five petals

Some popular annuals, like pansies and petunias, do not provide quality pollen and nectar for bees and butterflies so do not include them in your tally of pollinator plants.

Bedding plants such as winter pansies are of no use – they either have no pollen or nectar or bees can’t access it. Here are eight flowering plants that will help bees survive the winter and on into spring. They have the added bonus of bringing much-needed colour to your garden in the coldest months.

Did you know pansies attract butterflies? A little research showed these are commonly recommended for your butterfly garden in winter when few other attractors are blooming.

Most people know about lavender being purple as there is even a color called “lavender,” however, the plant also has a “rose” variety that is pink. So you can pink up your garden or purple it out, and still attract many butterflies to it.

The butterfly bush, like almost all plants producing nectar-rich flowers, prefers full sun exposure, so site your garden accordingly.

1. Heliotrope. Heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) is sometimes called the “cherry pie plant” for its intense vanilla-like fragrance.
2. Lantanas.
3. Aster.
4. Nasturtium.

Light: Butterfly bushes grow and flower best in full sun. They will grow fine in part shade, especially in warmer climates, but their flowering may be reduced. Soil: Butterfly bushes are not particular about the soil conditions, as long as it drains well. Poorly-drained soils can cause root rot.

Each Butterfly Bush produces over 100,000 seeds, and they are distributed in the wind, so even though you may not see seedlings popping up in your garden, your Butterfly Bush is probably responsible for spreading devastation in natural areas like stream banks and disturbed industrial sites.

Buddleia is a coloniser of short lifespan (the oldest individual having been found is 37 years old). The largest densities of invasion would normally be observed in the first ten years. This plant is appreciated as an ornamental, and is planted in hedges and other borders.

Although butterfly bushes (Buddleja davidii) are not edible, they are no more toxic than any garden plant. They should be safe to plant where children, dogs, cats, and other animals live. In fact, butterfly bushes are deer resistant.

It’s not that butterfly bush is inherently a bad plant. It is native to China, not North America, Europe or New Zealand. The insects, birds and other residents with which it evolved in China and that depend on it for food there aren’t present in the areas in which it was introduced.

There is really no wrong way to go about pruning butterfly bushes. The shrubs are very stable and can take a good deal of stress without any significant side effects. Butterfly bushes will generally flower of new wood, so cutting them to the ground in winter is often times necessary for the plants to bloom.

Butterfly bushes, a double-edge sword Its popularity has real reasons: the plant grows fast, flowers very early on in its life cycle, and produces flowers throughout its life span of up to 30 years. The flowers smell good, are very showy and pretty, with large clusters that bloom for several days.

Deer rarely damage butterfly bush, and even if they decide to try it once (as fawns sometimes do), the plant grows rapidly and should come back within the same season.

Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) is a shrub-like plant that looks sort of like a compact lilac, grows quickly and blooms in mid-summer. But the name tells you all about it: Butterflies just can’t resist the flowers, and flock to the plants when they’re in bloom.

Plant type and color is important – Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple blossoms that are flat-topped or clustered and have short flower tubes. Plant good nectar sources in the sun – Your key butterfly nectar source plants should receive full sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.

Plants that attract butterflies

• Alyssum.
• Aster.
• Bee balm.
• Butterfly bush.
• Calendula.
• Cosmos.
• Daylily.
• Delphinium.

There are plenty more out there to keep in mind, but these are some of the more popular options to consider planting in your garden.

• 1 – Yarrow. The yarrow plant is one of the more herbaceous flowers out there.
• 2 – Hollyhocks. This is a favorite in many different gardens out there.
• 3 – Sunflowers.
• 4 – Shasta Daisy.

Butterflies are most likely to use the houses during hibernation. They may also use them during the warm months at night as a roosting spot. Our feeling is that most of them go unoccupied by butterflies, but they sure do make the garden pretty and more interesting.

The boxes are normally erected in or near flower gardens a few feet above the ground. Some proponents even go so far as to recommend that butterfly boxes be placed facing the south.

March, and throughout early spring, in the Southern United States, is the time in nature when butterflies emerge from their cocoons.

Bees look for flowers for pollination, and to consume pollen and nectar. Therefore, they mostly get attracted to sweet, flowery scents. Bees may get attracted to anyone wearing sweet and flowery perfumes confusing them with actual flowers. The sweet scent isn’t limited to just perfumes though.