Thanks everyone. We have Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) in our area. I see it occasionally flying around the yard, but never thought to look for caterpillars on the Rudbeckia. I also have the host plants of sunflowers and wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) that it is reported to use. The American Goldfinches eat seed from the Rudbeckia Hirta seed heads in the winter and knock alot of the seed over the yard. (plus I've mowed some down which probably did more to spread it) I have soil that I imagine is 99% clay so black eyed susans are coming up all over. I'll take a look this summer for the caterpillars. I've read that the Rudbeckia Hirta is drought tolerant, and although they seem to survive, they don't live very long. I had some come amongst my swamp milkweed before I added mulch, and they just grew and grew. I tried cutting them back, since I didn't want to disturb the milkweed roots by attempting dig or pull them up. Rather than slow them down, they only branched 10x and wound up with just as tall but bushier. I guess, what I'm trying to say is that it's drought tolerant character is often mentioned, but I've never seen it mentioned how well they perform with regular watering, and even pinching. As I recall the only times I've seen butterflies at the flowers, they were visiting the larger of the flowers. ~ I wonder if the plants need to be regularly watered to get the large blossoms in order to attract butterflies. I've seen this with my Cosmos Bipinnatus, that the butterflies seem to ignore all but the largest blossoms.

Yes, MissSherry, I did. Annuals are pretty cheap, so I didn't spend much on anything but the Salvia. It is such a pretty dark pink, and the stems are red. It is gorgeous! I have never had Dusty Miller before, but on your advice, I bought some - for the Painted Ladies or the Buckeyes? I can't remember. I can look it up on the Internet. Anyway, I got five of them, plus the helichrysum. Susan

MissSherry, do you shear your Salvia Hot Lips back after the initial spring flush of bloom? Mechelle - my Coreopsis did not do much last year either, but this year, it took off and went nuts. It didn't bloom much either, OTOH, nothing did much last year in the heat and drought, and I had very few butterflies. I bought that Duranta one year to grow as an annual (not perennial here in OKC). I thought it was such a pretty plant. But, it didn't attract much at all, so I didn't include it in the succeeding year. I know that's not much of a trial run, because butterfly tastes can vary from year to year. So I probably did not give it a fair chance. A general rule of thumb in my garden for a good trial, IMHO, is 3 years. If a plant doesn't do a good job over that period of time, out it goes. I just love the blooms on this little Coreopsis and I may just go back to Precure and see if they have more of it to stuff in 20 gallon tubs. Susan

"In addition to the above food sources, males are attracted to Heliotropium, Eupatorium, Senecio, and Crotalaria, plants known to contain the alkaloid lycopsamine. The alkaloid and other precursor compounds from these plants are used to create pheromones used to attract mates.[2] Pheromone precursors are predominantly obtained from Boraginaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae." Here is a link that might be useful: Queen Males collect chemicals for mating