I'm excited for spring!! Even if I don't totally redo the beds as I have planned, I will definitely plant my milkweed seeds and butterfly bushes!!

Now that I know what I am looking for I am so ready for the butterflies!
K

Me too!! I just purchased sapphire skyflower tree for my garden. I heard that this is the anchor of your butterfly garden. It's in container though. I am so excited. My three butterfly bushes have been growing so well over the winter with more and more leaves on them. I just hope this year is the best year!!!

Me too!! I just purchased sapphire skyflower tree for my garden. I heard that this is the anchor of your butterfly garden. It's in container though. I am so excited. My three butterfly bushes have been growing so well over the winter with more and more leaves on them. I just hope this year is the best year!!!

Angel what kind of milkweed do you grow?
I am down here on the Florida line out in the woods
Between two Cypress swamps.
My Bull thistles(abundant) are already up,and green.
I have to wait awhile before I can tag them purple bloomers
Or yellow bloomers unless they will be first year plants.

Bull thistles are one of my early bloomers,and all my local
Butterflies that are not sap feeders will go to them for nectar.

The next bloomers will be the Yellow Swamp Jessamine vines.
A lot of early butterflies will use them too.

In the spring I use whatever I can get to come up.I have
Naturalized Orange Cosmos beds( old standards not the
Spindly stemmed) and most of my butterflies like them for
Nectar.

I can grow Zinnias,but they seem to do better here when
I delay planting until our floods of spring rains are over.

What I do not see here very often are Monarchs.
I bought two large planters of well started Tropical
milkweed last summer from a Florida nursery.
Their performance was incredible!
I transplanted them as soon as I got home,even though
They were growing in a Patio setup when I bought them.
I set them up in the largest containers I could find to spend the
Summer beside my Dragonfly pond in the back yard.

The butterflies who visited almost every day were my regular
Locals: Tiger Swallowtails,Palemedes,Spicebush Swallowtails,
Black Eastern Swallowtails,Zebra Swallowtails,Pipevine Swallowtails,
And probably more assorted butterflies less showy.

I have other Eastern Woodland butterflies:Red-spotted Purples,
Mourning Cloaks,AngleWings,Red Admirals,Viceroys,Buckeyes.
Frittilaries and others that do not nectar so much (except for the
Buckeyes & Fritts plus Sulphurs & other tiny butterflies).

Anway,I have found the Tropical milkweed to be such a prolific
Bloomer for such a long season that I am keeping it for my
Butterflies in spite of controversy because Monarchs don't
Come down in here so no problem.

DD. BTW my favorite Zinnias are the big Cactus Flowered zinnias!

I have yellow milkweed and the tropical milkweeds as well as the giant milkweeds.. this morning I see 8 monarchs are fluttering around. They are probably the newbies that I released this week. I have had 9 hatched today and let go. I have over 50 ready to enclosed. I never get the pipevine swallowtails around here. I even got the seeds for the wooly pipevine just for them and we will see if itll grow or not. I get polydamas swallowtail, giant swallowtails, red admiral, monarchs (mostly them), gulf frutillary, zebra longwings (rarely), spicebush swallowtails ( I am looking for spicebush plants just for them for host plant). So maybe this year I will get many more other butterflies. I even planted lemon meyer tree for the giant swallowtail, hoping they will lay eggs on them. I also have black swallowtail as well. I started a butterfly garden last year in Feb and it has been successful so this year I expanded it by 4 times bigger due to dogs kept going into it and digging into the plants so we put a fence off half the backyard so one side they can play, the other side is for the butterfly world :) I also have owls that's been visiting every night in my backyard as well as other songbirds. The plants that I have in the garden so far are as the following:
dutchman pipevine plants (for polydamas)
many tropical milkweeds for the monarchs
giant milkweeds
pentas
basil (for the bees, they love it.)
porterweed (red and purple ones)
verbena
roses
passionvine (purple and lady margaret)
I have two bushes that have yellow flowers I am not sure what they;re called, I forgot.
Many different kinds of lantanas (white, multicolors and purple)
coneflowers (purple)
sapphire skyflower plant (seems to be a hit with the butterflies)
Rues for the swallowtails.
mums
Im growing golden rod plants

That's about it what I have so far.

This post was edited by angelimperfect36 on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 15:47

Yes - so ready for spring! I am having gardening and butterfly withdrawls. It's "warm" here for January... in the 30s. Which I appreciate but I'm still ready!

I am focusing on the gardens that border my house this spring, filling them with roses while I wait to see how my pollinator garden fills out.

Last year I tilled & filled a 650+ garden for the bees & butterflies. I planted a lot of small perennials including Ice Ballet Milkweed, Cinderella Milkweed, and Swamp Milkweed. This year I'm planning on growing Dill from seeds for the swallowtails since they flocked to my garden this last summer. The year before I only saw one so I am happy that something I planted is drawing them, or maybe just the amount of nectar sources has drawn their attention.

So I am going to wait and see how things fill in, and then I will fill in the gaps with more perennials. I'm sure I'll have to replace some things that didn't make it over winter. My favorites in the garden are Rudbekia, Monarda, & Shasta Daisies. I also planted a Dutchman's Pipe Vine last spring that I'm anxious to see again. The butterflies love the phlox.

Would love to see pictures of your gardens & butterflies while I wait for spring to come. :)

Michaela

I see that you have several milkweeds!! I want them all if you have any seeds! I haven't had any luck with other kinds of milkweeds down here.

I'm in Sarasota, Fl and made a small garden this past summer. Most of the milkweed I planted is flowering and seems to be the main source of nectar for the Monarchs. I have 5 that have hung around all winter. I believe they are the 5 I released. They seem like pets. I do worry I do not have enough nectar plants.

Swallowtails have disappeared once the weather turned cooler.

I would like to get native Milkweed to plant this year. What I have is red and orange some from Home Depot and a local nursery. The butterflies seemed to prefer the orange. Have no idea what type it is but it is still growing and blooming. No seed heads.

I'm very new to this and I'd like to enlarge the garden and plant more plants.

Please give me the name of any Florida nurseries which carry the plants described in the above posts.

Thanks
Jane

I forgot to mention my old standbys.

I have longtime established old-style butterfly bush
And Lantana;they have been here so long I tend to forget
Them!

Of course the butterflies & the Hummingbirds love them.

Because I don't get too cold down here I cut them back
In March,and take care not to cut them back too hard.

DD

Jane,

I also live in South Florida. I have had nectar plants blooming all winter. Most of these are pentas, jatropa, and Porterweed. I believe most or all of these I purchased at Home Depot.

Hi there from Central Florida!

I just started reading this forum, so I thought I'd jump into this conversation since Spring seems so close now.

I've been releasing a couple of Monarchs on warmer days, but today is so windy!

Angel, I am so impressed by your plant list. I have some milkweed seeds I can share with you. Some need cold stratifying, so you can put them in the fridge.

Hi Jane - how are you? I don't know about nurseries in your area....wish you lived closer to me and we could go to Oviedo where there is a beautiful butterfly sanctuary with lots of different plants for butterflies for sale. I love to take my grandkids there. The littlest one can always spot a "chrysa-wis", even if she can't pronounce it!

Michaela, do you grow your Swamp Milkweed in a wetland area? I just got some seeds, but I read it is a wetland plant and my yard is pretty dry.

Angel, please post some pics! ! And someone here will be able to ID your yellow shrub.

Susie

Hello all, It have been so windy here too. I had to release some of the monarchs and I felt so bad but the next day I have seen them come fluttering around so Im assuming they are ok? I have had around 10 at a time fluttering around my garden right now even though I released a lot more than that, maybe around 80 at a time. Dunno where others went. I purchased most of my plants from Lowes. I bought it because it was supposed to attract butterflies (the yellow scrub) I have the name somewhere. Just purchases mystic spires blue salvia plants (6 of them) I read that they get up to between 3-6 feet tall and 1-3 feet wide! Perfect for my other areas where its so naked. Itll fill up along my fenceline (hopefully) I just got my well pump finally fixed (I bought the house in 2012) and never knew I could use the well water for watering my garden! Duh me! SO we decided to fix it for this coming spring. I think I spotted spicebush butterfly checking out my backyard on the grass but not in the garden though it disappeared so fast before I could follow it. So far, its mainly the monarchs that's been the visitors all year around. I have cut back most of the milkweeds to have new growth for the spring and left one big plant alone for them cause I felt bad lol. Itll be cut down soon. I have seen several caterpillars chopping down the new leaves that was growing on the milkweeds ah... I just hope it doesnt get too naked :\.

Susieqsie: What kind of milkweed seeds do you have? And thanks!

Angel

I have Green Milkweed (viridis), Swamp Milkweed (incarnate) Common Milkweed (syriaca) and of course Tropical Milkweed (currassivica) - the yellow one. Here's a pic:

{{gwi:2122935}}

I hope to get some tuberosa and start that this year, and any other kinds of milkweed I can get my hands on. These seeds that I have were shared by several really great ladies I met here on GW!

Hope I can share the love . . . .

Susie

Would love those seeds! I dont think swamp milkweeds will work in my garden because it's supposed to be wetlands for those seeds? Yellow one, I do have that one. And Common milkweeds, please do send those! WHere do I send the envelope to?

Oh and I also bought some more flowers for the garden the other day :) Its Mystic Shires Blue plants. I got 6 of them! Three are in sunny and other three are in shade but when spring/summer comes, the sun will be there where the shades right now so I hope itll be ok! It's in the corner of the fence so it's perfect. Hoping itll grow beautiful!

So, I'm still not sure what Milkweed is native to Florida? Mine is from big box stores and a smaller nursery. Still flowering and Monarchs still laying eggs. I'm not collecting. Maybe I should but the weather has been warm and cold at night.

Should I cut the Milkweed down to prevent their laying eggs? Seems cruel to me but I do want to do the right thing. Nectar plants are minimal and the butterflies seem to be using the Milkweed flowers for food. I have Pentas and Porter weed but the Porter hardly blooms. I also have Lantana and never see any Monarchs on it. Saliva is covered with bees and I have not seen a butterly on that either.

My neighbor suggested I put honey-water on some of the plants for food.

Jane

Im new on the forum.Started last week on GardenWeb now this houzz WOW !!.Im gathering seed off the internet and local stores.Here in Arkansas I usualy plant last of April .I grow a varity of Zinnia, mexican sunflower,cone flower,wildflower mix,a varity of sage.This year im going to plant coral honeysuckle,and add penta's to the mix.I grow tropical milk weed and last fall I did set out common milkweed seed. .First go at the commom I hope i get a few plants to start.

arkpollinator, in your case, Garden Web must have just been the chrysalis stage. ;-)

----------------------------

I want to know what is meant by upcoming spring--The next few days are going to be in the 80's in SoCal. My trees are blooming early, and I am wondering if everything in the garden is going to get a frosting rebuke next month.

Jane,

Your county in Florida has a lot to do with what is native. There are milkweeds in the southern tip you won't find up by Tallahassee. The milkweed with the smallest footprint is Asclepias viridiflora while butterfly weed AKA A. tuberosa is found in 57 counties. Which county are you in?

I looks like sapphire skyflower tree grows fine in my zone (9a) but everywhere I look on line, they are not selling. Anyone have a good source??

THANKS!

Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) doesn't need to be grown in a swamp. I've grown it for years in all of my regular gardens, including the current one, which is sandy and quite dry. I only water occassionally, and the Swamp milkweed does fine. I believe it can tolerate growing in very wet conditions, but doesn't require it.

Martha

I am wintersowing various milkweeds, I'm adding cuphea cigar plant, F1 crimson pentas, viola's: czar, jumping jacks', Yellow Torch Tithonia, Jupiter's beard and more monarda.

I have some milkweed seeds I still want to wintersow but clay is really tough when temps are -6.