Horticulture Hotline 5/13/19
Bill Lamson-Scribner
Attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to a
landscape adds a whole different dimension to your landscape. The movement and
pretty colors add excitement to the landscape. Who can look at a hummingbird
that is feeding at a hummingbird feeder and not call others in the house to
observe or now days take out their phone and try to video the little rascal?
There are many plants that will attract butterflies. The ones I’m going to recommend will give you
the bonus of attracting hummingbirds and bees as well. I’ve had all of these plants in my yard and
they do very well in the Lowcountry with a minimal amount of care.
One of the first plants that come to mind is the Butterfly
Weed. The monarch butterfly lays its
eggs on this plant and when the caterpillars come out, they will devour the
foliage. Do not spray insecticides! The foliage will come back quickly and you
don’t want to kill the larva of the monarch butterfly. This plant is not a perennial, however it
reseeds itself. When it pops up
elsewhere in your yard, you can either replant it where you originally had it
or leave it where it popped up. Some
people think it is neat watching the large caterpillars chow down on the plant
and others are afraid of the big caterpillars.
This plant provides an important host plant of the Monarch Butterfly’s
life cycle and will guarantee you will get plenty of butterflies and bees as a
bonus.
Pentas, Bee Balm, Black Eyed Suzanne, Hibiscus, Plumbago, Lantana,
Mexican Sage, Verbena, Vitex, and Glossy Abelia are all good choices for butterfly,
bee, and hummingbird gardens. If you
have a railing around a porch or arbor, a Passion Vine does very well. Of course every Butterfly Garden
must have a Butterfly Bush. A Bottle
Brush should definitely be planted as well (hummingbird favorite). When at the garden center, choose red
varieties, when you have a choice (i.e. red Hibiscus versus yellow).
When you buy these plants they can all go in one little area
for a compact “Butterfly/Hummingbird/Bee Garden”. You may also want to plant several plants in
one location, then have others groups throughout the yard for the
“Butterfly/Hummingbird/Bee Yard”! If you
have a new landscape, it is very easy to design your yard to attract
butterflies. bees and hummingbirds. Also
consider a source of water for the visitors to your yard. A hummingbird feeder
or three by windows so you can get a close up look at the feeding hummingbirds
is always a plus. If you have an area to
screen, try a few Ligustrum. Bees love a Ligustrum’s spring time flowers.
There are many other plants that will attract butterflies,
bees and hummingbirds; these are just a few of my favorites that I have had
great success with. Some plants that you
would not normally think of attracting butterflies are pine trees, oak trees,
birch trees, hack berries, and blueberry bushes.
