Complete novice gardener, need advice about starting a perennial butterfly garden

[Anonymous]

I have never planted and maintained a perennial garden before so I could really use a lot of advice. Main priority is to use native plants/grasses to attract butterflies, bees, birds, etc.

The plot is roughly 130 square feet. Soil is clay, partial shade but still a good amount of sun.

I'm thinking off getting about 60 plant plugs to start. Would like to get a couple of each of (all) these: purple coneflower, Black-eyed Susan, joe pye weed, smooth penstemon, columbine, wild phlox, blazing star, New England aster, heath aster, sneezeweed, milkweed, butterfly weed, yarrow, blanket flower, and some ornamental grasses.

Is this too ambitious to start with? Is 60 plants too much or too few for my plot? Do I have too many varieties of flowers? Am I missing something else that's good for pollinators? What about the grasses, I'm not sure what to get? How much space should I leave between the plants? I am ordering the plugs from an online nursery that will ship in September.

This is so overwhelming. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Plant away! Gardening is all about experimentation. Some things will work and if they don't you can pull them out.

What website are you using?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plant away! Gardening is all about experimentation. Some things will work and if they don't you can pull them out.

What website are you using?

Thank you! Do I have enough plants though? I'm ordering from prarienursery.com

[Anonymous]

I'll tell you what you might do (which bears no relation to my own experimental, ADHD approach in real life):


You are dealing with a lot of plants, so you need to get organized. Make a chart listing the plants in order of mature height, and note the mature width, color, bloom time, and shade tolerance. All available info on your purchase site.

For spacing, you need to know the mature size of the plant and those adjacent to it. Get yourself some graph paper and colored pencils and literally map it out. Keep in mind that natives are pretty resilient and so overcrowding them tends to be fine and keeps weeds at bay. Then again, if you space them too far, a lot of those will self-sew or spread, and so they fill in over the years. Expect year two to be your good year and make changes then if things didn't work.

Also pay attention to the heights of the varieties you get so you place the taller ones in good spots relative to the shape of the plot and effect you want, and note the bloom time so you have something blooming in different parts in all seasons. Finally think about color relative to bloom time and how you want it to look. But don't be too precise, because they won't grow according to your exact plan!

Be sure to create some natural paths if the plot is deep so you can tend to any plants that need it.

Many of these plants will spread if they are really happy; just remember that it is ok to pull some of it if it starts to take over in a few years. Just dig em up and give them to friends, neighbors, and local schools.

For your shadier areas, consider white wood aster. It blooms later than some of your others and tolerates some shade well.

For grasses, I'd consider Virginia wild rye and my personal favorite, wood oats. These will give you a lovely "movement" effect and some winter interest.

Other options that tolerate clay soil include: white turtlehead, bergamot, great blue lobelia, obedient plant, mountain mint (pictures are deceiving on this one -- the flowers are tiny and sites tend to give you extreme close ups; the overall affect of the plant is a white capped mountain literally covered with every variety of bee you'll ever see), goldenrod, lyre leafed sage (also a shorter plant and most of what you list are about the same height with might be kind of odd looking), field pussy toes (also short and very early bloom), and ironweed.

You might throw in some parsley and other members of the parsley family for caterpillar food.

Most important: don't be too aggressive in cleaning up the plot for winter -- the eggs will be laid among the debris and on overwintering stems, and diapause adults will be under the fallen leaves. No point in having the pollinator garden if you kill all the pollinator babies.

Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Look at Bluestone Perennials. They sell preplanned butterfly gardens so you can get ideas.
If you have room I would include a clethra and a buttonbush.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll tell you what you might do (which bears no relation to my own experimental, ADHD approach in real life):


You are dealing with a lot of plants, so you need to get organized. Make a chart listing the plants in order of mature height, and note the mature width, color, bloom time, and shade tolerance. All available info on your purchase site.

For spacing, you need to know the mature size of the plant and those adjacent to it. Get yourself some graph paper and colored pencils and literally map it out. Keep in mind that natives are pretty resilient and so overcrowding them tends to be fine and keeps weeds at bay. Then again, if you space them too far, a lot of those will self-sew or spread, and so they fill in over the years. Expect year two to be your good year and make changes then if things didn't work.

Also pay attention to the heights of the varieties you get so you place the taller ones in good spots relative to the shape of the plot and effect you want, and note the bloom time so you have something blooming in different parts in all seasons. Finally think about color relative to bloom time and how you want it to look. But don't be too precise, because they won't grow according to your exact plan!

Be sure to create some natural paths if the plot is deep so you can tend to any plants that need it.


Many of these plants will spread if they are really happy; just remember that it is ok to pull some of it if it starts to take over in a few years. Just dig em up and give them to friends, neighbors, and local schools.

For your shadier areas, consider white wood aster. It blooms later than some of your others and tolerates some shade well.

For grasses, I'd consider Virginia wild rye and my personal favorite, wood oats. These will give you a lovely "movement" effect and some winter interest.

Other options that tolerate clay soil include: white turtlehead, bergamot, great blue lobelia, obedient plant, mountain mint (pictures are deceiving on this one -- the flowers are tiny and sites tend to give you extreme close ups; the overall affect of the plant is a white capped mountain literally covered with every variety of bee you'll ever see), goldenrod, lyre leafed sage (also a shorter plant and most of what you list are about the same height with might be kind of odd looking), field pussy toes (also short and very early bloom), and ironweed.

You might throw in some parsley and other members of the parsley family for caterpillar food.

Most important: don't be too aggressive in cleaning up the plot for winter -- the eggs will be laid among the debris and on overwintering stems, and diapause adults will be under the fallen leaves. No point in having the pollinator garden if you kill all the pollinator babies.

Have fun!

Wow, wonderful advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to write! I totally forgot about the bergamot, iron weed, and turtle head.

I realize all my plants are in the 2-4' range. Any smaller perennials that would look nice on the burger? Also, most of the plot would probably be considered part-shade, if I'm honest. Will most of my planes above still tolerate that? Mostly afternoon sun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Bluestone Perennials. They sell preplanned butterfly gardens so you can get ideas.
If you have room I would include a clethra and a buttonbush.

Thank you! Will check it out - its actually difficult to find sample plots online unless you use Pinterest...

[Anonymous]

I think your list is too long. Pick multiples of the same plant so narrow down your list. Also, do you want a three season garden? If so, leave some space for Spring and mid-summer bloomers. Don't plant only late summer and fall bloomers otherwise you will have a long wait next year before you see any color in your garden. Try to stagger bloomtimes. In order to do that and in order to be successful in your endeavors you need what every gardener has discovered.............PATIENCE.

Put a calendar together to plan your planting and have a separate calendar to estimate bloomtimes. You can plant all of your late summer/fall bloomers now and in October you can plant some poppies, bulbs or tubers like peonies, for spring.

[Anonymous]

PP again who recommended patience. One more thing. Focus more on soil than plants right now. You should be preparing the soil. Have you tilled it? Are you composting or purchasing aged composted manure? Add some superfine as well. How will you water your garden? Overhead watering is not best as it creates issues with disease/pests, etc. Get yourself a soaker hose and a timer and plan to put that down next spring so that you aren't stuck in the garden all summer watering.

First year sleeping, second year creeping, third year leaping. Your plants will be spending the first two years building a root system so don't worry if not much is happening above ground. If you invest in good soil ammendments and an irrigation system you will have a lush garden in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Notes from a more impatient would be butterfly gardener, also pretty novice.

My first preference is native plants, but I will use non-natives as well as long as they are not known to be invasive.

Native perennial flowers visited so far in my garden: Purple coneflower, coreopsis. My phlox did not do well and I planted very little but I see the butterflies heading for the big clumps at my neighbors. On my list for next year. Some visitors to verbena hastata but I wouldn't plant again if all I wanted was butterflies. I have butterfly weed (now more commonly called butterfly flower--asclepius tuberosa), but it is just now beginning to flower so jury is still out. Same with New York ironweed, turtlehead, and native aster. I have seen the stray butterfly or two on hardy geraniums (good for shade) and verbena Homestead purple, but flowering has been too weak to judge long-term attraction.

Nonnatives: Verbena bonariensis (Lollipop)--definitely in the category of butterfly magnet. I have just two and will definitely plant more. A small noninvsive butterfly bush (Flutterbye Tutti Frutti) also in this category. Find quite a few butterflies on Blue Wonder catmint.

Annuals: Zinnias, again a magnet.

Host plants: Spice bush--doing really well with little care. Learned later they can be challenging. This is in partial shade--perhaps more difficult in full sun. The aforementioned butterfly weed--will plant quite a bit more in a different location and hope it does better.. Turtlehead is a host plant but rarely serves that purpose in home gardens apparently. I will try passionflower vine next year--it is host to 4 different species. You have to be prepared for the plant to be completely devoured and looking unsightly until it pops back from the caterpillar ravages.

I actually have had more success in luring hummingbirds to my garden. This has been a surprise--I thought it would be harder.

Here is a site I discovered recently with a lot of information on specific plant for butterflies. The focus is on monarchs, but is good for butterflies more generally, as well as hummingbirds. They have plants that attract both butterflies and hummingbirds, some of which I'll try next year.

http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notes from a more impatient would be butterfly gardener, also pretty novice.

My first preference is native plants, but I will use non-natives as well as long as they are not known to be invasive.

Native perennial flowers visited so far in my garden: Purple coneflower, coreopsis. My phlox did not do well and I planted very little but I see the butterflies heading for the big clumps at my neighbors. On my list for next year. Some visitors to verbena hastata but I wouldn't plant again if all I wanted was butterflies. I have butterfly weed (now more commonly called butterfly flower--asclepius tuberosa), but it is just now beginning to flower so jury is still out. Same with New York ironweed, turtlehead, and native aster. I have seen the stray butterfly or two on hardy geraniums (good for shade) and verbena Homestead purple, but flowering has been too weak to judge long-term attraction.

Nonnatives: Verbena bonariensis (Lollipop)--definitely in the category of butterfly magnet. I have just two and will definitely plant more. A small noninvsive butterfly bush (Flutterbye Tutti Frutti) also in this category. Find quite a few butterflies on Blue Wonder catmint.

Annuals: Zinnias, again a magnet.

Host plants: Spice bush--doing really well with little care. Learned later they can be challenging. This is in partial shade--perhaps more difficult in full sun. The aforementioned butterfly weed--will plant quite a bit more in a different location and hope it does better.. Turtlehead is a host plant but rarely serves that purpose in home gardens apparently. I will try passionflower vine next year--it is host to 4 different species. You have to be prepared for the plant to be completely devoured and looking unsightly until it pops back from the caterpillar ravages.

I actually have had more success in luring hummingbirds to my garden. This has been a surprise--I thought it would be harder.

Here is a site I discovered recently with a lot of information on specific plant for butterflies. The focus is on monarchs, but is good for butterflies more generally, as well as hummingbirds. They have plants that attract both butterflies and hummingbirds, some of which I'll try next year.

http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/

Just FYI -- this is the correct time for those plant to bloom ... they are not late or struggling, they are late summer and fall bloomers.

[Anonymous]

Definitely make sure you leave space. Even though it may look a little sparse (and require more weeding) the first couple of years, You want to give the plants room to grow and spread. Also regarding your variety, I know you are more concerned about butterflies, but from what I understand bees prefer large swaths of a single type of plant vs many different varieties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your list is too long. Pick multiples of the same plant so narrow down your list. Also, do you want a three season garden? If so, leave some space for Spring and mid-summer bloomers. Don't plant only late summer and fall bloomers otherwise you will have a long wait next year before you see any color in your garden. Try to stagger bloomtimes. In order to do that and in order to be successful in your endeavors you need what every gardener has discovered.............PATIENCE.

Put a calendar together to plan your planting and have a separate calendar to estimate bloomtimes. You can plant all of your late summer/fall bloomers now and in October you can plant some poppies, bulbs or tubers like peonies, for spring.

I agree with this. Have multiples of the same plant. The repetition is a lot more pleasing to the eye as well. You don't need to have literally EVERY flower that will attract butterflies.

[Anonymous]

Re: multiples of same plant. Have read as well if you have groups of the same plant together (say, three in a group) it is also more attractive to the butterflies. If you plant ascelpias, it is said you should plant in groups of six.

I posted above about my novice attempts. Forgot a native that has been very attractive--liatris.

[Anonymous]

OP here, first, thank you all for your suggestions! Of course after reading all of them, I now have even more questions and ideas for you all:

For the soil, I just bought top soil and compost to mix into the existing soil. Is investing in a leaf composter a good idea for the future? We have tons and tons of leaves every year a out property is basically in the middle of an oak forest. As for the watering, I guess I just assumed I'd do it manually every morning but now I will look into a ground hose system per a PP's suggestion.

What about mulch? When do I mulch? Right after planting or in the fall or next spring?

Agree (reluctantly) with everyone that I have too many plants. Here is what I am thinking now:

The plot is roughly a "V" shape. The center of it - the point of the "V" - is a large triangle. This triangle gets full sun but the two "arms" do not. One arm gets a little more sun than the other, but both get about 2-3 hours of direct sunlight in late morning and then dappled.

What I am thinking is putting all my yellows, oranges, reds, and splashes of purple in the middle. I've narrowed it down to: black eyed Susan, tickseed, blanket flower, and some purple coneflower and meadow blazing star. Maybe some helenium for late season color. I suppose I better add in 6 milkweed there, too..

Then on the arms (partial shade), I'll have blues, whites, and splashes of pinks. I'm thinking: bergamot, sweet William phlox, columbine, astilbes, and asters.. And bell flowers.. And maybe I'll throw a joe pye or two in the back.

How does that sound? Still too many different flowers? Will the sun-loving, warm colors in the middle look bad with the partial shade, cool colors flanking??

What say you all? Thanks for your tips... and patience