Zinnias, Brazilian verbena, and Mexican sunflowers attract many butterfly species and can be grown as annuals. The verbena would be a perennial in your area but you might want to mulch it over winter as insurance.

I'm not sure which ONE plant would attract the most, but maybe someone can narrow it down for you. Good luck, Tony

I've never seen anything draw them in better than a fence row of common milkweed I had at my first house. I'd love to recreate it but my wife won't let me. That time was next to a driveway. This time it would be next to a sidewalk and my wife figures there is not enough room for people to take a wide path away from the bees.

KC

I love love love Mexican Sunflower, but for the butterflies, I'd have to agree with kcclark, and go with the Milkweed as well.

Butterfly bush is great too, but Milkweed serves as a host plant as well as a nectar plant...so that gives it the nod for the #1 spot.

Mark

If I already had host plants, I would go with Butterfly bushes. They REALLY draw the butterflies. At least in my garden last year.

Too early to tell what is going to be the big draw this year, but I'm adding more of everything I can get my hands on for my "Babies".

My new friends here have been so generous sharing seed, trees, shrubs, vines and flowers. What more could I ask for?

I hope to share with my neighbors so the whole neighborhood with be a butterfly haven!! If I can get them hooked, can you imagine what it will be like? lol

Betty

Thank you for all the insight. Any differences between common milkweed vs butterfly weed, vs swamp weed?

When I used to grow butterfly weed, I had very little action on it. I believe given a choice of swamp milkweed vs. common milkweed, monarchs are more likely to lay eggs on the swamp. But when it comes to which flowers get the most action, in my experience it has been the common.

I would choose butterfly bush also, buddleia davidii, excluding host plants. Followed closely by lantana.

I would pick "Miss Huff" Lantana. Last year I planted all sorts of host and necter plants but the plant they spent the most time on was by far the Lantana.

Butterfly Bushes here in zone 7a.

It's hard for me to narrow it down to just one plant. The very best 3 here are purple coneflower, Verbena bonariensis, and butterfly bush. I've heard people say lantana and Joe Pyeweed work great for them, but the butterflies totally ignore them here. On the flip side, even though the butterflies love coneflowers here, I've seen a few people say they ignore them at their places. It's really a matter of try it and see if certain plants work for you.
Cathy

IF you are looking for nectar plants, the duranta is a great choice, hummers and butterflies love it as well as the mexican sunflower (tithonia).Until this year, I have had lots of visitors to both of these plants. The butterflies haven't been around much this season, must be the severe drought we are experiencing here in SE Texas.

Mechelle

I agree with the butterfly bush and lantana. Another one that I've seen in the wild and recently planted in my garden here in NC is the button bush. When I first saw it in Florida I was amazed at how all the butterflies, primarily swallowtails, swarmed it.

I think lantana is an awesome nectar plant for butterflies. When I grew it, I had more butterflies on it than anything else, including the butterfly bushes and common milkweed that were maybe 5' away.

But, vettin wants a plant that draws "large" butterflies. I never saw anything bigger than a silver-spotted skipper on my lantana. Most of the time it was small butterflies, like ETBs.

YMMV

KC