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#1
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Attracting Butterflies
Hi,
Can anyone recommend plants that attract butterflies? I live in Adelaide. Cheers Luke |
#2
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Attracting Butterflies
Buddleas, Buddleas and more Buddleas. It is fascinating to see them,
and when the Wander butterflies come, you can see the other butterflies chasing them away. Linda On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 15:55:07 +1030, "Luke" wrote: Can anyone recommend plants that attract butterflies? I live in Adelaide. |
#3
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Attracting Butterflies
Luke,
The Buddleia family are very attractive to butterflies and moths. They have delightful flowers and are quite drought tolerant and pest free. Prune them by 75% each winter for production of new canes and flowers through spring and summer. Really good old fashioned plants. Many of the Lantana are also attractive to butterflies. Choose the varieties that don't seed freely or they can become a weed in bushland. Here in the SW of WA winter frosts burn some of the tender varieties but they reshoot each spring and power on. Enjoy CT -- Remove Nospam_ from address to reply "Luke" wrote in message ... Hi, Can anyone recommend plants that attract butterflies? I live in Adelaide. Cheers Luke |
#4
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Attracting Butterflies
Oleanders have a butterfly that only breeds on them. Although they are
poison to eat the shrub, as a child growing up I was fascinated with the butterflies and watching their life cycle. Should be available at most nurseries. Hope this helps, Peter |
#5
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Attracting Butterflies
"Bushy" wrote in message ... Oleanders have a butterfly that only breeds on them. Although they are poison to eat the shrub, as a child growing up I was fascinated with the butterflies and watching their life cycle. Should be available at most nurseries. Hope this helps, Peter But try not to plant it in your backyard, because it makes the place bloody difficult to sell to anyone with small kids. Whilst that isn't a real problem at the moment, should the real estate market become less buoyant it could be a problem. Frontyard should be OK though. I found that grapevines were always good for attracting those black and white caterpillars. Not sure which butterfly they are the larva of. |
#6
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Attracting Butterflies
On Thu, 30 Jan 2003 22:57:39 +1030, "silvasurfa"
wrote: "Bushy" wrote in message ... Oleanders have a butterfly that only breeds on them. Although they are poison to eat the shrub, as a child growing up I was fascinated with the butterflies and watching their life cycle. Should be available at most nurseries. Hope this helps, Peter But try not to plant it in your backyard, because it makes the place bloody difficult to sell to anyone with small kids. Whilst that isn't a real problem at the moment, should the real estate market become less buoyant it could be a problem. Frontyard should be OK though. I found that grapevines were always good for attracting those black and white caterpillars. Not sure which butterfly they are the larva of. Oddly enough, they are the larvae of the vine moth - an attractive black, white and red day-flying moth. Vine moths can become pests in vine growing areas, but for most of us they don't cause a problem. I've found that buddlea (however it is spelled) is good, as well as lavendar (also great for bees), leptospermums and melaleucas. HTH Tish |
#7
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Attracting Butterflies
Linda writes:
Buddleas, Buddleas and more Buddleas. It is fascinating to see them, You have come up with three good suggestions there Linda. Buddleas come in various colours apart from the common mauve, I have also seen white, yellow, and black, the latter being such a dark purple as to be essentially black. But only the common mauve has the overpowering scent, the others seem bland in comparison. I walk past a white buddlea most days, it's in flower at the moment, yet I can't recall ever seeing a butterfly around it. So anyone desiring to attract the monarch butterfly had better plant the common mauve buddlea, IMO. They do wilt badly in hot weather, but rally overnight and seem none the worse for it. If anyone's experience with the scent of coloured buddleas differs from mine please elaborate, as I don't wish to generalise based on my limited sample. -- John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n") |
#8
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Attracting Butterflies
Ummm - the Monarchs only go for Swan Plant (Asclepius fruiticosa or
similar spelling) as a breeding plant, but like the nectar of the Buddleas. Cannot tell which one, as until last week I had them all. But due to lack of pruning they became full of dead twigs. Many trips to the tip as a result, as fires get nearer. So if you want to attract Monarchs, you need the Swan Plant first. Linda On Fri, 31 Jan 2003 20:37:12 GMT, John Savage wrote: .. So anyone desiring to attract the monarch butterfly had better plant the common mauve buddlea, IMO. They do wilt badly in hot weather, but rally overnight and seem none the worse for it. |
#9
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Attracting Butterflies
"Bushy" writes:
Oleanders have a butterfly that only breeds on them. Although they are poison to eat the shrub, as a child growing up I was fascinated with the butterflies and watching their life cycle. There are oleanders in the yard here, but I've never noticed any butterflies on them. We have red, pink, and white flowered oleanders, but no sign of a butterfly. Perhaps Sydney is too far south for those particular butterflies? Or perhaps there is something better nearby? -- John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n") |
#10
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Attracting Butterflies
I grew up in Grafton, so Sydney shouldn't be that different? Maybe they
aren't in your area and might come back? Sorry I can't help, Peter |
#11
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Attracting Butterflies
Hi Luke,
I'm in Adelaide too. I'd recommend "butterfly bush" (Buddleia davidii), borage, zinnias, lavender, rosemary. Rita. On Thu, 23 Jan 2003 15:55:07 +1030, "Luke" wrote: Hi, Can anyone recommend plants that attract butterflies? I live in Adelaide. Cheers Luke |
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