Congrats on the goldenrod and passion flower
I've gotten a few native nectar and host plants. From Pine Ridge Gardens(about an hour away) I purchased some Dutchman's Pipevine, Monarda bradburiana, Verbena canadensis, Veronia arkansana, Salvia azurea, Asclepias viridis, and she(the nursery owner) gave me for free a Veronia baldwini and Asclepias syrica.
I recommend them highly, but their selection is smaller than usual because of the cold front back in March/April(whenever it was).

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.pineridgegardens.com/

Congrats on the new plants, Susan and benbirding! I didn't know there was any such thing as spring-blooming solidago - that is golden rod, isn't it? P. caerulea is the most cold hardy of the passionvines - mine stayed green all winter one year.
There's nothing more fun than buying new plants! And I agree about Pine Ridge Gardens - I've ordered SO many mail-order plants from that great nursery!
MissSherry

Susan, I've added a dwarf penstemon for my Baltimore Checkerspot cats that I'm raising. I'll have to look at the tag to tell you the name but it's blooming like a pink snapdragon and the tester cats that I put on it are doing great. One started chomping immediately. But since I was leary of the pesticide thing I was afraid to put more than a few on there at once. So far, so good.

I've also learned that the Baltimores eat goldenrod! That explains why I found a nest on a goldenrod flower last summer!

maryann

Maryann, thatÂs interesting about the BCs using penstemon. Are they restricted to certain species use? Or, will they eat any species/cultivar?

MissSherry  I thought it was extremely early for a Goldenrod, and so I researched it to see if perhaps this is a new hybrid that blooms early. Not so. The only conclusion I can reach is that it has been greenhouse grown, and therefore, is blooming earlier than it really should. The fritillary sure enjoyed it, tho! LOL!

I was surprised to see just the regular old pearly everlasting at the nursery, too. I have never seen it in a nursery before, but this little nursery appears to be catering to butterfly lovers in particular. I remember last year, they had black swallowtail cats on their parsley plants, and just sold them "as is".

I know that P. caerulea is hardy in your zone, but I am concerned about itÂs hardiness in mine. There is a lot of discrepancy on the net about whether it is hardy to zone 7 or just to zone 8. I will mulch it heavily. I hope I hear from some others in colder zones about it wintering over for them. I think that P. incarnata is the hardiest of all the passifloras, as well as the little yellow one (what is itÂs name?) that grows in shade.

It seems like my passion vines come up so darned late here. I am hoping it comes up earlier than the incarnate hybrid I got, which I think is either Incense or Lavendar Lady, not sure which since the nursery didnÂt mark it.

Did you know whether P. coccinea is a bad one for the GFs?

Susan

I'll bet I'm like all of you when it comes to receiving/planting all the new plants I order each spring. I made myself wait to plant most of them until we finally got a good rain two days ago. It had been about 3 weeks with only 3/10th inch of rain. So much for "April showers bring May flowers" in Camelot.

mike

I'm glad you finally got a decent rain, Mike! I got exactly 1.00" in my rain gauge yesterday - I only got 4.10" in April, low for my area, so I was glad to get that inch!
Susan, my p. caerulea 'Waterloo Blue' stayed green all winter before last - then it came up all over, like p. incarnata the next spring. Well, this past winter, it all died back, and this spring only a few pieces of it have come up at all - it was colder this past winter than the one before, but it was still a typical Gulf Coast, mild, short winter - I don't get it.
I planted one of my 'Lady Margaret' passionvines the other day - it's supposed to be a hybrid of p. incarnata and p. coccinea. It's reported to be good for GFs, and it's leaves look like p. incarnata, so I assume that's why, it's chemically like p. incarnata and doesn't have any rough hairs on the undersides of the leaves. P. coccinea, on the other hand, is supposed to be toxic - I can't say that's true from personal experience, because I've never had any.
P. lutea is the little yellow flowering one. I finally found some eggs on it last year, so I brought the early instar cat into a cage to raise myself and fed it nothing but p. lutea - the butterfly turned out exactly the same. I don't know what I expected, that the butterfly would be different because it ate a different type of passiflora when a caterpillar? Hehehe!
I wish they'd offer some pearly everlasting here - I love the way those flowers look! They're much prettier than the ones on our cudweed, and the plant hosts ALs. I may order some seeds in the future.
MissSherry

I can say from personal experience that P. coccinea is toxic to the GF cats. That was one mistake I did make. I loved the flowers, but had to pull it out. The GFs would lay eggs on it, but the cats would all die while very small.

Yeah, I was afraid to get that one because of the advice on the forum not to use it as a host plant. I understand the GFs will lay eggs on it even! I'm sure it's a pretty one in bloom, but it's not for a butterfly gardener.

I did a bit of container planting today. Got my pink wave petunia planted with the senecio - it looks so pretty. Potted up my red pentas, a bunch of little sedums in a pot for Kenna, planted my salvia, and still have a ton of plants left to go. So much to do, so little time, so much pain in the neck! Ouch!

Dena, I don't blame you for pulling out the P. coccinea. I don't think I could stand by and watch the babies perish either.

I wonder if I should let the nursery know about the toxicity of the red passion vine? I know they grow a lot of butterfly plants and they encourage caterpillars on their plants like parsley and fennel. Maybe they don't know?

Susan

I'd tell them. There are many beautiful passionvines they could carry that AREN'T toxic to GFs - they could sell those.
MissSherry

Most definitely! I've seen the GFs oviposit on the P. coccinea out here as well but have never seen a 'chew mark' on a leaf.

I ordered new Buddleias since I lost a number of them this winter due to our unusual freeze. I got mine from Forest Farms up in Oregon. I do so love their stuff.

I love Forest Farms, too, CalSherry!
I've ordered from them several times (again) this spring, including two butterfly bushes, Attraction and Ellen's Blue. They're growing like weeds (chicken manure) and I'm sure looking forward to seeing the first blooms!
MissSherry