Does anybody have these outide their house? Do they really attract butterfly's ?
We went to the local garden ceter yesterday and I couldnt decide what to get. I am so NOT the garden person, but I wanted "something"... I talked to the man who was working there and he told me a little about them.
It is pretty, and it does smell nice. I was wondering if it attracts butterfly's.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 07:32 am:

Organizations that promote "natural" gardens to attract butterflies and beneficial insects recommend them. I have no personal experience, but I have been told by "real", old, established garden shops and have read in several places that they do. And, it's pretty and smells nice, both good reasons to plant it.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 07:39 am:

Go ahead and plant it and let the rest of us know!

By Tunnia on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 07:55 am:

Yes they do attract butterflies! We planted a butterfly bush next to the driveway about five years ago and liked it so much that two years ago we planted two more at the side of our front porch. They are covered with butterflies all summer long.

By Tunnia on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 08:16 am:

Jackie, I just post a couple of our butterfly bush pictures on the photo sharing board for you.

By Momofmax on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 10:26 am:

We have a beginners butterfly garden and have two butterfly bushes in it. Yes, we have lots of butterflies! We also have milkweed (which monarch butterflies like - actually the caterpillar will form the crysilis on milkweed) and a few other plants that are aimed at specific types of butterflies. Only problem - we have a small vegetable garden across the yard and have a caterpillar problem! I'm not going to spray them because I feel like I'm luring them in for the kill! I'm going to move one of the gardens to the front or side yard next year.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:38 am:

We had some milkweed plant that just grew in our yard for a few years. It definitely attracted monarchs and once we saw a monarch caterpillar, too!

By Colette on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 12:39 pm:

I have 4 butterfly bushes and yes they attract them. We get a lot of painted ladies and yellow swallowtails at ours.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 08:19 pm:

Dawn, many, many years ago my oldest son - who was a budding naturalist at that time - found a large stand of milkweed and found Monarch eggs (little black spots on the underside of the leaves). We brought some leaves with eggs home and put them in a "cage", and when the caterpillars hatched kept feeding them fresh milkweed leaves until they turned into chrysalis(es?). As the chrysalis matures, the yellowish spots on it turn brighter and brighter gold, and one morning they "hatched". I kept the boys home from school to watch a Monarch come out of the chrysalis and reach the point of stretching its wings as they dried - at which point we released it. They (and I) still remember that. I wrote notes to their teachers explaining why they were late, and that watching the butterfly come out of the chrysalis was more important than school that morning. Every time I see milkweed I remember that. I am very saddened that Monarchs are now endangered because of the development/devastation of their South America breeding grounds - they migrate, and only come up to the U.S. in the summer. They are a really beautiful butterfly, and totally harmless as all the caterpillars eat is milkweed.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 12:05 am:

That's a really great reason to miss school! I wish I had brought that caterpillar in, so we could have seen it develop. Shucks. I never saw it again! I only hope it really did turn into a butterfly.

Dang, don't those South American people know that we care about our monarchs? Shoot.