I cannot get over all the butterflies at the nursery. They are everywhere. Literally.
It is wonderful! I don’t know if it is due to the mild winter we had, the recent rains, a combination of the two, or what, all I know is it has been amazing.
There are several varieties of butterflies all over the nursery, more it seems than in previous years. They have been all over everything. If you are trying to attract butterflies to your garden and or landscape, the easiest way to achieve this would be to plant perennials.
I get asked all the time, “What do they like the most? What do they gravitate towards?”, and it is just hard to say. Blooms is the basic answer.
Top Austin Perennials for a Drought Tolerant Garden
I took several photos the past few days and am posting a photo of some I have seen lately- some butterflies I know the names of some I do not. The photo to the right is a Skipper Butterfly on the Mexican Mint Marigold. The Mexican Mint Marigold is a drought tolerant plant in the garden that smells like licorice!
Planting perennials is a wonderful way to attract butterflies and bees and who doesn’t love the butterflies and the bees?
Why Lantana is a Butterfly Magnet
There are several types and varieties and colors of the Lantana- all prolific bloomers. I have yet to see one that does not attract the butterflies. There are several Texas natives as well as adapted varieties and all equally as popular. Not sure what that little white butterfly shown in the photo is, but he is really pretty.
Attracting Bees and Butterflies with Salvia
The ‘Mystic Spires’ Salvia is an old standby for attracting bees and butterflies. The ‘Mystic Spires’ has stunning beautiful blue spires that bloom spring through fall. This is the White-striped Longtail Butterfly- they have been literally everywhere. I do not remember seeing these before in previous years; they look like zebras!
Mixing Texas Natives and Annuals in the Garden
The Queen Butterflies have been flocking to the pink Celosia blooms as well as the Gregg’s Mistflower blooms. The Celosia is a great annual that reseeds and has unique textured blooms. The Gregg’s Mistflower is a Texas native low growing perennial that is a must in the garden especially if you are trying to attract butterflies. Both are drought tolerant once established and require little care. If you want to “tame” the Gregg’s Mistflower, it responds well to pruning, so give it a little haircut here and there to shape it up.
The ‘Pink Flamingo’ Celosia are covered in the butterflies lately. A lady had some in her cart the other day and we counted 24 butterflies on her two plants. 24!
Monarchs are the most popular of all the butterflies, I think as people everywhere seem to know which they are.
The little Skipper butterflies are so cute. They are all over the place on just about every flower we have. Shown here on the white Salvia coccinea, they seem to bounce around from bloom to bloom not showing a real preference for any particular variety.
The Salvia ‘Sallyfun’ are popular with the butterflies as well. I was so excited to get the shot of him in this pose!
It has been wonderful lately with all the butterflies and bees. I did not post bee photos in this particular post, but the bees are buzzing along right there next to the butterflies. It is a sight to see!
Create Your Own Austin Butterfly Sanctuary
I had a customer tell me she loves coming to the nursery that she feels it is like an Austin Botanical Garden. What a compliment!
If you want to create your own butterfly garden, there are lots of options. There are a variety of plants you can install for any garden or landscape for full shade to full sun and anything in between.
