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New Butterfly Garden Perennials

February 1, 2016 by Jeanne

I’m always on the lookout for new butterfly garden plants. I love my butterfly garden, and making sure that I plant a wide range of perennials to feed all different types of butterflies is important to me. It’s also important to support colonies of pollinating insects, including butterflies, so that they continue to thrive.

This month, the nice folks over at High Country Gardens send me information on several new plant introductions that will be great for your butterfly garden. I’m sharing this information with their permission.

 

Asclepias_incarnata_Swamp_Milkweed__16__ WORDS

New Butterfly Garden Perennials from High Country Gardens

The first two plants can be grown anywhere in the United States from zone 3 or 4 (think northern Maine) to the deep south (zone 9). These are great for a very natural, woodland or meadow-type garden. You could plant a few in your garden to attract butterflies or plant a small strip for butterflies, such as the space behind a garage. Wherever you have full sun, think about adding some of these wonderful plants.

Asclepias_incarnata_Swamp_Milkweed__2_

Aesclepias incarnata

Asclepias incarnata (Rose Milkweed)  3-4 ft. tall x 3 ft. wide / zones 3-9 

This is a showy pink blooming native milkweed species that’s a food plant for Monarch butterfly caterpillars and a nectar source for the adult butterflies of all types. More refined than some other milkweed species, this is a superb garden plant that combines well with ornamental grasses and other perennials. While it’s also known as Swamp Milkweed, this wildflower actually grows well in both moderately moist and wet soils.  It’s also an excellent choice for rain gardens and the outlaying low areas and roadsides of your property where it will naturalize. This is also a perennial butterfly garden plant and great for your butterfly garden.

Plant care: Very cold hardy, this perennial can be transplanted throughout the growing season, spring to fall. Grows well in all types of soils, including clay. Herbaceous, it dies back to the ground in winter, but leave standing for attractive seed pods that provide winter interest. Cut back to a couple of inches above the ground in mid-spring. Fertilize once annually in the fall with a light application of compost or organic fertilizer.

Achillea_millifolium_Sonoma_Coast_in_flwr_540x720_72_RGB

Achillea millifolium “Sonoma Coast”

Achillea millefolium ‘Sonoma Coast’  (Sonoma Coast White Creeping Yarrow)  12” x 24″ wide / Zones 4- 10 

With its soft, feathery, light-green leaves and spreading underground stems, ‘Sonoma Coast‘ is a fantastic, low-care native groundcover from California that makes a durable, low-water lawn substitute.  It blooms with bright white flowers in late spring/early summer. This keeps the handsome, ferny foliage tidy and dense. Tolerates light to moderate foot traffic. A much more compact and ornamental form of the common white-flowered yarrow.

 

Plant care: Indestructible in the garden, the plant requires no special care other than deadheading when blooming is finished. When grown in large patches, simply mow off the faded flowers with your lawn mower deck set at its highest setting. If the foliage looks a little tired in mid-spring, rake out brown foliage with a leaf rake. Fertilize once annually in the fall with a light application of compost or organic fertilizer.

 

More Butterfly Garden Plants

I’ve written extensively on butterfly gardens and lectured locally on them, too. I share plenty of resources here on Home Garden Joy, including our free Butterfly Garden Guide. You may enjoy the following articles:

  • FREE Butterfly Gardening Guide
  • Plants for Virginia Butterfly Gardens
  • The Tiger Swallowtail
  • How to Tell Good or Bad Bugs from the Cocoon

 

Happy growing 2016 signature blog

 

Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

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Filed Under: Flower Gardening Tagged With: butterfly gardens

Previous Post: « Garden Planning Tips
Next Post: Butterfly Attracting Perennials »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie

    February 5, 2016 at

    What beautiful ideas!! I can’t wait to start planning my garden for the Spring and how to get the butterflies to enjoy it! It’s great co-hosting with you for the #HomeMattersParty , please be sure to check out my posts and comment. 🙂

    • Jeanne

      February 7, 2016 at

      Jamie, thank you so much!

  2. Michelle James

    February 6, 2016 at

    I am so ready for Spring & these are great ideas. Thanks for sharing. I am happy to be co-hosting with you this month!

    • Jeanne

      February 7, 2016 at

      Thanks Michelle! I’m enjoying your posts too #HomeMattersParty

  3. Lorelai @ Life With Lorelai

    February 9, 2016 at

    What beautiful flowers! I love that purple especially…so pretty. Thanks for sharing and being a wonderful co-host of the #HomeMattersParty – we love having you on the team! 🙂

    ~Lorelai
    Life With Lorelai

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  1. Home Matters Linky Party #72 - Tidbits of Experience says:
    February 5, 2016 at

    […] Jeanne brings us New Butterfly Garden Perennials […]

  2. Home Matters Linky Party #72! - Our Crafty Mom says:
    February 5, 2016 at

    […] Jeanne brings us New Butterfly Garden Perennials […]

  3. Home Matters Linky Party #72 | Newman's Corner says:
    February 5, 2016 at

    […] Jeanne brings us New Butterfly Garden Perennials […]

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writer Jeanne Grunert

Hi, I'm Jeanne Grunert, master gardener, gardening book author, herbalist, and writer. If you're new to gardening, welcome! I make it simple and easy for you to grow a gorgeous garden and cook with the fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs that you grow.

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