Pea, just replied to your message.

SOME sort of porterweed will definitely be part of my yard next year! :) . Thanks for the inspiration, Rhonda.

Sultry you're so right about Spanish Needles! My butterflies like it more than almost any other plant here. The other favorite is my zinnias.

Rhonda beautiful garden! And yummm…mango trees!!!

Javi. I now have the large red and the purple that most people think of when talking about porterweed. I had a blue one that didn't make it and of course the huge coral that I just removed. If I could only have one, it would be the large red that I have pictured here. That huge clump was just 5-6 small cuttings in January! And, it blooms non-stop for me.

Bea, thanks! Yes, mangoes are so yummy. Joe trimmed quite a bit off of them after they were done fruiting so I'm curious to see how well they produce next year.

Rhonda and Javi, since you are experts in this: is it normal for a Monarch to be tiny? Is that a Fall thing? The others I saw today were normal size, but this one was really small.

Enchanting garden. I see a lot of Porter weed in those photos. Are those the ones you got rid of because they didn't bloom often or are those a longer blooming variety? How long does the popcorn Senna bloom for? And what kind of honeysuckle do you grow? I don't see any Mexican sunflower (the orange kind). That plant is a huge hit with the butterflies.

Iris: I'm so not an expert, but I've also noticed smallish ones here and there -- can't say I've kept track enough to know if this is season-specific. I just figured, like people, Monarchs come in different sizes. I do notice periodically a chrysalis out of a batch will be substantially smaller than the others (but never made note whether the emerging butterfly was also smaller than the rest). Guess I'm pulling a solid D- in Butterfly Observation 101.

Iris, beautiful pic :) I'm definitely not an expert but I have the occasional small monarch or swallowtail. Though small, they appear perfectly healthy. I'm like Javi....I just figured that it just happens from time-to-time.

Florida Joe's, thanks! That big porterwed in the pictures isn't the coral one that I removed. This is a big red one that has much bigger leaves, flowers and growing habit than the smaller reds you can find at most nurseries. This one blooms year round for me.

The popcorn cassia starts blooming for me in September and will bloom for at least 3 months and make many seed pods.

I did have coral honeysuckle but for some reason it very seldom bloomed so I took it out. I am growing Cape honeysuckle which isn't really a honeysuckle but rather a Tecoma. It blooms like crazy. I also have another Tecoma stans "Gold Star" that I put in a few months ago and it is really starting to take off.

I had to cut back my Tithonia Mexican sunflower a while back as it was getting wilty and done blooming. I sprinkled the seeds and the plants are growing now...about 1.5 foot tall. They are great nectar plants!

We planted our esperanza/Tecoma stans ~ 15 years ago, and it thrives every year without much care at all. One of my T-N-Ts! It doesn't attract nearly as many butterflies as I'd like (haha! As if I have a say in it!), but the honey and bumble bees sure do love them.

When I lived in NYC there was one house on my block with a variety of Japanese honeysuckle planted along a fence that was always smothered in blooms until frost unlike the wild invasive variety in the woods that would bloom only once a year. The fragrance wrafted all through the air. I wonder if that would grow in zone 10. I'd go to NYC just to get cuttings of that plant. I'll have to keep at eye out for your Porter weed at plant sales. Sounds like it would go good with the purple variety I have.

Javi, you're right that the Tecoma doesn't attract a lot of butterflies though the sulphurs seem to like them. And, as you said, the bees love them.

Florida Joe's, In Ohio we had Japanese honeysuckle the full length...400'...of the wire fence on our property line. I don't remember what variety it was but it bloomed off and on from spring until the first freeze. I loved the scent and hummingbirds loved it too. I don't know if that honeysuckle could take our heat in 10a but if it's free, I'd give it a try, nothing to lose.

I can send you some cuttings from my red porterweed if you'd like...just message me through Houzz.

Rhonda

I love your mass plantings, Rhonda!! I'm in the process of making my back yard a butterfly/hummingbird sanctuary, with as many plants as I can pack in it.

Somewhere above I read that coral porterweed is cold sensitive. Maybe that should have been red porterweed? Coral porterweed is the one porterweed that ALWAYS returned from the roots every spring. The problem with it was that it grew too tall, and by late summer/fall, heavy rains would cause it to bend over, very ugly. I've ordered one for my garden here, and I think I'll keep it cut back, hopefully to make a shorter, fatter bush. It sure was popular with both butterflies and hummingbirds!

Sherry

Gorgeous, Iris! I returned home to a nice, cool (and record breaking) upper 50s/61...not a butterfly in sight today, as it was cloudy all day. DH told me monarchs and queens were in the yard all the time I was gone (of course!). The sun won't reappear until Sunday, so I'll have to enjoy the chill sans flutterers. But I did spy several monarch cats, ~ 3rd-4th instar. :)

And found this guy on my tithonia (which is now blooming from head to toe):

Hope you had a great time! The burning question: did your husband kill your Pipevine?

It LIVVVVVVVVVVES! :) Both PV and my Turk's cap are okay, though the latter is much healthier. PV is putting out tiny new growth, so I think that's a good sign. DH gets an A+ grade!

Hi Rhonda, I'd love to take you up on the offer but I can't figure out how to message you lol. I have a passion flower that blooms year round if you're interested. Passiflora 'lady Margaret'.

The Monarchs are just loving on my tithonia -- so worth the wait!

Hey guys....sorry I fell off the planet for a while :)

Sherry, Thanks! I'm sure that your new yard will be packed full of gorgeous plants and critters soon. Please let me know if I can send you any cuttings. For me anyway, the coral porterweed seemed to be affected by cold more than the common purple...can't say about the red since this is my first summer with it. Can you believe giant was just a few tiny cuttings early this year?!

Iris, I'll keep posting pics for you. Now that we are finally supposed to be in the 80s for highs soon, I will be outside more. What is that cool cat that's in your awesome photo? Never seen anything like it before.

Javi, glad to hear that your hubby didn't kill your plants. LOL Love your pics! The ones that are growing from the scattered seeds are just about 2' high and already flopping! PS-just sent you a message.

Florida Joe, If you click on my picture (the hummingbird) beside my name, it will take you to my HOUZZ page and you should see a "message" in the banner pic at the top of the page. Let me know if you can;t find it.

Yay, a Rhonda update! Looked at the thermometer this morning and it was 32.7. Close call. My picture was of a variegated Fritillary chrysalis. I have a lot of the wild violets around, so I come across them whenever I pull weeds. It’s slow going if you have to be careful. Almost looks like a zipper.

Oh Iris....that's cold! Love that chrysalis. It sure does look like it's trying to unzip its way out LOL

Oh I've tried that. There's no "message" in the banner. At least it doesn't show up for me.

Florida Joe: When you click on Rhonda's name in this thread, her banner should look like this -- "Message" box to the right:

HTH.

Iris: What a spectacular shot! I just showed DH; between your pics and watching a Gulf frit hanging out in the yard for the past few days, he's REALLY chomping at the bit to plant a passion vine next spring. Of course, we'd have to buy an arbor for the PV to climb on. And if DH would rather construct one, he'd need new tools, etc. etc. You're familiar with the "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" series, right? :)

Ha ha! Make sure to put your arbor in the middle of nowhere so you can just mow over the runners that are going to pop up everywhere around it.

Make that a sturdy arbor...passion vine can pull them apart. It hides chain link well tho.

No chain link here, Pea, but thanks for the tip re pulling apart an arbor (really??!! Yikes.). Even the sturdy metal ones, do you think?

Javiwa, Many thanks. There's no message button on my screen where your pic shows one. I'll use my tablet, see if it shows up there.

I've never had a metal arbor so not sure.

Hey Rhonda, that dug up coral porterweed root has started put out leaves...i put it in the ground today beside my thyrallis, hope it will find that a happy spot.

Joe, if you press the activity button on the home page the message box will show up. Rhonda, your plants are beautiful. I'm planning on growing porterweed for the first time next year. I was going to try seeds, though I'm not sure how difficult that is. What is the tall plant with the orangish tubular flowers in the first couple pictures? It kind of looks like a Leonorus Lions Tail or something.

Rhonda: How is your butterfly garden oriented? i.e., morning sun only, afternoon sun, mixed? This will help me figure out where to plunk stuff in my yard. Thanks!

Florida_Joe's, don't know why I didn't think of it before but I just sent you a message through Houzz. To see it, click on the "Your Houzz" and you'll find a "messages" tab under the banner. I really appreciate the offer of the passion vine but I have another one plus pipevine on trellises and that's plenty :)

Pea, I was hoping that big root would survive!

Jay, I think that you're referring the the Hamelia patens (firebush). It's an excellent nectar shrub for hummers (if I had them here) and butterflies. This one is supposed to be a dwarf but is 8 foot tall after cutting it to about a foot tall in February. It's not very cold hardy though.

I had some beautiful Lion's Ear. But, it got HUGE and I never saw a butterfly use it so I ripped it out since my gardening space is limited and plants must earn their keep. I hated doing that :(

Javi, the butterfly garden runs along the south side of the house just west of the lanai. So, except for in the morning until about 9:30 when the lanai provides a little shade, it's in full sun.

Rhonda

Beautiful and LUSH yard this is a proper Florida landscape! I wish I could do something similar but the HoA is at our throats enough as it is (my backyard gets to be a jungle at least though). I love the variety of porterweeds and your salvias look so healthy and neat this late in the season! I'm impressed. This is what looks good to me here. I feel like tidier landscapes are more suited to temperate and arid regions.. it's way too much unnecessary maintenance here to do that.

I will say though: be careful with the cape honeysuckle/Tecoma, they can be quite vigorous (you might want to plant them in an underground pot because I think they can sucker). They are great plants, though and I do recommend them. The first time I ever saw a wintering Baltimore oriole it was feeding from a cape honeysuckle.

You might also want to consider Manettia cordifolia 'John Elsley', it's a very maneagable vine with similar stature as native Coral Honeysuckle but much more suited to your location (and hardy into zone 8). I grow one and love it but it's more of a hummer plant than a butterfly one.

edit: Oh and the Firebush you have that is erroneously referred to as dwarf/compacta is Hamelia patens var glabra (yellow orange flowers) It's actually taller than my native variety of firebush lol (has red orange flowers). There is a true dwarf firebush, I think under the name 'Nana' and it has flowers and leaves half the size of the regular but it still can get 5 feet in a growing season but that's less than the 12 feet the var. glabra kind grows. I've worked with all three kinds.

Thanks for the kind words, Jay! Luckily, we have an HOA but plant anything we want as long as it doesn't look trashy. I do have a tendency to overcrowd as you can see. LOL But, it definitely cuts back on the weeds and protects the plants' roots from our very hot summers. The porterweeds, salvias and hamelia will bloom all year here but are definitely at their peak now.

I love the Manettia cordifolia 'John Elsley' and had it at my old house in Williston where I had lots of hummers. I would love to plant it here but sadly don't see hummers with the exception of the rare Spring or Fall migrators. If the 50' chain link fence running between our property and my neighbor was mine, it would be covered with flowering vines. Guess I should just be glad that he isn't ripping out the corky-stemmed passion vine growing on it courtesy of the birds :)

Thanks for the clarification on the hamelia which was incorrectly labeled when I purchased it. I did have the true dwarf in Williston and the flowers were very reddish-orange, The zebra longwings nectared on them often and the Tersa sphinx moth caterpillars stripped them bare.

Rhonda

Javi, if you have a minute go over to the name that plant forum and read the thread about the parlor palm lol.

Hah...just did, Jay. I see you've made introductions to the gritty mix guru. ;)

Rhonda: Needing an update on your lush garden over there! What's up in mid-November in your parts?

I saw coral porterweed for sale at the Almost Eden site. Its so pretty in you guys photos. Maybe I will order some next spring. I had the plain bluish one this year and it did great.

OMG!!!

I was just telling my hubby about your garden, remembering back when you 1st put it in and the amount of soil amendment/ garden soil you used and how I was certain that the upgrade in soil condition was something I really need to do.

Ok I just stalked your old post and stole a screenshot... It has to be posted so ppl can see just how marvelous the garden is!

And I had to do this too.

Inspirational

I hope I didn't embarrass him, he hasn't responded. I just made a lot of mix so he was on my mind already. Never knew he was still around OMG!!!

Wow, thanks for sharing the before and after, SweetMonkeyCheese Z9 Tampa -- truly inspirational, Rhonda's garden is. (And loving your turquoise set up next to the lanai, Rhonda!)

Rhonda, I sent you back a reply but I'm not sure you got it because it said not delivered, but anyway thank you very much. I want lots of yellow butterflies!

Jay

Sweet Monkey, thanks for posting those pics. It's hard to believe that was just a year ago :) The tons of composted soil made all the difference in the world.

Thanks Javi!

Jay, got your message and replied.

Just a sidenote- Cape Honeysuckle makes seeds which feed many types of birds all winter when

other food is in short supply. I have a huge area outside my kitchen windows - totally taken over

by cape honeysuckle and it provides shelter as well as the seeds for numerous birds.

I have a farm with lots of room which I'm trying to turn into wildlife habitat. So far I have foxes,

lots of cottontails, quail, sandhill cranes and many varieties of songbirds.

Iris, I just got your package. Thank you so much. The card and stickers were beautiful. Jay

You are welcome!

Hey, I don't know basically anything about passion vines but someone is trading free seeds of P. edulis on the seed exchange. I don't know if it's common or rare or desirable, just thought I'd pass it on. Let me know about it, thanks.

Hey guys! Sorry that I've been gone awhile. My garden is getting scraggly now so will be cutting back many plants to encourage new growth.

Rhonda, I'm sending you a PM.

Checking in, Rhonda, and wondering what your beautiful garden is up to in early April. :)