OUR BUTTERFLY PLANTS

Our front butterfly gardens have been tested, planted and re-planted for over 25 years. They must stand up to daily hordes of New Jersey deer, a relentless foe of any garden. They are a combination of nectar plants and host plants for native butterfly species. The main gardens consist of the photo that is on all of our pages, this runs along half of the front lawn to the driveway. The other, is younger, only 5 years old at this point. It was previously dominated by a messy, large Japanese Maple that was so dense nothing grew under it. Removing it opened up the entire side of the driveway allowing a large amount of pollinator friendly plants to thrive, including the hard to find and grow Purple Milkweed that thrives here. Planted from seed it now numbers nearly 100 plants and growing!

All of the images and plants are from our yard. Some of the plants listed as Nectar sources may be host plants for moths or some butterfly species but best known as a nectar source. We hope this page offers you inspiration to copy it in your own yard or create your own design and choice of plants and ............"save a little our our wild side!"

PURPLE CONEFLOWER: Echinacea purpurea. A native loved by bees and butterflies alike. Seeds are a favorite for Goldfinches in Fall. A must have for any Butterfly Garden.	TIGER LILY: Lilium tigrinum This is not a native, but a rescue from a construction site on Route 23 NJ that is now a Walmart. They number in the hundreds now in our front yard.	BLUE FALSE INDIGO: Baptisia australis Eastern Tailed Blues and Dusky Underwings all use this plant as a host plant to feed their caterpillars. Several large plants are in our front garden.
SWAMP MILKWEED: Asclepias incarnata Monarch Host Plant	IRIS SPECIES: Iris species Early flowering	BLAZING STARS: Liatris spicata. Easy to grow native
MONARDA: Monarda didyma "Jacob Cline" Hummingbird magnet	HOLLOW JOE PYE WEED: Eutrochium fistulosum A swallowtail favorite, a large perennial	PURPLE MILKWEED: Asclepias purpurea. Monarch Host Plant
HELIANTHUS: Helianthus species Yellow favorite for small bees	COMMON MILKWEED: Asclepias syriaca Monarch Host Plant	BLUE MIST FLOWER: Conoclinium coelestinum Late flowering pollinator favorite
BUTTERFLYWEED: Asclepia tuberosa Monarch Host Plant	BLUE FLAG IRIS: Iris versicolor Early flowering for bees	SWEET CONEFLOWER: Rudbeckia subtomentosa Huge amount of yellow flowers
BUTTERFLYBUSH: Buddleia davidii Blooms all Spring and Summer long into Fall	KOREAN MINT: Agastache rugosa Attracts a lot of bees and butterflies	WILD BERGAMOT: Monarda fistulosa Bee and Hummingbird magnet
GARDEN PHLOX: Phlox paniculata Favorite of our EBS and Hummingbird Moths	SPICEBUSH: Lindera benzoin Spicebush Swallowtail Host Plant	WOODLAND SUNFLOWER: Helianthus divaricatus Large clump growing perennial sunflower

The above plants are the base plants in our front butterfly gardens. However they contain others: Cranesbill Geraniums, Violets, Mountain Mint, Sedum, Great Lobelia, Siberian Iris, Asters, Winterberry.