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A weed really in our hot sun, this plant is the secret to all butterfly life on Earth! It spreads naturally and some gardeners in Tucson consider it invasive. Attractive to the Queen Butterfly, this plant will fill your garden with beautiful fuzzy purple flowers and fluttering orange masses of the Queen.
I have a link here about this plant and a garden that I visited in Tucson this past September.
http://gardeningandthespanishway-rohrerbot.blogspot.com/2010/09/secrets-of-butterfly-lovemaking.html
I also shot some video on what this amazing plant can do for your butterfly garden. It did well for me until winter. It is coming back again with new leaves on the bottom. This is extremely impressive since our freeze was hard this year. Be aware that it is not an attractive plant in winter and goes through the natural plant cycle. It loves sun so don't plant this in the shade at all. For the most part, it's xeric and a great plant for butterflies plus it adds a nice patch of greenery to the garden. Note the height on the video for a better reference of how it will look in your own yard. Today at 3 PM, I've have a complete list of plants for your Tucson garden.
Thanks for showing a good, under-utiliuzed plant (though not in some places in TX). One of my favorites for the oasis, especially! A retired county extension agent I know called it "the sonic drive-in for butterflies".
ReplyDeleteI love this little plant and it comes back yearly...I am in Texas though. We call it Gregg's Mistflower here :)
ReplyDeleteIf it spreads, likes full sun, survived the freeze and attracts butterflies, I want that plant in my garden!
ReplyDeleteI'm experimenting with seeds this year. I spoke today with several people at the Gardens who don't try the seeds because of quails and rabbits.....but if you don't have the bird issue, it should be okay to seed. I have birds but they don't dig in midtown like they may in other spots.
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