Re: Flowers for butterflies

Hi folks

With a visitor to my RSPB Homes for Wildlife blog wanting to post me a photo of butterflies on Sedum, I thought the best way was to open it up as a topic for everyone :-) Tell us which flowers work best for you.

Here's one to kick us off, the gorgeous Painted Lady on Ivy (what a year it has been for the Lady, eh?)  - and I hope you'll come and see my full blog post about Ivy and the responses here http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw/default.aspx

I find budleia are fantastic for butterflies, I know of a few sites around where there are budleia and at the right time of year they are covered in butterflies including painted ladies, red admirals, small tortoiseshell not to mention moths, bees and hoverflies.

Ivy is certainly tops for butterflies and bees at this time of the year. Unfortunately Ivy can be very distructive and it demolished the shed that it was crawling over and that the butterflies loved so much. I have had four or five varieties at a time and lots of them

Hi Adrian,

This summer I was amazed to see a good 30+ Painted ladies on the Buddleia in my garden at  one time, with the odd Red admiral and Large white thrown in for good measure. The lavender, which i admit is taking over my garden was also very popular, and whilst it is mostly there for the bees (at least 4 types of Bumblebee and the odd honey, and leaf cutter bee), the Large and Small whites and Small tortoiseshell butterflies loved it too.

Claire

I agree with the Buddleia - my neighbour and I have planted trees either side of the fence to so they will meet over the top and we have never had so many butterflies as we have this year.   I always plant nasturians as well I know there the old cabbage whites mainly on them and I end up with nothing but stalks but I still think they deserve a good home! 

Hi folks. I'll add my vote for Buddleia - I always knew it as the Butterfly Bush when I was a child. I now grow a plain old Buddleia davidii, but I also have a Buddleia x weyeriana taken from a cutting from a friend that he took as a cutting from Norfolk. For those who don't know it, it is the cross of davidii and the Orange Ball Tree, Buddleia globosa, and has lovely yellow flowers that are still on the go now.

Liatris are excellent for butterflies, bees and other insects. It's ideal if you don't have the room for a Buddleia.

Discussions are always the main source of accurate information and to ensure a comfortable results, you can get immediate and reliable information, which will definitely help you in every area of your concern.

A fantastic plant for attracting butterflies is a perennial called Scabiosa, look for Scabiosa 'Ritz Blue', which is in the garden centres now, because it's certainly the best 'draw' i ever had for attracting the largest variety and number of them.

Plant them in full sun and plant several plants close/next to each other and sit back and watch them carpet the plants :-)

Scabious of all types are excellent insect attractors.

 So is the Drumstick Allium.

If can get Any, Verbena Bonariensis is also an excellent Butterfly and Bee attractor, and you only need 1 plant to start with as it self seeds.

In addition to the already mentioned plants, Monarda will attract butterflies, and Sweet Rocket  (Hesperis) is a favourite of the Orange tip butterfly.

Cottagegardener

In addition to the already mentioned plants, Monarda will attract butterflies, and Sweet Rocket  (Hesperis) is a favourite of the Orange tip butterfly.

Hello Cottage Gardener, and Welcome. :-)

I saw a lovely pair of peacock butterflies on daffodil blooms earlier this month. I have also planted two buddleja lochinch, which have pale blue/lavender coloured flowers with bright orange centres.

Buddleia's.....and OH YES.......my cabbage plants......lol.....