Thanks for this helpful info tom123_gw(9b) Can you please tell me what are your other 'top 2' flowers for butterflies. Thanks

The number 1 nectar flower is the large red penta (Penta lanceolata). It is simply a terrific flowering plant that doesn't need deadheading or special care and virtually all butterflies that nectar love it. The other is the large purple porterweed (Stachytarpheta frantzi). Right now this plant is not flowering, but soon it will begin to put out flowers again and will continue until the first frost. Both of these plants would be annuals for you in New York. For me in Central Florida they are perennials. They are very easy to take cuttings from.

I have larval plants for all the major butterflies that are in my area also.

Thank you Tom, I'm planning a butterfly garden for next year & this info is v helpful. I will include larval plants too.

Absolutely beautiful pictures, MissSherry, and such a variety of butterflies! Thank you so much for posting them. I must clear more garden space to add Mexican sunflowers for next season!

Thanks, colcol!

Sherry

I started some from seed, Tom. Really looking forward to seeing them bloom after your report! I think I have the purple porterweed (it gets tall and attracts bumblebees). I have been spreading that around the yard and have a couple of tropical milk weeds around. I saw on you tube that it is a good idea to plant milkweed wherever you plant Tithonia roundunda (sp). I ll need to be on the lookout for some more seeds or pods. Seems you can never have enough!

I have stared seeds year after year but never get them to grow big enough to flower. Do you have any tips on growing them?

Thanks

Jacob

Hey, Jacob, not sure what you might be doing wrong. Do you have them in the ground? You can start them in pots, which is what I do, but they soon will outgrow most pots. They like sunshine to flower and just normal watering. Most will need to be staked, because they get large and tend to fall over.

You might not have good seeds. Try buying them from another vendor. The seeds are not expensive.

Jacob, how far north are you? I live in (central Arkansas) and do experience hot summers but for me, Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) didn't begin to bloom until mid to late August. It's been some years since I grew it, can't remember the date I started the seed but do remember wondering if it was ever going to bloom. I didn't grow it again because it grew too large for my small garden. My guess is it was about 8 ft tall by the end of the season. It grew so large the stems would bend and break during heavy rainstorms and the plant required staking to stay upright. Those beautiful big, deep green leaves catch a lot of wind and water. Since it's common to Mexico, it may need a long season of warmth to mature.

My plant did produce some lovely blooms, photos dated Aug 22, 2009:

This second photo was taken from the ground and this bloom was up so high I could only photograph it from below, highlighted against the sky.

There is a smaller version of this plant that reportedly also attracts butterflies:
... Tithonia 'Torch' - cultivar reaching 3-4 ft. height (90-120 cm) with single, orange-scarlet daisy flowers,3-4 in. across (7-9 cm).

I see, when reading about the cultivation, that it is approx. 80 days to bloom and that is measured from the time the seed germinates. So, allow almost 3 months to bloom for this shorter variety. I have also read that they don't like damp, cool weather so if growing from seed, maybe keep them under lights or a greenhouse until days and evenings are warm.

Has anyone grown Torch, and if so, how did it perform for you?

Mary

tom123_gw(9b), I have to agree wholeheartedly with you regarding the large red penta's. It's a shame they require overwintering in most growing zones but they really produce all season, don't they?

I ordered one from Almost Eden last year, took cuttings late in the fall and dug up and potted the one mother plant and have kept it alive in my small greenhouse this winter. It is alive so I'll have a good start this spring as soon as it warms up. The cuttings are alive but have done no growing this winter. I can't even see any roots in their little pots but the cuttings are still green so I'm hopeful. The cuttings should have been taken earlier in the summer but I was with my sister in law during much of the growing season so didn't get to them until late fall. My idea is to plant them in a long bed and hope for a bed of red penta blooms for the summer. Hummers and butterflies love the blooms so it's a two for one for me. Between their blooms, the Lantana, Butterfly bush, Verbena
bonariensis and the tropical and A perennis milkweed, I hope to have nectar continuously through the coming season. Trying to cut back on garden chores but still provide blooms for the little jewels.How did your 'new to you' Pentas do last year? I'm trying two 'new to me' plants this year and that's it, other than the old standby's. Hope to spend more time watching and less time working. :-)

Mary

Hey, Mary, I now have five new pentas lanceolatas that I didn't have last year. One of them I got from a plant sale in Gainesville--my friend Rhonda bought them for me. The other four I purchased from Kartuz Greenhouse in California. The first one I purchased was the Nova. I think I got that one at the end of spring last year. The other three I ordered late in the year were, Orchid Star, Silver Star and Southern Star. I don't know the name of the ones from the University of Florida in Gainesville.

The Nova has done great. It gets big, just like the red lanceolata. The butterflies really like it. I haven't seen a hummer on it yet, but it has been in a place where I don't see unless I'm out in the garden. I took cuttings from all of them and put them in a new garden space that is just outside the window in my living room. I also purchased a bunch of other small pentas from a box store and put them in front of the others. I have tropical milkweed that I will be planting there soon and have begun the process of starting the Tithonias that I will place in the back.

Really looking forward to the new gardening year. Looks like you are getting a good start as well. I hope things go well for you this year--gardening and otherwise.

Mary, I overwintered my big red pentas, so I wouldn't need to order again this spring. They're always a big hit with the butterflies - I don't want to be without them.

I've grown 'Torch' and, if anything, it was taller than the 'Fiesta del Sol' I had been growing. So far, I haven't found any Mexican sunflowers of moderate height. I'll keep looking, though, because for me, the one drawback to them (other than you have to start them each year from seeds) is that in a windy rain storm, they'll fall over and make a mess.

Sherry

Mary, your pictures are beautiful. I loved the Mexican sunflowers last year too. Saved some seeds and hope they are viable.

Those who mentioned pentas, any idea on where I could order seeds?

I've never seen them grown from seeds, Elaine. We buy them online or at nurseries. I suppose they must seed, but I've never found one that grew from cut seeds on my property. I think they are pretty much all propagated by cuttings.

Good to know, thanks

There is a supposed dwarf tithonia. Growing it the first time this year.