Butterfly Hummingbird Garden - Took the Plunge....

[BirdLover72]

Last night I went out with a good friend and she helped me get my butterfly/Hummingbird garden plants..These plants will be planted in the from area as soon as the stump is removed..But for now they are in several containers. here's what I got.
Eupatorium dubium-Little Joe
Aster Novae Angliae-New England Aster Purple Dome
Tiarella Wherryi-foamflower
Liatris Spicata(Kobold)-Gayfeather
Monarda 'Coral Reef'-Bee Balm
Mexican Hyssop'Heatwave'-Agastache hydrid
Gaura-Crimson Butterflies
Sisyrinchium-Blue-Eyed Greaa
Physostegia Virginiana'Vivid'-False Drangonhead
Rudbeckia Speciosa Var Sullivantii'Goldsturm'-Black Eyed Susan
Lobelia Cardinal Flower
Aguilegia Canadensis'Pink Lanters' Columbine
Lonicera X Brownii'Drop Scarlet' Trumpet Honeysuckle
Veronicastrum Virginicum'Culver's Root'-Apollo
Dicentra Spectabilis-Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts

Then I ask my friend about a bush at the house--Could she come kidnapp them:)) The silly lady got a hurtful handful of the same bush when we tried to pass a cart..

[Garden Spider]

Nice collection of plants!

Other plants you might want to add as time goes by are:

Oregano "Herrenhausen" and/or "Hopley's Purple". These are ornamental oreganos, not suitable for cooking (bred for flowers, not flavor), but very attractive to butterflies and bees.

Echinacea purpurea--many varieties, ranging from hot pink to nearly purple. I have "Magnus" and "Midnight Ruby"

Lavender--many varieties

Solidago (Goldenrod)--not the plant everybody complains about causing allergies, Goldenrod's pollen is too heavy to travel through the air (Ragweed is the usual culprit). Butterflies use it as a host plant for the caterpillers, and nectar for themselves.

Scabiosa

Good luck with your new Butterfly Garden!

[TheLorax]

That's really great! I didn't realize you had purchased so many until you listed them out. You're really going to feel it after you have to start planting them all.

The plant I grabbed to tuck back in so you could get your cart through that aisle was a Berberis thungergii cultivar du jour of some sort. Brought tears to my eye when I reached down to grab that with my hand. Added insult to injury when I tried to nudge it out of the way using my foot and then it scratched the heck out of my ankle and stuck to my pants leg. I can't believe I didn't pay attention to what I was trying to move out of your way. Big ouch! I seriously don't understand why people buy those attack Barberry plants. They hurt! And yes, I'll stop by sometime during the day and gladly remove the three you have in your yard with my weed wrench.

You should ask for help figuring out where to plant all your new babies (except one) so they will be arranged nicely in your yard.

You truly bought some nice plants. Love your color choices. Welcome to my world you little plant pauper you! Look forward to going with you again next spring!

[JPlovesflowers]

Wow, what a great assortment, looks like you've got some hard work on your hands. I may have missed it, but didn't notice a butterfly bush in your list. It is a great choice and readily available these days in many varieties and the butterflies absolutely love them. Good luck!

[TheLorax]

BirdLover72 is a gal I met several years ago who is from my county. She is pretty darn sharp with birds and helps me and I'm so-so to midland with ornamentals and try to help her. I'm one of those gardeners who won't knowingly plant an invasive species or a noxious weed or any of their cultivars in favor of native or milder mannered species and I don't use many ornamentals. She's one who doesn't particularly care whether she's planting natives or not as long as she's not buying anything that could be harmful to the environment. Her tastes in plants and mine differ wildly but like so many other gardeners, we're both sort of trying our best to steer clear of plants that could become problems. She didn't buy any of the Buddleia davidii or Buddleia lindleyana cultivars they had for sale and there were quite a few really tempting beauties available when we were there. There are some nice native butterfly bushes on the market but none available around this area unfortunately. The milder mannered butterfly bushes probably wouldn't survive up this far north even if they were available which is unfortunate as butterfly bushes have become so incredibly popular.

[JPlovesflowers]

Sorry to hear that the buddleia are not hardy enough to do well in your area. I had several when we lived in Virginia and I just loved them. I don't really have a good spot for them here in AR, but am thinking of squeezing a couple in anyway because I love watching the bee and butterfly activity around them. Forgive my forgetfulness with genus species, it has been so long since I had a conversation with someone who was familiar with it, I've forgotten more than I remember. Hopefully reading the forums will get me up to speed again. It has been a delight to read all of the interesting posts as well as having the opporunity to learn so much from so many.

[TheLorax]

Butterfly bush is one of those really tough ones to look up anyway because reports of its invasiveness generally appear under the spelling of Buddleja while nurseries are selling them as Buddleia so don't feel bad at all. The other problem is that there are quite a few mild mannered buddlejas out there but they aren't propagated as much as they aren't nearly as hardy in the northern reaches... can't make as much money off the milder mannered ones because they won't grow in nearly as many areas as the problem butterfly bushes. Now add to this all the cultivars out there of the three species that are really weedy being sold with no mention of the scientific name of the plant to alert those who are familiar with the Latin names of the plants in favor of selling them as simply Butterfly Bush 'Fascination', 'Black Knight', 'Raspberry Wine', 'Dubonnet', 'Empire Blue', 'White Bouquet', 'Honeycomb', and 'Royal Red' just to name a few plus all the new release cultivars flooding the market. Real hard plant to stop from buying these days for most gardeners even if they really are trying hard to avoid buying those types.

Now add to the above the following-
https://www.springmeadownursery.com/article_7.htm
excerpt from above-

Few plants are as colorful, fun or as profitable as Butterfly Bush, Buddleia davidii. It is a joy to literally watch this plant grow inches per week and then grace us with a wonderful display of blooms from midsummer until frost.

The plant is heavily marketed because it's a money maker due to its ease of propagation and widespread popularity amongst butterfly gardeners... many of whom don't realize it isn't exactly the best all around host for the species of butterflies they are trying to attract to their yards.

(sigh) There aren't any mild mannered butterfly bushes native to where you garden just as there aren't any native to where me and BirdLover garden but there are lots of really great host plants out there for both of us.

Say, has anyone ever suggested you read Dogulas Tallamy's book 'Bringing Home Nature'? I think it's right up your alley and it's affordable-
https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Nature-Home-Sustain-Wildlife/dp/0881928542

[JPlovesflowers]

Thanks for the recommendation. I collect books and will really enjoy it, I'm sure. Any thoughts on birding? I am trying to attract cardinals and have only had success just this year with black sunflower seed. We have tons of red-winged blackbirds and now grackles which take over our feeders and so I think it impacts the traffic from the more desirable birds. We have lots of gold finches, house finches, and sparrows. I am also interested in attracting mourning doves. I love to hear them and have had no luck with them since we've been here. I put out oranges the other day hoping for a hit from a tanager or an oriole (don't know if they come this far south) and nothing has touched it. On the upside, we have already had hummingbirds even though it has been pretty cold until this week. My dad, who lives in northwest Louisiana, had them in early March and suggested putting my feeders out early so that they could establish a feeding place and it certainly worked. I don't think it hurt that my carolina jasmine was blooming like crazy, they seem to love that.

[TheLorax]

You will love that book! It's one I chose to purchase for myself and I've been giving it out as gifts. Please let me know what you think of it as soon as you read it. I'm pretty sure it's destined to become one of your favorites but you tell me what you think after you have it in your hot little hands. Really great to see such a wonderful publication hitting book shelves.

I suck at birding, can't hardly identify what visits my property or what I see in natural areas when traveling unless I'm with another person whose focus is birds. I had redpolls at my birdfeeders this year and wouldn't have ever even known they were here in my area unless a friend hadn't literally stuck my nose to my own window glass and said, "Look! Those little finch like birdies out there aren't exactly a common purple finch!" I would have never even noticed I had them. I am familiar with many of the common species and have been adding some not-so-common species to my repertoire here and there but that's about it for me. Even worse with butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and damselflies. I'm more familiar with the plants that are truly wildlife friendly than I am with the actual species they are friendly to if that makes any sense.

Ummm, what kind of sparrows? No, don't answer that right now. I've got to take off for a few days and wouldn't want you to be left hanging as if I'm ignoring you.

A site for you to check out regarding house sparrows and starlings. Poke around in there for a bit and see what you find.
www.sialis.com

Have a great weekend!

[applestar]

I am trying to attract cardinals and have only had success just this year with black sunflower seed. We have tons of red-winged blackbirds and now grackles which take over our feeders.

Hello. Jumping in your conversation, cardinals really like safflower seeds -- they look like black oil sunflower seeds except that they are white. I had the same problem with grackles and r-w blackbirds swarming all over my feeder, scattering seeds all over and emptying them EVERY DAY!

What worked for me was to take one of those green plastic coated wire fence -- usually sold knee high as well as about 3 feet rolls? They have openings that are small enough for the cardinal to fit thru but too small for the grackles. I cut them to size and surrounded the feeder tray with it (I have a triple tube feeder) leaving little legs of wire to alternate over the lip of the tray to secure. Aww, I guess I really should take a pic but I'm a bit embarrassed to -- the feeder's really old and sun-faded -- I like that it sort of disappears into the landscape.... The green fencing is also almost invisible. I did the same with one of those wooden gazebo-like feeder, fitting the wire fencing inside the post-and-railing -- now the grackles can't sit inside and keep everybody else away, or squabble all over it and empty it in one meal.

The grackles have to cling to the outside, which they are apparently not very good at and poke their heads in sideways -- so they don't stay on long. The cardinals as well as smaller birds (chickadees, tit-mouse (mice?), nuthatches, finches, sparrows, and the occasional Carolina wren and downy woodpecker) can go right through, and the red bellied woodpeckers are very good about clinging to the tray and reaching in. Blue Jays do the same thing, but they only take one seed at a time anyway.

Cardinals also like berries. I have wild cherries, honey suckle, mulberries, elderberries, as well as blueberries and strawberries that are *not supposed to be* for the birds. I also planted inkberries and huckleberries this year. I also have crabapples, fruiting bradford pear, and plums, but I'm nost sure who eats them besides squirrels. (but black swallowtail butterflies come to feast on the overripe plums every summer)

Oh, my feeder mix is safflower, black oil sunflower, and striped sunflower and peanut chips. The mourning doves usually go after the separate niger seed feeder for the goldfinches/finches, but they seem just as happy pecking around my unweeded backyard lawn.

Cardinals have two or three broods during the season and it's really endearing to see the male as well as the female carefully feeding the juvenile from the feeder.

[JPlovesflowers]

I am thinking of planting a red (maybe not officially) honeysuckle, I had a jasmine die out over the winter, because I heard that cardinals like to nest in them. I had a dove in the yard this morning, but it was by himself, which was quite odd. My friend and I surprised him so I don't know what he was doing back there. My husband loves the red-winged blackbirds because he spent his summers growing up on a waterway between the Atlantic and Chesapeake where they were prolific. It is a constant source of disagreement between us as to whether I will run off the blackbirds (grackles included) so that I can have only the birds I love back there. We are having the same dispute over a garden snake that has taken up residence in our waterfall...I will probably win that one, can't stand snakes no matter how harmless they are. I will try the safflower, I didn't have much luck with millet, which I tried last year. If I don't do something about the red-wings and grackles, I may need a second mortgage to pay for bird seed this year I'd love to hear any more advice that you have. We love watching the birds, and it is our source of entertainment until it gets too hot to enjoy them. Yes, we consider ourselves to be old and boring, just in case you might be thinking that.....we're embracing it though, so don't send any sympathy our way. We've earned every one of our years and are happy to sit back and enjoy them.

[biwa]

Butterfly bushes do attract a lot of butterflies, but I agree that they have trouble surviving winters sometimes. I would recommend you get milkweed as well as a butterfly bush, if butterfly bushes can survive there.

Milkweed is famous for attracting monarchs, but the truth is it attracts all butterflies, not just monarchs. If you live in a colder area, I would recommend buying a variety of milkweed that is native to your area. That way the bloom period will be much longer.

As an example of what not to do, I live in zone 7 and bought the asclepias tuberosa "butterfly milkweed" that is often sold in stores. But that variety likes warmth too much - it takes much longer to come up in the spring than local plants do. Because it gets a late start, that species of milkweed doesn't bloom as long as the local varieties of milkweed that are accustomed to the colder weather here.

[doccat5]

I read this thread with great interest. Once I found out just how invasive the Buddleia was, mine had a little "accident". There are so many other choices that are better for the butterflies, I don't bother to waste the space.

I'm building a Monarch Feeding station, fascinating subject.
Many sites recommend:
ascelpisas verfidifora
vertrcillate
variegata
purpurascens
All milkweed and easy to grow from seed.
Here's a recipe for butterfly bait I got from another gardener:

The mix is simple: Mash a few pounds of ripe bananas, a pound of brown sugar and 1 bottle of Guiness Stout beer. Just put everything in a blender and mix it up. Use it fresh or let it ferment in an old milk jug for several weeks to a year! I keep a gallon of it in my south Texas garage (temperature warm up in there!) and open the lid every couple of days or to vent it so it won't explode. As I use it I mix up a new batch and add it to the jug.

I have several pieces of firewood (with bark) hanging from my trees. I used a saw to cut out some grooves into it so the butt-bait will stay put and run off. Many of the folks out at the butterfly gardens just pour it on old tree stumps or fence posts.

It works great!

[NewjerseyTea]

Thanks everyone, there's lots of good information on this thread.
For all NJ residents if you go to the Native Plant Society of NJ www.npsnj.org
they have a great list of NJ native plants matched to the NJ native butterflies. On the home page find the box on the right side that says References and click on More Information. Then find the articles that say NJ Native Butterfly Host and Nectar Plants.


Cardinals and Doves are ground feeders as far as seeds go. I always find them under the feeders.
The Cardinals will make a nest in any vine as low as 5 ft. from the ground. If you purchase an inexpensive metal or wood arbor and cover it with a vine they nest. I have found them nesting in a grape vine, climbing rose and clematis and native honeysuckle (lonicera sempervirens). As long as the vine gets full enough to hide the nest they'll use it.

I have faithfully removed the none native Buddleia a few years ago after I learned of it's invasive nature. There are many substitute plants available if you look at the native plant list provided by the NJ Native Plant Society.

Lonicera sempervirens ( be careful not to get the very invasive Japanese honeysuckle) is the best hummingbird magnet if it fits your range. I haven't seen it in any hummingbird list but I planted bowmans root (Gillenia trifoliata also known as Porterantus stipulatus) under the native honeysucle and my lone hummer alternated between the 2 plants.

[JPlovesflowers]

Interesting comments about the invasiveness of budlleia. I had 4 of these for about 10 years and never had any problem with them spreading even a little bit. Maybe because mine were older varieties, they were not as apt to be invasive? I've never done any research on the subject, but it is certainly interesting to hear so many different people who have had the same experience. I was considering squeezing one into my garden here, but am having second thoughts now. I think I'm going with a controlled honeysuckle vine to try to lure in cardinals and hummers in one fell swoop. wish me luck!

[NEWisc]

The Lonicera sempervirens honeysuckle has some nice choices when it comes to a red honeysuckle:
https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/vines/lonicera_sempervirens.html
And it appears that it would be a great place for cardinals to build a nest.

[img]https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/vines/images/lonicerasemp-magnifica.jpg[/img]

.

[TheLorax]

JPlovesflowers- when you have a spare moment, please search for current threads on Buddleja right here at The Helpful Gardener.

I have wild cherries, honey suckle, mulberries, elderberries, as well as blueberries and strawberries that are *not supposed to be* for the birds.

Oh my! Material to start a whole new thread on fruiting native woodies for wildlife.

[JPlovesflowers]

Thanks for the recommendations. The honeysuckle you pictured is exactly the one I wanted. My husband went with me to the nursery, however, and we ended up with a red mandevilla instead and a cartload of roses and azaleas...he's a pushover for anything with a red flower. He actually disappeared for about 30 minutes and when I finally found him, he had his cart loaded down with this funny smile on his face. I knew then I was in trouble and had a long afternoon ahead of me. Oh well, maybe next year on the honeysuckle..... Lorax, I did the search you suggested and ended up at the usda plant site, what a wonderful resource. I can't believe I never knew it was there. I bookmarked it and will visit it regularly from now on. Curiously enough the buddleja (never knew that spelling was correct) was listed as a noxious weed. Thanks for the advice and for the wonderful resource! I spotted a butterfly yesterday afternoon, maybe my 5th after 2 1/2 years here in Northwest Arkansas. I'm hoping it's a good sign of things to come!