Maine Garden Ideas
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        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
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Sun-Loving Flowers to Attract Butterflies

butterfly on marigolds
Attracting butterflies to you garden is easier than you may think. Butterflies prefer flowers with a broad landing surface so they can land and probe the flower with their proboscis. Daisies and daisy-like flowers provide both the landing surface (the petals) and a good food source in the center of the flower.

​Because daisies and similar flowers are composite flowers, the center is made up of hundreds of tiny blooming flowers. This provides butterflies with an ample food source without needing to fly to another plant in search of food.

​If you observe butterflies collecting nectar and pollen on a composite flower, you will see that they often probe the individual flowers in the center multiple times as they turn around on the petals.

Purple Coneflowers

monarch on purple coneflower
  
 
Purple coneflowers create a striking display of color in a butterfly garden. These hardy perennials return every year creating a burst of color from early summer until frost. Dramatic purple-pink blooms rest atop tall, slender stems and feature petals that fold backward exposing the dark center. Grown in full sun, these flowers provide nectar for butterflies for months.

Shasta Daisies

Shasta Daisies Picture

​Brilliant white Shasta daisies make a striking contrast with other more colorful flowers and are natural attractors for butterflies. These daisies look like wild oxeye daisies, but the blooms are larger and they bloom for a longer period.

​Shasta daisies return each year in bigger and hardier clumps and produce large, snow-white blooms. Blooming begins in early summer and continues until frost. Add Shasta daisies to your butterfly garden to create contrast and brighten the area. 

Asters

Asters Picture

​Asters produce clusters of blooms in late summer and early fall. Wild varieties range from blue to deep purple and shades of pink, but cultivated varieties are available in a wider range of colors. These hardy perennial plants thrive in full sun and are magnets for butterflies, bees and other flying insects. 

Zinnias

Monarch on Zinnia Picture

​Fiery zinnias create a dazzling blaze of color throughout the summer. Available in sizes from dwarf 8-inch varieties to towering giants of 4 feet or more, these delightful annual flowers are easy to care for and thrive in full sun. Plant varieties in yellow, yellow-orange and fiery reds to attract butterflies to your garden.

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia Picture

​Rudbeckia, commonly referred to as Black-Eyed Susan's, produce  daisy-like flowers in shades of yellow and orange. Many feature variegated petals, These sun-loving flowers self-seed readily and keep a constant supply of new plants each year. Try pairing them with purple coneflowers to enhance the beauty of each. 
Copyright © 2014 Nannette Richford



  • Home
  • Garden Thyme Blog
  • Themes
    • Butterfly Gardens
    • Moon Gardens
    • Sensory Gardens
    • All About Fairies
  • Flowers
    • Annual Flowers >
      • Alyssum
      • Cosmos
      • Geraniums
      • Marigolds
      • Morning Glories
      • Nasturtiums
      • Petunias >
        • Reviving Petunias
      • Snapdragons
      • Sunflowers
      • Sweet Peas
      • Zinnias
    • Perennial Flowers >
      • Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’)
      • Lupines
      • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
    • Maine Wildflowers
  • Veggies
    • Warm Season Vegetables >
      • About Beans >
        • Growing Beans
        • Growing Pole Beans
        • How to Make a Teepee Trellis
      • About Corn >
        • Growing Corn
        • What is Baby Corn, anyway?
        • Can you grow corn in containers?
      • Cucumbers >
        • Grow a cucumber in a bottle
        • Growing Pickling Cucumbers
        • Growing cucamelons (Mexican Gherkin)
        • Why do cucumbers blossom but fail to set fruit?
        • Trellising Cucumbers
        • Making Cucumber Relish
        • Powdery Mildew on Cucumbers
      • Melons
      • Peppers >
        • Growing Peppers
      • Squash >
        • Growing Zucchini
        • Spaghetti Squash
      • Tomatoes >
        • How to Harden Off Tomato Plants
        • How (and when) to Prune Tomatoes
        • Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) for Tomatoes
        • Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes
        • Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
        • 5 Early Maturing Tomatoes for Short Season Gardening
        • How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
        • How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes at Home
        • How to Grow a Pomato Plant
    • Cool Season Vegetables >
      • Cole Crops
      • Greens >
        • How to Grow Spinach
        • How to Grow Malabar Spinach
        • How to Grow Swiss Chard
        • Harvesting and Cooking Beet Greens
        • How to Grow Microgreens
      • Onions & Garlic >
        • How to Grow Garlic
        • How to Grow Onions
      • Peas >
        • Growing Garden (shelling) Peas
        • Growing Sugar Snap Peas
      • Potatoes >
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Containers
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Hay Bales
      • Root Crops >
        • Growing Beets
        • How to Grow Carrots
        • Turnips vs Rutabagas
  • Herbs
    • Growing Basil
    • Growing Chives
    • Growing Lavender
    • Herbal Tea Garden
    • How to Grow a Culinary Herb Garden
    • How to Grow Herbs in Sponges
    • Colonial Herb Garden - Classroom Project
    • Herbed Butter
    • Making Herbed Oils
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting Basics
    • Grafting Basics
    • Soil >
      • Starting a New Garden
      • How to Prepare Soil
      • How to Test Soil Drainage
      • What Type of Soil Do You Have
      • Soil Mix Recipe for Containers
      • How to Make Compost Tea
      • How to Use Mulch
  • Garden Pests
    • How to Control Japanese Beetles
    • How to Control Blister Beetles
    • How to Get Rid of Colorado Potato Beetles
  • Birds
    • Hummingbirds >
      • DIY Hummingbird Feeders from Recycled Bottles
      • Annuals for Hummingbird Gardens
      • Perennials for Hummingbird Gardens
    • About Birdseed
    • Choosing a Birdfeeder
  • Fiddleheads and Fairies
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • How to Marinate Roasted Vegetables