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Butterfly Garden

Has anyone in the North planted for PCs?

17 years ago

I had Pearl Crescent butterflies here last year and don't know where they had come from or where they deposited their eggs, but I'd be interested in planted a host plant for them. I guess they must be particular what kind of asters they like? I had asters here that I had bought at the local nursery the year before and so they were a nice size, and there were no cats on them. They were called New York Asters. They were probably too neat and compact for a cat's taste, as it seems like things that the butterflies go for are plants that almost need a machete to keep them in line. Ha. Anyway, if anyone knows of a good plant for me to plant up here for them, that would be great. Of course, if it's as hard to find as the gas plant, I guess I can forget about it for this year. Btw, I could get Gas Plant seeds on ebay, but MY GOSH...$3.99 + $2.50 shipping = $6.49 total for only 25 seeds?! No thanks, that's too much for what you get. I didn't know that it would be hard for me to find some things. I can't find those seeds at all in my area, and they're too much on the net. Well, next year is another year, I guess. :)

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Comments (2)

susanlynne48
17 years ago
Cathy, try J.L. Hudson Seed Co. - they are actually a seed bank. They have two different kinds of dictamnus for $2.00 per pack, and the shipping is $1.50. I have ordered from them before and they come highly recommended on various forums here.

Pearl Crescents use native asters as host plants, such as aster encoides, aster laevis, aster novae-angliae (New England Aster), Aster pilosis, aster simplex, aster carolineanis (MissSherry, if I recall correctly, said she had some on this, but I'm not sure if it is hardy in PA). Are you sure you didn't have New England Asters? Sometimes you have to wait a season or two before the butterflies find your plants and use them, too.

Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: J.L. Hudson
caterwallin
Original Author
17 years ago
Susan, Thanks so much for that link. That's a lot cheaper than ebay. I'll have to see if they'll take a check because we don't use credit cards. I'm copying all those aster names into a Word file that I've been saving so I can go back later on if I want to plant a certain kind of plant for a certain kind of butterfly, then I'll know which one(s) to get. Nope, they aren't New England Asters. Just to make sure, I went and double checked and they say New York Asters and are a dark pink color. I think they only get a foot tall. Nobody showed any interest in those asters and if they don't this year, then they might be getting yanked out of there too. Such trial and error I'm going through! Well, at least probably half the plants were successes with the butterflies. The butterflies showed little or not interest in Joe Pye-weed, Shasta Daisies, Black-eyed Susans (R. hirta), Phlox (it's white but has a nice smell), New York Asters, and Arizona Sun Blanket Flower. They did, however, like the Swamp Milkweed, Butterfly Weed, Butterfly Bush, Purple Coneflowers, Moonbeam Coreopsis, and Scarlet Flame Zinnias. I had bought most of those plants in late summer of 2005 before I had even known of this forum. It's when I had Monarch cats here and was worried I'd do something wrong raising them that I found this forum and have learned tons of things since then. I feel pretty confident now that I could guide someone else in telling them what would be good to plant in a butterfly garden, thanks to all of you here. I said to my husband and daughter that we're going to be overrun with butterflies here this year! ;-)
Cathy
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