it,
the

I remember that from my childhood - sadly here we don't tortoiseshells like we did then I've only seen one locally this year I have sedums in my garden but they flower quite late but when they do, they do attract the bees, hoverflies and insects in general

Another plant I find that attracts the insects and butterflies is Echinops (Globe Thistle).

[Susie]

Cotham Marble makes some really good points. I have the same type of plants in several locations in the front and back garden and the front which is more open and dryer gets far fewer butterflies that my sunny sheltered back garden which also gets far more water.

Another good example is a buddleia I have in a pot. I had it in a sunny spot on the patio but it didn't get a single visit that I could see. I moved it to a different spot and immediately it was visited by butterflies. So, it is not just about what you have but what you do with it, but then we all knew that anyway, didn't we?

[UB4 gardener]

I also think not only location is a deciding factor but also what other nectar plants are available nearby. on quite a few occasions i have been to a garden centre and seen lots of bees around a particular plant, get it back to the garden and it would hardly get a visit as the lavenders would be the favourite by a long way.
i have noticed it with buddlieas too. 2 cuttings from my very popular (only) buddliea from my old garden along with 2 pink varieties, a white variety and a globosa were all outshone by a single blue nano buddliea which had more butterflies than all the others put together. if i didn't have that one (which has nearly finished) they would and have now moved on to the other varieties.
and at the risk of wrath from horse lovers......Ragwort would be in the top 5 performers for my garden this year.
just my tuppence worth.

Chris

[Susie]

I've never seen anything special on globosa but that is probably down to the timing. The hybrids like honeycomb, goldenglow and moonlight which I have in bloom now are pretty good. Commas and bees in particularly seem to like them.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Susie

Cotham Marble makes some really good points. I have the same type of plants in several locations in the front and back garden and the front which is more open and dryer gets far fewer butterflies that my sunny sheltered back garden which also gets far more water.

That's funny as it's the opposite in mine!

[Susie]

The front garden is dry because there is a big oak tree in it which acts like an umbrella and sucks all moisture from the ground. It is a bit of a nightmare at this time of year to get anything to grow successfully but I still try. The back garden is wetter cos I water it. It may give me a false reading of which buddleia is best because the ones in the front garden are at a distinct disadvantage.

[shei111]

I find that bees, butterflies, really enjoy the 2 different lavateras I have in the garden every year since the time it starts flowering its covered , I have the dark pink one plus the light pink called "barnsley" both bushes are now well over 8 feet tall , I just dead head as they die and they seem to make more buds within weeks so you get constant flowers. shei.