I'm not familiar with that book Sandy, but if you recommend it I'm sure it's a good one. Hope it gets into the challenges of providing the right habitat for wild plants in our gardens. Some species are downright easy, but some can be a huge undertaking to grow succesfully and some are about as close to near impossible as you can get.

For those last ones I usually found it easier to drive several hundred miles round trip to collect wild cuttings for my cats every week or two than to try to establish them in my garden. But then, I never claimed to have a green thumb and I was more interested in spending available time on the bugs rather than the plants.

Larry,

The author does not address the growing techniques for natives, but puts forth a scholarly treatise on why it is important to grow natives and the results of importing and planting aliens in our gardens. I think the best advice for planting and growing natives is to stick to those that are found in the surrounding areas.

We are fortunate here in Oklahoma to have quite a bit of Nature Conservancy land. But, I am guilty of planting alien nectar plants. However, balance can be achieved by incorporating more natives. Variety is essential also.

The importance of trees is greatly stressed. Trees are ranked by number of Lepidoptera species supported. Number one tree is Oak, supporting 517 species; and second is willow, supporting 456.

It's an interesting read, written for the average home gardener. And during this time change (ugh), I need something to read when I just can't fall asleep an hour earlier because that's what we're all supposed to do.

I had an interesting short email discussion with Mr. Tallamy. I responded to an article on his book and his property in the NY Times. The journalist emailed my response to him and CC's me without his realizing it. His response was, shall we say, not very nice. I then responded to him directly and he apologized and we had a short interesting discussion. I believe natives are important but that so many are gone that sometimes we have to supplement. Many of the nectar sources that may have supported butterflies in the past just don't exist anymore. So, there are large gaps in the season for nectar producers. As much as I hate them for their invasiveness, a butterfly bush is really good for supplying nectar for a good deal of the season. Working with a lot of gardeners, I think there is no quicker way to turn them off than to tell them to go all native. I am just trying them to quit spraying everything to death.

Larry is right too. The conditions we have can be challenging. I planted some of the local native Monarda. it started to take over explosively and was full of powdery mildew. Yech...it is meant to be in a large prairie setting competing with other plants and with lots of air movement.

I like the mixed approach. If you like roses, plant em. But try to sneak in a few hardy natives too. Nothing like purple new england asters next to some knock out pink roses.

Phew, hope that wasn't too much of a rant.
- Elisabeth

Living here in the woods, natives are all around me, and I continue to plant mostly natives. Trees are indeed the most important host plant to leps overall - so many moths use trees.
I'll check out that book, Sandy - 'sounds veddddy interesting!
Sherry

Elisabeth,

I haven't dug up my Buddleias yet. I don't plan on doing it, either! I think the mixing approach has served me well. There are so many native plants that have been improved. I love all the new echinaceas, but I still include some of the originals. It is a balancing act. The more variety your provide, the more lep species will find your habitat. I highly respect your contributions to this forum.

Everything has to be balanced, and an open mind needs to be kept when reading this book. But, I found so much good information and a new view of all the critters that create a good symbiosis. We really can throw everything into chaos by our spraying and messing with the flora and fauna.

Thanks again for your input.

Sherry, when I read this book, I thought of you and your little "heaven." I think you'd enjoy this book.

Oooh thanks for your kind words. I felt like I had thrown a flame! I have a question for you. Do you find the new Echinaceas work as well as the old for butterflies? I only have the old fashioned and "White Swan", both of which are in the shade and therefore do terribly.

Thanks again,
Elisabeth

i see the most action on the native coneflowers and Magnus. But, I love the new colors.

I am including the link to my pbase website where I have a gallery of butterflies and the flowers that are most popular in my garden.

Another alien that I will not quit planting is Lantana. The BFs can't seem to get enough of this plant either.

Here is a link that might be useful: Butts and buds

I just bought and read this book last month. I loved it! An excellent read. I was a native plant enthusiast before reading it, but Tallamy's book brought my understanding on the subject to a new level. It also gave me a deeper appreciation for insects - having been more of a plant than bug person - but warming up to them quickly!

Tallamy explains that the insect herbivores (which of course includes Lepidoptera) are part of a lower trophic level of the ecosystem, which feeds the higher levels. For example, 95% of terrestrial birds feed their young almost exclusively on insects. The majority of insect herbivores eat native plants - relatively few eat alien plant species. So now I will cheer, instead of worry, when the native plants look nibbled on, and hope that the birds found plenty of meals in the gardens.

I do grow some non-natives, particularly lots of annuals for their long-season showy blooms and high amount of nectar and pollen.

Beautiful photos Sandy! We use lots of lantana in the butterfly house too. We put in lots of natives and non-natives. Guess what their favorites are, lantana and buddleia. - E

Speaking of lantana and buddleia -
My lantana cultivar, 'Sonset', is sterile, doesn't make seeds. This is great for me, because I don't have to continually cut off those seeds to keep it from popping up all over the place.
And, in my newest Pine Ridge Gardens catalog, Mary Ann lists a new Buddleia called 'Asian Moon' - it's sterile! That would be great for me, because I get SO tired of deadheading the spent blooms before they go to seed. It's supposed to have light purple flowers and be ready to ship in late spring. I may dig up my very old 'White Profusion' this year, since it's been deteriorating a bit in recent years, and order the new sterile bush to replace it.
Sherry

It has been awhile since I've looked into the invasiveness of butterfly bushes.

My memory says I had ten at my first house. I would have liked new ones to sprout up but that never happened, so I have always found it hard to believe butterfly bushes could be invasive.

I knew Washington state was having problems years ago but I now see other states are having problems with Buddleja davidii taking areas over. The country of New Zealand is looking at bringing in biological controls.

I looked up the "Asian Moon" that Sherry mentioned. It is something the University of Arkansas came up with in 2006. I currently have zero butterfly bushes but they have been on my "to do" list so I guess I'll try out an Asian Moon.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: U of A releases three new ornamental plants for home and garden

Sandy, I enjoy look at your photos too. Loved the Asters!

KC, I too have a couple Buddleias, and have never had a single seed, let alone seedling, but we are on the margin of hardiness for this plant in zone 5. I also faithfully deadheaded until last year. I'm wondering if any will self sow this year? We have had a harsh winter though, and I mulch so would be surprised if so. Growing it in a region where it is invasive, I would faithfully deadhead to keep it under control.

Truth be told, I have casually observed the butterflies using the Buddleia less and the native flowers more, as I add more and more natives to the gardens.

Below are a couple photo sets in Flickr, one on raising Monarchs, and one on "Native Beauties" and some pollinator friends.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo sets on Flickr

Terrene,

I enjoyed your photos. You have some incredible shots of a Monarch eclosing. Your flowers are gorgeous. I see you also have asters in your garden.

I am just now beginning to see how buddleia can become invasive in the garden. I have so many buddleias that I quit deadheading. I now have buddleias coming up from seed. My hopes are that the seed is not carried by birds and deposited in other areas. So far, I haven't noticed this happening. For now, I will remove the new plants as they appear and either discard or give them away. There may come a time when I decide not to grow this plant if I find good nectar replacements.

Sherry, I think quite a few of the lantanas are sterile. I don't get any seedlings, but I do have plants that make it through the winter and get incredibly huge.

Thanks Sandy! That Monarch eclosing was the 2nd one ever! I was standing there marveling at these first 2 "babies" (which had attached to the paper towel). The male had already eclosed and expanded wings without my notice. I happened to have the camera, the sun was shining in at a fortuitous angle, and lo and behold, this female started crawling out. I was a clueless and dumbstruck newbie but started snapping. How that butterfly came out of that little chrysalis was amazing (as most of you know, of course).

Looking forward to - raising more Monarchs, hopefully some Black Swallowtails, maybe some others too? And planting more native plants this year.

Such beautiful pictures! I'm so excited about my butterfly garden blooming this year :) I have butterfly bushes, but I haven't noticed any invasive behavior. Maybe it's based on whether or not the climate is ideal?

Sandy:

Wonderful pictures. It's interesting to me that the Little Yellow, Phaon Crescent, and Dogface were all more strongly marked than ones I have seen. What time of year were those pictures taken?

---

About those sterile cultivars:

We have a tree around here, the Bradford Pear, that is a sterile import from China.

However, it is also fragile. Branches fall off either in wind, or else in the spring when the branches are full of sap and flowers. We had one fall over in our yard (when the girls were outside ... yikes!).

So, to remedy this, other sterile cultivars with improved strength were created to replace the Bradfords.

BUT

It turned out that the sterile cultivars could *cross-pollinate* the Bradford. The result is that Bradford hybrids are now escaping, and taking over, in the wild.

Bummer, dude.

(That's not a criticism of the Lantana; garden flowers are not much of a threat. Rather, I'm making a general observation about the quirks of sterility).
Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks. I think all those shots were in the fall. The dogfaces were strongly marked--not normally so pink. I had a flux of them last fall and had lots of variation in colors.

Bradford pears are all over Oklahoma. Some years ago horticulturists recommended planting them. I prefer the Serviceberry (Amelanchier) which is a native tree and also quite beautiful.

After reading Tallamy's book, I will definitely go with native trees. I have a couple of Deodara cedar trees and a Chinese Pistache that I won't dig up, but everything else is native.

I think there can be a downside to any alien plant. It depends on the setting. I was looking at Bear's Breeches and decided against it after reading that it can become invasive. I planted Physostegia one year and it took over the whole garden. Taught me a lesson!

Sandy