They SHOULD have named Butterfly bushes Bumble bee bushes!

tommyr_gw Zone 6

15 years ago

Because mine are always loaded with big bumble bees! It does get some butterflies but bumble bees LOVE it more I think!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (17)

mxk3 z5b_MI
15 years ago
LOL! I enjoy watching the bumbles bumbling around, they're all over my sedum right now. Come to think of it, though, I've seen very few butterflies this year. Not sure if something is going on environmentally or I just haven't been outside during the day as much as I have been in the past.
schoolhouse_gw
15 years ago
Butterflies have been appearing more in the past several weeks at my place. But the Japanese Beetles continue to compete with them on the Butterfly Bushes! I can't stand it.
Yes, lots of bees, too.
Related Discussions
growing Butterfly Bush in Container
Q
Comments (5)
Thanks gardenerme for the quick reply. I used Tapla's formula on all my potted plants this year, and they have done great! I guess I should use the same formula for the Butterfly Bush. Also I planted Blue and Black Salvia to attract Hummingbirds to my yard, and all I got were a zillion bumble bees. I tore it all down yesterday, and now the Hummingbirds are on the feeders and the rest of the flowers, not being scared away by so many bumble bees. Do your Butterfly Bushes attract a lot of bees or mainly butterflies? I have started raising butterflies and this is my new hobby. I have released 10 Monarchs, 27 Black Swallowtails and around 20 Gulf Frits that are still caterpillars. Also do you suggest I overwinter my potted Butterfly Bush under my carport? I live in Louisville, Ky. Zone 7. Betty
...See More
Ellen's Blue Butterfly Bush?
Q
Comments (15)
Sherry, your Ellen's blue butterfly bush is gorgeous! I have 2 Black Nights and one pink (don't know name) bush. The butterflies love both. They have done great in my pa zone 5/6 yard. It was a very cold wet winter this year and they did die completely to the ground this year (first time ever), so they are a little smaller than usual and one is a little floppy. But they are doing well and flowering. I just so wish the monarchs would come back :(. Because I just learned (from this forum) that Asclepia tuberosa is not a favorite of the monarchs, I will plant something different next year. I just didn't know because when I first planted it 4 summers ago, it attracted monarchs and they laid eggs and I was able to raise about 8 cats both that year and the next. To bad they haven't been back since. Cathy
...See More
Substitute for Butterfly Bush
Q
Comments (18)
I was reading all the posts on this particular thread, because I wanted to go ahead and plant butterfly bushes that I'm going to grow from seed. I have 'Nanho Blue', but it doesn't attract them at all. Sometimes, I think it depends on the butterflies that frequent your part of the country, and not what someone in Canada may use that is a very good attractor. I am on the Butterfly forum constantly, and I raise Monarchs, Black Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, Red Admirals, Gulf Fritillaries, among other butterflies. I wanted something to attract the Swallowtails, though. I get plenty of eggs and caterpillars, but never see the BSTs nectaring. Several people on the Butterfly forum suggested buddleia, and the pink and white cultivars are the ones that most attract swallowtails. I asked about vitex (chaste tree), and most people said they do not attract the masses of butterflies that buddleia does. I had a B. davidii at one time, and it died after two years. I grew it in partial shade; never had any seedlings, but had plenty of blooms even in part shade. I wonder if the growing conditions prevented self-sowing? I don't know. But, I think I might just put mine in the partial shade to see if that will work. Glossy abelia was also suggested as a plant that attracts numerous butterflies, and the great thing is that it blooms all summer and into fall. I think I'll try that, too. There is a cultivar that apparently doesn't sucker very much. Placement is also part of the issue with butterfly bushes - I mean, placing them in a location where reseeding occurs at a minimum, like a strip garden located between a sidewalk and driveway. Anything in the lawn gets mowed anyway. I found my common zinnias and cosmos to be great nectar plants, as well as tropical milkweed. Now, before anyone gets upset because I planted tropical milkweed. It's not hardy in my zone for one thing. Also, it's the favorite host plant of the Monarchs over any other milkweed, because it is higher in cardiac glycosides, which is what the Monarchs NEED for protection from predators. The most palatable Monarchs are those that eat milkweed with lower levels of CGs, like cynanchum, for instance (milkweed vine). Other substitutes for butterfly bush are native perennial plants like verbesina encelioides (Golden Crownbeard), verbena hastata, eupatorium maculata (as mentioned above), but Gregg's mistflower (native mistflower) is a great one, too. Early season nectar plants are spring beauty, larkspurs, linums, and phlox divaricata. Ceananthus americanus is another native shrub good for nectaring and the clethra mentioned is good, too. Bidens, monarda fistula, native echinaceas, rudbeckias, dogbane, blazing stars (liatris), and solidago are also fantastic nectaring plants. Non-natives like lantana, pentas, oregano, mints, agastaches, and globe amaranths are good, too. Wish me luck with my Buddleia plantings - I hope they don't prove to be too...
...See More
Anyone have a white butterfly bush?
Q
Comments (5)
I love butterfly bush, but I don't think they're prominent material - the foliage is rather weedy, best planted in a mixed planting where other plants will hide or take the focus off the foliage. In my area, butterfly bush doesn't bloom all summer - it doesn't get going until mid-summer, and yes the spent blooms can look cr*ppy if not deadheaded, especially since they're so large. Still, I love the darn things! I adore the scent, and the butterflies, bees, and assorted insects are usually all over them. I'm not a fan of lilacs for hedges, either - once they bloom, they're aren't very interesting, the foliage is nothing to write home about, and they quickly become overgrown with a lot of dead material if not pruned every so often. I would go with some type of Vibirnum for a hedge, rugosa rose (there are white varieties available), or perhaps a panicle hydrangea (PeeGee type - Hydrangea paniculata). If part shade, a hedge of Annabelle hydrangea will be a knockout and extremely easy care (hack them down every year, they bloom on new wood, and are very hardy), but you need soil that isn't dry.
...See More
FrozeBudd_z3/4
15 years ago
Yes, more bumble bees enjoying the butterfly bushes here than butterflies themselves. Thank god we don't have Japanese beetles here!

Terry
tracey_nj6
15 years ago
True, but are your big bumble bees really carpenter bees? I have just as many carpenter bees as bumble bees on my buddleias, which only becomes a major problem when trying to deadhead, LOL. Still, I wouldn't be without them!
tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author
15 years ago
These have hairy backs which IIRC mean bumbles. Carpenters have smooth backs IIRC.

(For non internet lingo'd folks, IIRC means If I Remember Correctly.)
terrene
15 years ago
My Buddleia attracts a nice variety of pollinators. The Hummingbird moths like them too. And I've got a lot of those BIG bumblebee looking bees that have a smooth black body. They really like the Phlox blooms and the Monarda punctata I grew this year. I was wondering what they are!

Here is a pic - is this a Carpenter bee?

{{gwi:259524}}
tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author
15 years ago
Looks like the one's I see on mine, hairy back. Bumble Bee isn't it?
schoolhouse_gw
15 years ago
A big (male)carpenter bee has a white spot on his head.
tracey_nj6
15 years ago
The way I tell the difference is bumble = hairy butt and carpenter = smooth/shiny butt (technically called "hairless"). I had always thought it was "butt" & not "abdomen", but thanks to Google, I found how wrong I was terminology wise, LOL. I always thought the abdomen was the center of the bee, not the bottom part.

From the attached link:
General Bumble Bee Information
The "Bumble Bee" is a big, hairy, black and yellow bee whose size can range from 3/4 inch to 1 1/2 inch. This insect is often mistaken for a carpenter bee, which closely resembles the bumble bee in appearance. Carpenter bees have a shiny and smooth abdomen as opposed to the fuzzy abdomen seen on a bumble bee.

The pic posted by terrene is a carpenter bee.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bumble Bee Biology
tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author
15 years ago
Yup that settles it then, Carpenter bees is what I have. Thanks!
tracey_nj6
15 years ago
It's still nice to see the buddleias covered in bees, bumble or carpenter. They're still valuable pollinators, and they're just not welcome when they're boring into my deck. Thankfully, nesting season is over (I believe) so I'm inclined not to whack them. I was just outside trying to deadhead some things, coneflowers & buddleias, and those carpenter bees are the nastiest of devils. The bumblebees just go about their business, but those carpenter bees, grrrrrr, are starting to get to me. I was getting dive-bombed from all angles. Frustrating to say the least.
tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author
15 years ago
Yeah, carpenter bees can be very nasty dive bombers but Bumbles are typically nice and mind their own business. Amazing how 2 similar looking creatures can have 2 different temperaments!
terrene
15 years ago
Thanks Tracey! I have more Carpenter bees this year than last, but still have lots of Bumbles, and honeybees. I haven't noticed these guys being particularly aggressive...yet. Gotta wonder where they're nesting though!
jlosc
15 years ago
I'm pretty new here, so please bear with me. I have noticed a decline in the butterflies this year too.

Also, I just purchased a plant/bush by the name of White Square Stem. The bees are supposed to love this plant, but I cannot find any info on the name 'white square stem' does anyone know of another name for this plant/bush? I need to find out the care instructions. I'm planting it next to my vegetable garden in the hopes that the bees will come to the plant and then come to polinate my veggies. Thanks everyone :)
tasymo
15 years ago
jlosc- if you post a picture of your plant, someone here will surely be able to identify it for you! It's possible that you have something in the Mint family, since Mint and all it's zillions of cousins have square stems.
jlosc
15 years ago
{{gwi:259525}}
this is supposed to be called a SNOW SQUARE STEM, but I cannot find ANY information about this. It grows pretty big into a bush and the bees LOVE it. Can you help me get the proper name for this so I will know how to care for it? Thanks so much :)
jlosc
15 years ago
OK, I just heard from the nursery, and the picture I posted (above) of the Snow square stem, this is what I know:
It's called Malanthera nivea, and the plants native habitat is dry or moist pinelands, open woods, thickets and beaches. It is drought tolerant and can get to be over 6 feet tall with a spread of about 8 feet. It can grow in full sun and blooms year around. No care is needed unless you want a more uniform look then occasional pruning is needed.

It's a beautiful plant/bush and the bees just LOVE it.

They SHOULD have named Butterfly bushes Bumble bee bushes!

Comments (17)

mxk3 z5b_MI

schoolhouse_gw

Related Discussions

FrozeBudd_z3/4

tracey_nj6

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

terrene

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

schoolhouse_gw

tracey_nj6

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

tracey_nj6

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

terrene

jlosc

tasymo

jlosc

jlosc

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

They SHOULD have named Butterfly bushes Bumble bee bushes!

Comments (17)

Related Discussions

tommyr_gw Zone 6Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author

tommyr_gw Zone 6
Original Author