"Not quite birds, as they were not quite flowers, mysterious and fascinating as are all indeterminate creatures."

-Elizabeth Goudge

The summer doldrums have hit the container butterfly garden pretty hard. As this is the first year of its existence and have introduced many unfamiliar plants that I've never seen before or even heard of, the first season has become an immersive learning experience.

The two basic criteria in choosing plants for the Container Butterfly Garden were their abilities to attract and support various butterfly populations, and for their beauty in the garden.

Container gardening is very different than growing directly in the ground. Limits in root space, the heating up of containers in the bright summer sun with its effect of elevated potting soil temps and subsequent effect on evaporation rates, all add up to a very different maintenance strategy.

Plants grown in the ground have the advantage of almost limitless root space, the insulating effect of large amounts of soil for their roots, and the capacity to accept and retain vast amounts of water for consistent hydration; and the fact that adding fertilizer to the ground tends to keep it available longer in the root zone for plants vs. in a pot where repeated waterings can quickly leach it out through the bottom, shortening the time for their intended benefits.

 Observation has shown that some plants seem to be made for containers, whereas others are not without much coaxing and hand holding. Plant divas are better left to perform on a stage composed of terra firma rather than within the constraints of potting soil in a pot.

As such, next year's container garden will see quite a few divas replaced with container heartier fare. These freed up pots will allow the addition of more milkweed plants which do extremely well in containers. Lantana camara has done well and is a great nectar source. The butterflies here LOVE the three different scabiosas I planted, so, some of the smaller pots will be receiving divisions of existing ones.

The Liatris spicata I'm happy to say, will reside once again in the garden. The beautifully colored flower torches of this butterfly magnet will grace several new and existing pots. The inflorescence of Liatris has a peculiar habit of blooming contrary to the more popular manner of starting at the bottom and successively opening as the flowers ascend up the stalk. Liatris starts at the top and works its way to the bottom blooms. What advantage this gives the plant is a mystery to me.

Google

Liatris spicata, Gay Feather; Blazing Star

How unfortunate Echinacea purpurea and the several rudbeckia I own have succumbed to the heat buildup of their potting soils this summer. During the spring and early summer, they gave the impression of amazing things to come, but since have flagged and even "bit the dust". The echinacea is barely surviving, but I love this plant, so I'll try to nurse it along as best as can be done. Both echinacea and rudbeckia species make wonderful additions to a conventional garden; alas, not so for the container garden here...

Google

Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower

More later on the continuing saga of blooms that bombed.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly.”
- Richard Bach

Now that butterfly season is ramping up, this post is longer than most, covering several different topics. 

Latest Container Garden News:
Found seven new Monarch cats this week. Looking for various swallowtail cat species on my fennel, dill, Queen Anne's lace, angelica, and common rue; all members of the carrot family, or Apiaceae, - except for common rue, which is a member of the citrus family - on which a few members of the swallowtail family host on. Haven't found any yet, but I did see an unidentified swallowtail cruising past the front of the house last week. Also spotted a Giant Swallowtail flitting about the neighbor's dwarf orange tree. Can only guess it was a female looking to oviposit some of her eggs.

The plants mentioned above make wonderful nectar sources on top of being hosts to several swallowtail species here in So Cal. I haven't seen any real nectar gathering on common rue, but that may be due to not seeing this type of activity because of timing: being at the right spot at the right time.

• Fennel, dill, and Queen Anne's lace host the Anise Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail.
• Queen Anne's lace also hosts the Giant Swallowtail and possibly the Black Swallowtail.
• Angelica hosts... I'm not sure yet, as I've only started growing it this year. Makes an excellent nectar plant. Will update.
• Rue hosts the Giant Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail.

Carrot cousins make for strong butterfly nectar magnets and are necessary host plants for swallowtails. Other members of the carrot family you would be familiar with are caraway, coriander, cumin, lovage, and parsley. The container garden is host to Angelica stricta "Purpurea", an exquisite beauty of a plant. Well worth looking into if one has the inclination to plant this biennial.

Angelica stricta "Purpurea" 

Many people plant only milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies, but swallowtails are beautiful guests to gardens too. A few representatives of the carrot family would go a long way in diversifying a butterfly garden, plus they are general nectar plants that Monarchs and others likewise feed on.

Speaking of milkweed:
'tis the season for oleander aphids to start making their appearance on your milkweed plants. These pesky little orange/yellow critters are more of a nuisance and eyesore than anything else, although, if one has severely distressed, sickened, or weak plants, they can succumb to large numbers of them. If you don't find any on your plants, consider yourself very lucky, as they are are pretty much endemic to most of the warmer sections of the U.S. and major portions of the world now.

Oleander aphids, Aphis nerii. The brownish aphids are carcasses of dead individuals parasitised by a tiny wasp.

It is an import that most likely originated in the Middle East where its namesake oleander is native of. It is very host specific, only feeding on a few garden plants here: oleander, milkweed, and hoya are pretty much it. Fear not, as they won't invade other plants one has in surrounding areas.

Tiny wasp parasitising an aphid by injecting a tiny egg in the aphid's body that will hatch to eat its host from the inside, out.

What's a person to do? Certainly not spraying for them, as that will kill any butterfly eggs or caterpillars that may be inhabiting your milkweed, and threaten any butterflies one wishes to attract. The best method is to practice mechanical and biological deterrents. If one has the inclination, one can squish the bastards little darlings between the thumb and forefinger. It's best to let nature take its course, allowing aphid predators to help put a dent on their populations.

The frequent and indiscriminate carpet bomb approach to pest management utilizing chemical sprays is an atrocity to nature. One effectively sterilizes an area, creating a vacuum. Nature abhors a vacuum. Pests return with a vengeance. When one has sterilized an area, one has also dispatched predators, but predators have a much slower rate of reproduction which allows pest populations to explode. So what does one do? ONE SPRAYS AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN...

 This ugly creature is the nymph of a cute ladybug. Ladybugs and their nymphs feast on aphids.

 Adult ladybug, or ladybird beetle as some call it, contentedly munching away on a soft bodied aphid.

 GACK! Ants!

In our warm weather area, we are cursed with another unwanted introduction, the Argentine ant. This little bugger invades gardens and homes and is quite pernicious. They actually round up and cultivate aphids for the honeydew they exude from their bodies, milking them as we do cows. Fierce protectors, they are able to fend off most aphid predator attacks. Bad juju. In order to allow aphid predators to do their thing, one must first eliminate Argentine ants from the garden - or at least on one's plants.

In summary, eliminate or severely curtail the use of pesticides, allowing a natural balance to rule your yard. I do believe in the localized and restricted use of pesticides when all other options have expired, but then allow nature to once again take over.

Practice IPM.

If you have an ant problem, target them and not the whole yard. There are baits one can place in the garden and house that ants will collect and take back to their colonies which in many instances kills off the colony, or at least severely limits their populations and destructive capabilities.

Milkweed in the container garden is beginning to attract oleander aphids. I do see ladybugs and I've done my share of squishing, and hopefully, predatory wasps have spied them too. Eventually, I'll throw in the towel, stare at the myriad maddening mass of orange/yellow aphid bodies, safe in the knowledge that my Monarch cats are well, my environment is healthy, and biodiversity rules this little corner of God's green earth.

Other News:
Two relatively close So Cal butterfly exhibits that are active at the moment are the ENC Native Butterfly House in Newport Beach, and the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Butterfly Pavilion, located in Claremont, California. The butterfly vivarium at Butterfly Farms in Vista is fully now open too.

“Love is like a butterfly. It goes through stages.”

-Anonymous

Just read a short article stating that the overwintering Monarch butterflies in Central Mexico are starting their journey back up to U.S. and Canadian destinations east of the Rockies. Our western race west of the continental divide has been reported to be leaving their overwintering sites along the Pacific coast and heading to the Northwest. Several reports of Monarch eggs and caterpillars have been found on milkweeds planted in folk's gardens.

 I will be coming into Laguna Beach Wednesday, April 2nd for a visit, and have several butterfly-specific plants to give to anyone who can put them to good use in their garden, or even someone else’s. Right now I don’t have much, but there are many different plants waiting in the wings for distribution when they are of sufficient size. This is what I have at the moment and will bring with me if anyone is interested. I will be sitting in the outside patio area of the Coffee Pub in the Laguna Village area on Forest Ave.:

1-1gal. Cassia bicapsularis ‘Worley’s Buttercream’. Medium sized shrub with yellow/cream colored flowers. Can be trained into a small tree with proper pruning. Full sun, fairly drought tolerant once established. Host plant to the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly.

2-1gal. Cassia bicapsularis. Typical vivid yellow blooms of the species. Everything else same as above.

1-1gal. Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’. Also known as Mexican Sunflower. ‘Torch’ is an almost neon orange/red annual variety that gets to about 3 -4 feet tall and as wide. Likes water; its flowers are a strong magnet to hummingbirds and butterflies, especially the various swallowtail butterfly species. Let some of the seed heads ripen to attract seed eating birds, and collect some for yourself to plant in the garden for the next year. Fast grower, easy to grow. Does very well in a large pot.

Next time I visit there should be several species of milkweed for Monarch butterflies to host on plus a few other plants I’m not sure of yet.

The only universal requisite for these plants is that they need at least six hours of full sun per day; the more the merrier. The milkweeds need all day (~8 hrs.) to grow properly.

"What's a butterfly garden without butterflies?"
-Roy Rogers

I would like to touch upon what I consider to be the topmost plant candidates for any butterfly garden. They are ones I've personally had experience with that have withstood several seasons of close observation on my part. These are all deer and bunny resistant in my experience except for Scabiosa, also known as Pincushion Flower. Blooms on Pentas plants were usually nipped off by deer, but not all of the time. My thinking is that Pentas blooms aren't too palatable. As new deer came through, they tasted and moved on.

The #1 hands down, slam-dunk, ace in the hole, sure fire, stick it under your cap, can't be beat, butterfly nectar plant is the appropriately named Butterfly Bush. It has never let me down. If I wished to see what butterflies were visiting Alta Laguna Park, I always searched out the Butterfly Bush plants.

Butterfly Bush, Buddleia davidii is a rather largish plant that needs some room to grow, the average height being 6 - 8 feet tall with an eventual 4 - 6 foot diameter if not seasonally pruned.  There are dwarf varieties offered now that grow to only 3 - 4 feet high and as wide. Plant developers are coming out with even squatter varieties at 2 - 3 feet. The flower clusters faintly resemble lilac blooms, emitting a pleasant sweet aroma of their own. Drop dead easy to grow.

 Buddleia davidii

 The list of the various Buddleia (sometimes spelled Buddleja) cultivars is extensive. From my experience, the pale lavender varieties seem to be the best attractors. "Black Knight", a dark violet flowering selection has not worked very well for me, but others have noted it as being a very successful butterfly attractor in their yards.

For those wishing to grow one in more confined areas, dwarf varieties are good candidates for small gardens and medium to large pots. Even the tall ones can be successfully grown in a largish container. I picked up a compact grower, "Nanho Blue" at Green Thumb Nursery in San Marcos. They have a good selection of  Buddleia varieties, both dwarf and regular, as I'm sure the other Green Thumb stores would also.

Below is a great little video on Buddleia. Open up to full screen to see all of the butterflies hovering about and feeding on the Butterfly Bush plants behind the nurseryman:

 

 

 How to Prune and Shape Buddleia. Butterfly Bush should be cut back yearly in order to promote next season's flowering, as they bud on new growth.

Lantana camara is one of my favorite colorful additions to a garden, irrespective if it is a butterfly garden or not. They sport flowers in the yellow, orange, to pink and red tones. Easy care and maintenance shrub. Skipper butterflies adore these nectar rich blooms! I find lantana "Confetti" to be a particularly good selection for attracting butterflies.

Lantana camara

Verbena bonariensis, or more commonly known as Purpletop Vervain is a short-lived perennial packing a lot of butterfly attracting power on the blossoming tips of its long flower stems. Delightfully airy, it makes its self well known without overpowering the rest of the garden. Self sows readily, so you will have a continuous supply of plants to replace aging ones, plus some left over to share with like-minded friends and neighbors.

Verbena bonariensis

Pentas lanceolata (Egyptian Starcluster) is another must have addition to any butterfly garden. It sports various shades of white, pink, red, and violet-hued blooms. The aptly named "Butterfly" series of Pentas are probably the best variety to purchase for a butterfly garden. The plants themselves are not eaten by vermin... I mean bunnies and deer, although deer tend to bite off the flowers and buds that develop.

The old fashioned strains are tops in producing nectar rich flowers, but have a habit of lanky growth and a tendency to be top heavy, which may cause them to flop over without staking or cradling. Beware of many of the newer compact selections offered in nurseries and seed packets today. They are bred for show and compactness, but the flowers are deficient in producing abundant amounts of nectar that butterflies feed on. Informal observations show that butterflies ignore these new varieties without so much as a second look back. The "Butterfly" series is bred for compactness and color, plus has the added bonus of producing copious amounts of nectar.

 Pentas lanceolata

Scabiosa "Butterfly Blue" is a stellar performer in the flower garden. It's nonstop production of pale violet blooms throughout its long active growing season, its ease of care, coupled with a magnetic attraction to butterflies like Justin Bieber is to prepubescent girl teenyboppers, "Butterfly Blue" is a top performer.

I did try Scabiosa at the Alta Laguna Park Butterfly Garden, which was the end-all battlefield testing ground for deer and rabbit proofing. Unfortunately, it didn't pass muster, but I'm including it here for its excellent butterfly attracting quality.

Any of the various Scabiosa species - more commonly known as Pincushion Flower - are excellent candidates for the garden. Look great in rock gardens, along pathways, and make good potted specimens due to their ease of care, lower than average water requirements, and low, somewhat compact growth. Colors range from white, light blue, light violet, into pink. Highly recommended.

 Scabiosa "Butterfly Blue"

This list would be deficient without the addition of milkweeds. This family of herbaceous perennial and deciduous plants in the garden serves twofold purposes:

1. Milkweed is the host plant for Monarch butterfly caterpillars.
2. They are prolific nectar sources for adult butterflies in general.

There are many species of milkweed plants available, both foreign and domestic. North America is home to numerous species. California alone has many milkweeds that call this state home.

The most common milkweed for butterfly gardens is Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias curassivica from Mexico and Central America. It's a handsome plant that produces orange and red bi-colored blooms. Growers have extended the palette from solid yellow, to orange, and into vibrant orange and crimson bi-colored strains.

 Asclepias curassavica

 

For those wishing to try a native specie, the most beautiful would be the appropriately named Showy Milkweed, Asclepias speciosa. Found throughout much of Central and Northern California and the Western United States, this native sports a large ball of pinkish to whitish blooms that hover over large, leathery leaves. Does well in both average garden conditions and drought tolerant native plant schemes. Very hardy. Deciduous.

Asclepias speciosa growing in its natural environment

Asclepias eriocarpa, also known as Indian Milkweed or Woolly Milkweed, would be an excellent candidate for those that wish to naturalize this genus on larger properties. It's a native of the western half of the U.S., and can be found growing throughout all of California. Several local areas it grows in known to me are out Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach along the Stagecoach hiking trail that meanders inside the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, the Santa Ana Mountains, the Palomar Mountain area, the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Rosa Plateau near Murrieta, and up in the San Gabriel Mountains.

A. eriocarpa grows naturally in many soil types, so it's not too fussy about what it sinks its roots in to. Being a So Cal native and drought tolerant also, this specie would be a prime candidate for naturalizing.

Photo courtesy of © Charlotte Masarik

Karen Schweger pointing out Asclepias eriocarpa growing alongside the Stagecoach Hiking Trail out Laguna Canyon, Laguna Beach, CA. The tall, yellow-flowering plants towards the back are Wild Fennel, a good source of nectar for all butterflies, and a host plant for the Anise Swallowtail. Unfortunately, Wild Fennel is considered an invasive species.

Photo courtesy of © Charlotte Masarik

A. eriocarpa

BTW: Green Thumb has a good assortment of butterfly plants, but one must know what to look for. Also check out Armstrong Garden Centers for butterfly plants. In the past, they have ordered and stocked plants labeled specifically for butterfly gardens.