Monarch Butterfly Plants

This last skin is the "chrysalis" — it begins soft but later hardens. Growing up, this common milkweed (was the only milkweed that I ever knew about. If you'd like to increase Monarch butterflies in your yard, add some milkweed host plants to your garden.

The yearly population peak is right around Christmas. The individual monarchs at a wintering site have never been there before. Using some imagination, you can see some connections, though.

Because now I know what I did not know at the time I first let it grow, that milkweed is not an annual, dying at the end of a season and coming back only as new seeds sprout. And the spring afterward, even more of them.

Also native in North America, it's a common wild sight in almost the entire eastern two thirds of the continent. Swamp milkweed grows lovely green stems covered with thin leaves and topped by the typical milkweed flower cluster.

Most gardeners welcome plants the provide habitat and forage for the birds and butterflies that grace our growing season, but a certain vining perennial is a double-edged sword. At that stage, they are quite easy to pull.Honeyvine has no known toxicity,...

If your Salvia or Sage starts to look unkempt in mid to late summer consider giving it a light shearing or remove the spent flowering spikes to help promote new growth and flower production.

Homestead Verbena was discovered by Dr. Allan Armitage and Dr. Michael Dirr on an old homestead in Georgia. Verbena's are cool season growing perennials and so that is when fertilize should be applied.

The dainty nectar rich flowers are visited by bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Cloud Eight is a semi-dwarf selection of Purole-Top Vervain with a compact and free flowering habit.

This makes this a great plant for children to enjoy as the multitudes of often alien looking caterpillars are sure to pique their interest. To learn more see the Passionfruit datasheet by Purdue Horticulture: https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/passionfruit.html#Varieties...

If your Salvia or Sage starts to look unkempt in mid to late summer consider giving it a light shearing or remove the spent flowering spikes to help promote new growth and flower production.

The small size, exceptional flower power, and spreading habit lends Lilac Chip to use in the perennial border, as a groundcover, smaller spaces, and containers where it is sure to attract loads of butterflies and other pollinators! The Lo & Beholdtm Buddleja...

Provide your Turk's Caps with a well-draining, moderately fertile soil, preferably with at least 4-6 hours a day of direct sunlight for the best results. Easy to grow, moderately drought tolerant once well-established, and exceptionally free-flowering.

Masses of tall wispy deep pink spikes are covered by a succession of large pink butterfly-like flowers throughout summer. A tough and hardy, drought tolerant, perennial US Native.

The Snow Queen Passionflower is a host to the Gulf Frittilary Butterfly and will most likely serve as a host for other butterfly species as well. This Passionvine along with many of Myles Irving's Riverside hybrids appear to rarely produce fruit and are...

Train it on a trellis or other support to produce a small-medium sized fragrant evergreen vine. This naturally sprawling vine-like shrub can easily be pruned to produce a dense mass of foliage and flowers.

Pentas are considered to be deer resistant and moderately salt tolerant. Where not hardy, heat and humidity tolerant Pentas make wonderful annuals for gardens or containers. An excellent choice for butterfly and hummingbird gardens that will flower from...

This exciting new day-length neutral and thusly free flowering Black-Eyed Susan was discovered at Dupont Nursery near Plaquemine, Louisiana and is sure to bring in the butterflies and pollinators as well as providing color all summer.

May not tolerate poor drainage but at the same time will do well in most soils from clay, calcareous, limestone, and sand. Pruning if necessary should not be done after June as you may be removing flower buds for the late summer/fall show.

We have to say thank you to Marc Pastorek and C.C. Richmond for sharing this with us! A rosette of large, rich dark green glossy foliage subtends the flower stalks. A choice native coneflower, the Texas Coneflower produces 3-5" bright golden yellow daisies...

Porterweed is known to reseed particularly in mild winter climates. In zone 8B-9 we find that a small percentage larger growing Porterweeds, like Lavender, Coral, and Purple, may return from the roots in late spring if well mulched.

An application of fertilizer at this time may also be beneficial in spurring flower production. If your Salvia or Sage starts to look unkempt in mid to late summer consider giving it a light shearing or remove the spent flowering spikes to help promote...

The small size, exceptional flower power, and spreading habit lends Lilac Chip to use in the perennial border, as a groundcover, smaller spaces, and containers where it is sure to attract loads of butterflies and other pollinators! The Lo & Beholdtm Buddleja...

It flowers all summer and fall. An easy to grow and drought tolerant heirloom plant. This is the selection with the deepest red color, comes from seed collected in southern Baja California.

For these areas consider some of the sterile or near sterile hybrids like " Lo' & Beholdtm Blue Chip ". An old favorite and an excellent performer, Royal Red Butterfly Bush produces a continuous wave of rich reddish-purple spikes of flowers that are adored...

This is the only species of Echinacea that naturally produces yellow flowers. In midsummer it produces the fragrant, nectar rich yellow flowers atop sturdy 2-3' high stems. The Yellow Purple Coneflower or Yellow Coneflower, Echinacea paradoxa var.

An excellent cut flower that can last for up to a week in a vase. A Dawn Stover Nifty Fifty favorite herbaceous plant! Dawn is a Research Associate at Stephen F Austin in Nacogdoches, TX and currently maintains the Mast Arboretum plant collection.

Thank you for allowing us to use this image! This Greg Grant introduction produces loads of medium-dark blue spikes of tubular flowers from late spring to fall on this durable, Texas tough native.