1) Liatris (spicata?) Butterflies use for nectar and birds can eat seeds on spent blooms. Groundhogs & deer love mine as much as I do so I don't often get to see blooms. Thanks for sharing yours...LOL. 2) Nepeta (one of groundcover types?) Attracts "good" bees looking for nectar. I have some 'Blue Carpet' new this year and I'm not impressed with them. Got leggy and browning like yours but they get cut back each year so next year's growth may be better. 3) ? Looks like something in the Rudbeckia family but I don't grow them because deer and other critters would eat them. I'm sure there are more experienced posters who can pinpoint exactly for you. Good plants to have!

Dancer, my yard is absolutely crammed full of salvia, rosemary, milkweed and lavender. My backyard hums I have so many honeybees. I also have a large blue morning glory vine on my back fence that goes down to my lower yard (yes, yes, I know, I hate the stuff since I have to keep it in check with a machete, but my hubby loves the big blue flowers), and it is full of busy carpenter bees. I am in my yard gardening all the time up against all these plants and have never been stung. I have to be careful not to go out barefoot (our pool is out back, so sometimes that's not possible), in case I accidentally step on a bee, so we do watch where we walk, but the bees are very busy doing their jobs, and rarely if ever bother me. Once in a great while, a honeybee will try to rest on me, but I just move away. I, too, used to be afraid of bees, but when we moved to this new home, I realized I had better get over it, quick! Buddleia will attract both butterflies and honeybees. Not so much carpenter bees, as Renee mentioned. I see the carpenter bees over on my morning glories almost exclusively, as well as my Brug, and rarely over on the lavender. They actually, are much less likely to approach me than the honeybees. I was walking to get the mail yesterday, and my neighbor's large buddleia bush was visible over their retaining wall. It was very busy with Monarchs, Viceroys and honeybees in about equal proportions. And, there are some newer buddleias available that stay a little neater, and don't grow into monsterous, gangly bushes. I do love their flowers, though, they are quite lovely and the butterflies really do love them. You might want to also think about planting passaflora, as that is the host plant for the Viceroy butterfly. Mine looks pretty tattered between the snails and the Viceroy catepillars, but most of it is hidden with the Morning Glory vine that it grows with. And, it is quite a site to see 40 or 50 Viceroys flitting about the fence in front of our patio! Patty S.

Best I can tell they don't self-seed anywhere near where I live. I spend most of my time researching, identifying, and photographing wild plants for a project I am working on and I have never once seen a Butterfly Bush growing outside of someones yard. The closest thing I have seen to one in the wild in my area is a large bush growing in an old homestead site.. but even that one has yet to self seed anywhere.. and I've been watching it for years. I don't exactly live in the banana belt. We are up in the foothills of the Cascades and every Butterfly Bush I have ever grown has died off during the winter. So I am planning on growing one in a large pot so that I can bring it into the garage for the winter. The attitude I'm getting for posting this is amazing.. if you do not have a Butterfly Bush for trade.. I would politely request that you decline from posting in this thread. Maybe you should start a new thread for the sole purpose of bashing Butterfly Bushes with the rest of the "responsible gardeners in our area" Thanks!

Hi Rachel, You have about 50/50 introduced and native plants there.I can manage some of them: 8720 and 27 look like Callistemon viminalis. Drought hardy despite its natural creekbed environment. You can't over-water this one. Likes acid soil. What do you have? Lots of compost and organic mulch helps acidify the soil (also tealeaves and coffee grounds) 8722 Melaleuca of some kind. I suggest you wait for a flower and take it, with leaves, into a local nursery, as they may have sold it in the first place. This would probably work with a lot of your plants, as they look like commonly sold varieties. Once you have a name you can easily get info on the plant from the internet. 25 another Callistemon. Ditto 33 looks like Acacia baileyana. Expect wonderful flowers next winter. 41, 66, 73.Introduced cypresses. They are prone to fungal infections. I believe they can be cured, but my response would be to get rid of them and plant something that's more fun in their places. To me, of course, this means a native. I am aware, however, that there are people who love them despite their high fire risk potential, and you may well be one of them. I always think that applying chemicals to plants to cure them of their ills is like throwing money into the sea, (besides being against my environmental principals - these chemicals are just poisons, after all) but once again, I know there are people who think it's worth it. 44, 79 Introduced philodendron. The problem looks like sunburn. Has something been cleared away to let the sun get through? I believe these plants can be water guzzlers. 54 and 46 look like Agonis flexuosa. Wait for the flowers, which will tell you for sure. Lovely things. 56 Melaleuca. Perhaps bracteata. Perhaps Golden Gem. 59 Chamelauceum. (Geraldton Wax) Great value and a healthy plant. Plant lots of them, as they obviously grow well on your place. 68 Callistemon of some kind. Is it Little John? I think you have a few of these. 69 Buddleia. Non-native. Attracts butterflies. Needs hard pruning to keep it looking good. Some people classify these plants as weeds. 70 Is that Japanese Honeysuckle? (Lonerica species)Lovely plant, but escapes into the bush here (Toowoomba and Eastern Australia generally) so is regarded as a rather bad environmental weed. 86, 88. Fern, probably Microsoris species. I don't know whether that's one of the native ones. Try a nursery. 11 Bougainvillea. Introduced. 13 Pandorea jasminoides. Bower vine. Probably the best Australian native climber. It comes in a white and stronger pinks as well. 97 Asparagus "fern". Really, really horrible introduced weed. Get rid of it as fast as you can and remove all the seedlings as they pop up. New gardens are such fun, as you can be the "new broom", sweeping away that which you don't want, and turning them into something that suits your own personality. I'd suggest using more natives, especially your local natives, as they have evolved in your very own climate so would be...