One objective of a butterfly garden is that it be properly established and, therefore, easily maintained with little disturbance to the butterflies. A gardener should be able to enjoy the butterflies in the garden and derive pleasure from the efforts to attract them, not overwhelmed and discouraged by a lot of constant work. With this thought in mind, plan your garden correctly in the beginning, choosing plants specifically used by butterflies, and do the planting properly. The following pages are intended to help both in the planning and planting of such a garden and in maintaining it with a minimum of effort.

KNOW YOUR AREA

There are a few things you should do before ever picking up a shovel or visiting a nursery. First, give some thought to the area and region in which you live (see the end sheet map of regions of Texas). Make notes in a sturdy notebook about the amount of rainfall, general soil type, and first and last freeze dates for your area (a local nursery or state extension office can help). Also study the hardiness zone map for Texas, and note in which of the Texas zones you live. Such ecological factors are going to determine to a great extent the general species of flowers that will thrive best in your garden.

After jotting down the general physiographic features of your locality, describe your immediate habitat—is it rural, suburban, or urban? Getting even more specific, define the minihabitat of your existing garden or property. Is it an open yard or lawn with practically no trees or shrubs, an area with straight borders along the property lines, a large and formally landscaped garden with shrubs, or an area of well-landscaped but informal beds? Briefly describe your present garden in the notebook. This information will provide an understanding of where you already stand in regard to the possibilities of attracting butterflies, and it will be a great help in formulating future plans.

A BUTTERFLY GARDEN CAN BE LANDSCAPED IN ANY NUMBER OF ATTRACTIVE WAYS.

To begin the actual plans for planting, draw in your property boundaries on a fairly large sheet of graph paper. Make the outside boundaries as large on the paper as possible but in as nearly correct proportions as you can make them. The easiest and most accurate way of doing this is to refer to the original land plat and house plans. Make a note on the graph sheet of the scale being used. This drawing will be referred to frequently, and knowing the scale is important. Sketch in the house, including porches, patios, garage, or any other attached structures. All that is needed here is an outline of the outside dimensions. Make heavier lines in the house outline to indicate placement of all doors and windows.

The next step is to take the sheet of graph paper, a couple of pencils, a good eraser, a long tape measure, and a buddy to hold one end of the tape, and go out into the yard to continue this base model. An on-site drawing of these features is most important, for it is amazing how much can be forgotten when sitting inside the house. Walking about the yard, and using the tape measure at all times to keep things to scale, begin sketching in any existing structures, such as a tool shed, swimming pool, fountain, gazebo, benches, birdbath, play equipment, walkways, walls, fences, and hedges. Sketch in all outside water faucets or outlets, and include overhead (or underground) power lines, poles, or utility structures. Continue to draw in all flower beds or borders, vegetable garden, areas of ground cover, and the like. If there are objects on neighboring properties affecting your property, such as buildings, trees, or water runoff, locate these on the drawing.

Now make a second tour of the yard, and draw in all specimen trees or shrubs. On an extra sheet of paper or in the notebook, make notes about these plants. Such notes will be important when planning for the addition of butterfly-attracting plants. If some plants are not performing well where planted, perhaps they can be moved to a more desirable location or given to a neighbor, to be replaced with special butterfly plants; mark any such plants.

As you walk about making notes on the existing vegetation, also note which areas receive full sun all day long, sun only part of the day, or full shade during the growing season. The amount and areas of sun and shade are very important when planning new flower beds. Jot down notes about the soils, whether they are sand, clay, or loam. Pay special attention to the drainage of the garden area, and note any problems of erosion or water standing for long periods after rains. Make note of excessive wind tunnels and whether windbreaks would be helpful. Locate areas of the yard that are viewed from inside the house or from much-used areas, such as a porch or patio. Mark the sight lines of objects that would be better screened or completely hidden from view, whether on your property or the neighbor’s. Using dash marks, sketch in areas where new beds can be put in or already existing beds can be enlarged or extended.

If you generally like your existing beds and think that only a few new plants can be added, then make as many notes as possible on problem areas in the yard. Small patches of lawn that are not doing well, small areas between the house and walkways that are hard to keep, a problem area between garage and street—all of these are potentially new areas for butterfly plants. Other such areas include those outside the garden fence (perhaps there is a vacant lot there), in rarely used alcoves, behind small buildings such as storage or tool sheds, or around woodpiles or compost bins. The area between the sidewalk in front of your house and the street is a possibility, but only if you live in a low-traffic area; you certainly do not want to entice butterflies to an area, only for them to end up in the grills of speeding vehicles. Possibly large boulders could be scattered in an open area formed by a circular driveway, with the entire area planted in a wild “meadow” or perhaps more contained with beds and meandering walkways.

Finally, on this map define the present lawn area. In the notebook, describe its status concerning health, looks, and workability.

Before planning the addition of any new beds or any new plants to already existing beds, you need to know exactly what plants you already have growing and where they are. Draw a diagram of each bed on a separate sheet of graph paper, placing all the perennials in the proper spots and drawing in areas where annuals are usually placed. Use the tape measure so that you can draw all of these to scale as nearly as possible, but use a large scale since you have only one bed per sheet and are going to need all the room you can get. This should complete the base map and give a good guide from which to do any future planning.

Now, spend some time studying both the overall yard sketch and each individual bed with its existing plants. It is vitally important that you know where all present plantings and possible new sites are located, as this information will form the basis for decisions about the type and quantity of any new plantings.

Regardless of how much or how little you eventually decide to do in the garden, well laid-out plans, of both present and future plantings, will save much time and expense later. Such plans, which may seem frustrating and time-consuming at first, will ensure much greater success in attracting butterflies into the area you plan to provide for them. With a thorough knowledge of your yard, you can place future plants in the locations best suited to their needs, guaranteeing thriving, healthy plants, which in turn means less work and more butterflies attracted.

Later, if more advice is needed in further rearranging the garden, or if help is needed with a serious landscaping or building problem, the scale drawing will save much time and cost in landscaping consulting fees. It might be wise to make several copies of the maps. Covered with a sheet of acetate or clear plastic to prevent dirty fingerprints or smudging of the drawings, they may be easier to work from if taped to a stiff cardboard backing. If you want to combine the various phases of the base plan with drawings of the beds, make each drawing directly onto a sheet of acetate. Use a different colored pen or pencil for each phase so each phase of the total garden can be clearly seen when the sheets are put together.

DECISION TIME

Now that a map has been made of what already exists in your garden, along with notes and sketches of all possible places for new plants or beds, it is time to take a long, hard look at the situation and make some decisions. It is important not to get carried away in your enthusiasm here, for gardening to attract butterflies is meant to be a leisurely and enjoyable experience, not an added chore. In these preliminary stages, consider who will be maintaining the garden and how much time and effort will be spent in the maintenance. Neglected plants are not healthy plants, and it is better by far to have one small, glorious bed of verbenas (Verbena spp.) or zinnias (Zinnia spp.) than to have two or three long borders of sickly or scantly flowering plants that are too much trouble or too expensive to take care of. Such a planting will be of little attraction or use to butterflies.

Give serious thought to the amount of money available to spend on the garden. Do not forget that plants must be purchased from time to time, as well as watering hoses, fertilizer, mulching materials, tools, and the like.

And this is the time to decide whether you want to plant only larval food plants, only nectar plants, or both. Studies have shown that female butterflies choose to lay their eggs in areas with abundant nectar sources, so a combination of plants will attract the most species of butterflies.

SPECIAL BUTTERFLY-ATTRACTING PLANTS CAN FILL PROBLEM SPACES IN A GARDEN.

After the decisions have been made about the time and money you are willing to invest and the type of attracting program you would like, it is time to begin formulating future plans. Make sure these decisions are written down on the plan sheet as a constant reminder of your intentions, and do not let enthusiasm carry you beyond reality.

NEW PLANS

As you begin redesigning your garden, always try to see the finished product through the eyes of a butterfly. It is important to keep in mind that to attract and retain the interest of butterflies, you will need to keep the plantings uncomplicated, uncluttered, and in masses of individual species and color.

It will be worthwhile early on in the planning to visit local nurseries and garden centers to see the materials available for terracing, paths, edgings, fencing, patios, containers, and the like. Not only will this provide an idea of what is available to work with in the garden, but nurseries often will have displays with the products in use, suggesting ideas for your own yard. Driving through various neighborhoods and visiting arboretums and botanical gardens may offer new ideas and inspiration.

Now, referring back to the sketches of the yard and flower beds, begin drawing on new sheets, doing the same as before, except this time drawing in the actual work to be done. Again, draw to scale. First, make note of all structures and plants to be taken out. Then, locate on the map the places for additional trees or shrubs you plan to install. If a windscreen is needed, draw it in if it is to be provided by fencing or a living hedge. Draw in any future trellises, walkways, decorative edgings, or retaining walls. If driftwood or rocks for focal interest are to be added, these should be shown on the plans, to scale.

Go to the yard often while making new plans, and keep measuring. Try to visualize the final results of what is being planned. Use a water hose to outline new beds so actual measurements can be taken to get a more realistic idea of the size needed. Also, look at the proposed changes from inside the house to be sure irreparable mistakes are not being made. It would be most unfortunate to plant a tree or place a trellis in front of a window or glass door, blocking views of the future garden full of beautiful flowers and butterflies.

First-choice areas for any new plantings should, of course, be designed for maximum sunlight. The sun is the major factor around which the entire life cycles of most butterflies revolve. They choose the sunniest beds of flowers from which to gather nectar and the sunny sides of trees and shrubs on which to lay their eggs. They seek sunny areas in which to mate, and they bask in the sun to control the warmth of their bodies. They also use the sun for orientation during flight. With the major needs of the butterflies in mind, make full use of all areas of the garden where the most sun is available.

Do not expect to completely finish the plans for the garden in one try. You will want to start with the general drawings, then continue to refine them until you feel that you have the best choices and largest number of butterfly plants possible for your area and your garden.

No matter how many new beds and borders you would like to add to the garden, it is equally important to provide the butterflies with space. Butterflies like to sail and glide, to sample and soar, and must have enough room to escape their enemies. So do not fill the entire yard with tall shrubs or the beds with tall, herbaceous plants. Rather, through careful selection, create plenty of openings and an overall sense of spaciousness.

A small garden space can be challenging, but even the tiniest city lot has the potential for attracting and rearing butterflies. Even though the limited space means limited possibilities, it can still attract many species of butterflies if carefully planned. A look of largeness and naturalness can be obtained even in the small garden by curving the outlines of the beds and staggering heights of the plants in an undulating fashion rather than having perfectly straight and flat beds, which give a feeling of smallness, stiffness, and formality.

If the garden space is small and surrounded with a high fence, keep the beds along the fence line and leave the center of the garden open. Or perhaps add only one small, irregularly shaped bed containing low-growing flowers such as single zinnias or petunias (Petunia spp.) bordered with pansies (Viola spp.) or Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) toward the center of the open area. A solid bed of low, reclining lantanas (Lantana spp.) or verbenas would be a real butterfly feast table yet would not interfere with their flight from one border to another.

TRAILING LANTANA (Lantana montevidensis) WORKS WELL IN SMALL SPACES AS A SOLID PLANTING.

Should the sunniest areas for new beds be on sloping ground, you are a good step ahead, for staggering plants for height is much easier. By using plants of approximately the same height, a solid, slanting sheet of color can be created. Otherwise, the plants can still be broken up in various heights for even more interest. Any kind of boulder or piece of driftwood usually appears its loveliest when viewed from a sloping angle and blends in with this type of planting more naturally.

Slopes so steep as to cause drainage or erosion problems can be terraced. This is more trouble in the beginning, but if done properly, it will be as self-sustaining after a year or so as any other type of planting. Terracing can be done with railroad ties, bricks, treated half-log edging, or stones. Use the material best suited to your house and the time and money you care to invest. Shapes of the beds should offer ease of maintenance and the best possible plant exposure to the butterflies.

In planning new beds or enlarging already existing ones, the question of width is important. In some instances, such as in a small yard, there may be no choice. But if plenty of space is available, then two factors should be considered. First, the beds should be wide enough to provide plenty of spreading space for both perennials and annuals. Second, the beds should be kept narrow enough for easy maintenance. Usually a bed six to eight feet wide is about right. Any narrower, and you will have to forget about having flowering shrubs fronted with lower-growing plants. Any wider, and it will be almost impossible to do the clipping, bug inspection, plant division, or fertilizing that will be needed from time to time.

An alternative is to have two or more smaller beds with a very narrow walkway between them. This is an excellent idea if you are planning an extensive attracting program using a lot of beds or intend to photograph the butterflies. Other possibilities include making a narrow walkway by placing a simple, narrow strip of flat stones on top of the mulching material or simply leaving a walkway by spacing the plants wider apart.

If there is a low spot or sink area in the yard or lawn that has been a real eyesore or problem area, consider it now a blessing. Instead of trying to get grass to grow there, plan to keep the grass pulled or cut back and keep the area deliberately wet. A flat stone or two can be placed around the edge of the area, with beer, fermented fruit juice, sugar water, or honey poured on the area from time to time. This may very well become the favorite gathering place for members of the local butterfly puddling club. It may never be as alluring as the ruts of a country road after a rain or ordinary barnyard muck, but if such places are not readily available to the butterflies of the neighborhood, then your little spot may prove a much-needed substitute.

Butterflies need protection from strong winds while feeding. If there is a constant strong breeze across your property channeled by open fields or heavy street traffic, consider the possibility of minimizing or breaking up this wind flow. Perhaps the house or another building could be used as partial screening, extending the protection with the use of lattice panels, wooden fencing, or plantings of trees and shrubs. Using larval food plants or good nectar producers as the extensions would serve a dual purpose in this situation.

Look around the garden, and note the route the butterflies will most likely take in leaving the garden. If it will be directly out into street traffic, a fence or hedge may be necessary. Such a structure will force the butterflies to fly up, putting them above the traffic. Other possibilities are inexpensive yet attractive: cane fencing, lattice panels, or tall-growing perennials or annuals. Another possibility is to attach chicken wire to lattice panels and then plant vines such as Queen’s Wreath (Antigon leptopus), or passionflower (Passiflora spp.) or morning glory (Ipomoea spp.), to cover the wire. Ideally, a combination of fencing and plants would be better, for some plants might not reach a workable height until late in the season, whereas the fencing would give immediate benefit.

In redesigning the garden, give some thought to your own enjoyment of the plants as well as their use by the butterflies. Place some of the really fragrant plants such as Flowering Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin), Bee-brush (Aloysia gratissima), Sweet Almond Verbena (A. virgata), Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii), Summer Phlox (Phlox paniculata), Old-fashioned Petunia (Petunia axillaris), or lilacs (Syringa spp.) close to a bedroom window, a porch or patio, or the driveway. If there are particular sections of the house where large portions of your at-home time is spent, try to make the scenes from the windows or glass doors of these rooms colorful and arresting. If there is a butterfly-attracting border beneath a kitchen window but not visible from inside, hang some baskets from the roof overhang to be viewed from the window. Butterflies will fly to these as well as visit the flowers in the bed below.

STAGGERING PLANTS FOR HEIGHT IS ONE OPTION FOR GARDENS ON SLOPING GROUND.

Constructing paths and walkways from one part of the garden to another, either for utility or aesthetics, may be a consideration. Perhaps it would be better to note that paths are wanted and draw in a sketch of possible sites when making drawings. Do not make any plans for actual construction of paths or walks until at least after the first season, and after the second season would probably be even better. This will give you the time and opportunity to see where the “lines of least resistance” are and which routes you naturally take when moving about in the garden. It will also give you time to see where underground water lines are needed and have them permanently installed. When constructing paths, keep them simple and with thought concerning durability and low maintenance.

If you have large acreage with a portion naturally wooded, perhaps on the edge of town or in the country, it may be possible to attract species of butterflies that rarely come to the more open, sunny areas. These butterflies, while seen less often, are very beautiful, and their shyness makes them of special interest. If the wooded area is close enough to be incorporated in the garden planting, enhance the area with choice larval and nectar trees and shrubs. Even if the wooded area extends somewhat away from the already existing beds, the area can be brought closer by planting the space between the woods and the beds with well-chosen trees, shrubs, and native flowering plants used by butterflies.

THIS WALLED GARDEN AND THE TREES IN IT PROTECT BUTTERFLIES FROM STRONG WINDS.

For instance, the woodlands could be extended with Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Hercules’club Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), Red Bay (Persea borbonia), or paw-paw (Asimina spp.)—all important larval food plants. In front of the trees, rich, nectar-source shrubs such as Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica), New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus var. pitcherii), or azaleas (Rhododendron spp.) and lantanas could be planted. Be sure to include such vines as Woolly Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa), Carolina Jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens), and passionflower.

Even if the wooded area is too far from the garden to act as an extension of the borders and beds, there are many butterfly-attracting plants that can be used to enhance the edges of the woods. This is an excellent place for many larval food plants that may not fit into the garden scheme, yet the adult butterflies will readily nectar at your garden flowers after being reared in the wooded or “weedy” area.

CHOOSING PLANTS

In order to select the proper butterfly-attracting plants for the garden, you first have to know which butterflies can be expected there. You need to know the species found specifically in the region in which you live, especially in choosing larval food plants. Before deciding which plants to add, look at the butterflies listed in this book and their ranges. Also study the larval food plant list for the region of the state in which you live, for this gives a more complete listing of larval food plants as well as the butterflies that use them.

Referring to the plants profiled here along with the more general larval and nectar plant list provided, make notes of favorite nectar and larval food plants of the butterflies for your area. Study the descriptions of the plants given here as well as those in gardening catalogs; then decide which ones you would like to try. Choose more species than can be used in order to give yourself more versatility when planning the garden, for the exact plants wanted or needed may not be immediately available.

If a long-term attracting program is planned using both larval and nectar plants, but your time and energy for garden work are limited, it would be best to start with only two or three of the nectar- and larval-attracting trees and shrubs during the first year. Perhaps add one or two choice species of perennials to already existing beds or borders, and fill the additional open spaces with annuals. Even if there is no space in the borders for new plants, make no more new beds than you can easily mulch and water during the summer months. Instead, continue to improve all existing beds and, as time allows and following the original plan, properly prepare more new beds or enlarge already existing ones.

The season in which a garden is started will greatly influence the choice of plants. Ideally, a garden should be started in late summer or early fall, but a planting for butterflies can be made at any time. However, if your garden was started in either spring or summer, by the time fall arrives, perhaps you will have an even better understanding of what you want growing in the permanent garden.

Unless the existing flower beds already have really good, loamy soils, do not plan to set out perennials the first spring or summer. Perennials are generally long-lived, and much thought and care should go into their placement in properly prepared, permanent beds or borders. Instead, use annuals, which generally require minimal care, and spend time making plans for putting in new beds and improving the old ones. This will also allow an entire growing season to study plants thriving in your area and evaluate them for suitability to your personal garden site.

Also, if not already an accomplished gardener, you do not want to waste time and money on selecting hard-to-grow seeds or plants. For spring and summer the first year, stick to the common, tried- and true annuals, such as Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia), Shepherd’s-needle (Bidens alba), or single-flowered marigolds (Tagetes spp.) or zinnias, which are easily grown from seed or can be readily obtained at a local nursery. Include some of the Old-fashioned Petunias if the seeds or plants can be found. Use these annuals for wonderful groupings and drifts to make great splashes of color. There is enough variety in height and growth in annuals to make exceptional garden displays, as well as enough color and flower shape to please butterflies. Annuals can certainly be the backbone of the planting for the first season, and some of them are such butterfly favorites that space should be allowed for them somewhere in the garden every year.

As long as the flowers are good nectar producers, the butterflies do not care whether the plants are annuals or perennials; just be sure there are lots of them. As previously stated, butterflies do not like a little bit of this and a little bit of that. They are attracted to large groupings of the same color and fragrance. So whatever you plant, do it en masse. When butterflies find large plantings of good nectar-producing flowers, they will continue to feed there until the flowering period has ended.

To cut down on yearly planting and maintenance, soils should be worked into topnotch condition and borders established as quickly as possible with good nectar-producing perennials. Well-established borders start flowering earlier in the spring, and this is important. Even in the central portion of the state, some butterflies are often out in February, so early nectar sources for them are vital.

TRIED-AND-TRUE ANNUALS, SUCH AS THE MARIGOLDS (Tagetes spp.) AND GLOBE AMARANTH (Gomphrena globosa) SHOWN HERE, ARE GOOD CHOICES FOR THE BEGINNING GARDENER.

If you have some established beds and are able to put out only one or two species of herbaceous perennials the first year, purchase a few good, fail-proof ones such as Summer Phlox, Showy Bergamot (Monarda didyma), or liatris (Liatris spp.) or verbenas. Save the big bucks for a couple of choice trees or shrubs, such as Butterfly Bush, Beebrush, Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus), or lantanas, for planting in the fall. Add one or two choice but easy larval food plants such as Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), dill, and passionflower vines.

In choosing plants for butterfly usage, pay special attention to length of the bloom period, especially for shrubs and perennials. Many times such plants flower only briefly; if the space in your garden is at a premium, plants having the longest flowering periods are certainly the most beneficial. On the other hand, many perennials may be trimmed back or perhaps naturally die back after flowering. In such a case, use them near plants that produce most of their vegetative growth and come into bloom either earlier or later.

Timing flowering periods is crucial for the butterfly gardener. A continuous production of flowers is absolutely mandatory, for a garden without nectar-producing flowers is going to mean a garden without food for the butterflies. Constant bloom is best guaranteed by always having at least one or two good old reliables such as Mexican Sunflower, Pentas (Pentas lanceolata), or zinnias and lantanas. Then, if some of the new plants being tried do not work well, there will still be something to draw in the butterflies.

PLACE RANGING PLANTS, SUCH AS COLUMBINE (Agutlegta spp.), IN FRONT OF TREES TO CREATE A WOODED, PROTECTED AREA FOR WOODLAND BUTTERFLIES.

Many of the plants purchased will probably be from local nurseries. Generally, the plants are sold in containers; if buying a native species, look the plants over carefully. Most stock sold as container plants is still in the pot or can in which it was raised. If lifted from the container, these plants should have a solid ball of earth filled with many fine rootlets showing on the outside of the soil ball. Occasionally, you may find “container” plants, especially native species, that have recently been dug from a field or roadside and indiscriminately crammed into cans or pots for quick sale. Whenever you find plants treated this way, refuse to buy them. Furthermore, let the nursery know that the reason you are not buying the plant is that it appears to have been dug from the wild, under unknown circumstances, instead of being properly propagated. Rarely do such plants survive, because of the stress of being improperly cared for. There are many nursery folks who are propagating their own native stock, and these places should be sought out and patronized. The importance of obtaining native plants from appropriate sources cannot be stressed enough.

Some firsthand information could possibly help in making final choices of plants for the garden. In-depth information is now available on the Web for almost every plant in the state. To learn even more about how a particular plant will grow in your area, visit and talk with knowledgeable and trustworthy nursery personnel about a plant’s good and bad features. Local landscape architects and designers are gold mines of knowledge about certain plants. They are the ones who draw the plans for the home owner, purchase the plants, and guarantee the plants’ survival after planting. Talk to them about the species that do best in your area or how they deal with the ones that are harder to grow. Have a list of chosen plants with you at all times so you can ask about specific ones. To avoid any confusion when discussing plants and to prevent mistaken purchases, use both the scientific and common names of the plant.

Visit arboretums, botanical gardens, city parks, university campuses, and trial gardens, and talk with the gardening personnel there. At the same time, compare butterfly usage in areas where a wide range of plants are growing and flowering together. Drive around town, and make notes of plants you see and like. Anytime you are in the country, observe the wild plants that butterflies are using. If the butterflies are avidly nectaring on a plant a few miles from your house, chances are they will readily use it if it is growing in your yard.

Study the seed and plant catalogs thoroughly. Instead of treating them simply as a list of available plants, use them as textbooks. The descriptions given for each plant should give a good idea of whether it will grow in your area and in your particular garden habitat. Pay special attention to the soil and moisture requirements for each plant, and choose the ones with requirements most closely matching what you can provide.

One important advantage to a diverse planting of both native and cultivated species is that it provides natural checks and balances that help keep unwanted insects and diseases under control. Generally, native species suffer from fewer diseases than cultivated stock, so when both native and cultivated plants are grown together, a single disease or species of insect is less likely to annihilate the garden.

No matter what time of year a permanent garden is started or the amount of work first put into it, a richly productive garden is not going to be accomplished in one year. It requires patience and a lot of trial and error and will need to be developed over two or three seasons or even longer. Each garden is unique. Therefore, you will need to keep working with various plants until you find those that grow best in the area you have provided as well as those for which butterflies show a particular fondness. Eventually, when your own favorites have been effectively combined with what the butterflies need and want, you will have a garden that is truly beautiful and functional—for both you and the butterflies.

PREPARING BEDS

Butterflies do not like disturbance or radical changes in their feeding area, so the sooner shrubs and perennials can be planted and arranged satisfactorily, the better. And since the plants should remain relatively undisturbed once established, proper bed preparation is very important. For new garden beds, first mark off the outlines of the desired shapes; then spade the soil to a depth of several inches within the entire outlined areas. Most gardeners are finding that in many situations, raised beds allow easier gardening and healthier plants. Raised beds greatly aid in drainage and can help alleviate problems with heavier soils.

PURPLE CONEFLOWERS (Echinacea purpurea) ARE DEPENDABLE NECTAR PRODUCERS.

If time and care are taken in preparing the beds correctly, they will be a joy to work with. If you skimp at all, however, trying to keep the beds going will be a continual frustration, with weak and diseased plants and an unwanted expense in replacing dead ones.

No matter whether old beds are being rejuvenated or totally new beds being created, some plants such as Purple Nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus), Yellow Nutgrass (C. esculentus), Common Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon), St. Augustine Grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), and Johnson Grass (Sorghum halepense) or herbaceous plants such as Common Day-flower (Commelina communis) and most garden mints (Mentha spp.) should absolutely never be left in the beds in any form. Even if the soil has to be screened, get every tiny piece of these plants, roots, or rhizomes out of the beds. This simply cannot be emphasized enough. If any portion of these plants is left in the beds and even if buried a foot or more deep, the plants will resprout and are almost impossible to get rid of. And these beasts cannot be eradicated by “pulling” or shallow digging—such attempts simply break them off at the roots. When this is done, the plant responds by producing a multitude of new shoots deep underground, resulting in an even greater number of plants. In the end, the garden may well be abandoned—to even try to eradicate these plants will be an overwhelming task for most gardeners.

There are three major considerations when planning and preparing the beds: soil, water, and mulch. These are all equally important for the health of the plants and for ease of future maintenance.

SOIL

Soil is the growing medium and basic source for nutrients readily available to plants. From soil comes the makings of foliage, flowers, and nectar, and you cannot properly prepare the soil in a bed until you understand the requirements of the plants you plan to use there.

If a completely native garden is the objective, not too much will be needed for the soil. Using native plants in a soil richer than their normal growing soils will affect the sugar content and amount of nectar produced. This may be a good thing, or it may not. Watch the natives closely; if they are being heavily used by butterflies in the wild but are not being used in your garden setting, move the plants into soils as close to native soils as possible. However, if both native and cultivated plants are planned to be used in the same bed, an enrichment of the soil should be tried.

Whether native or cultivated, some plants demand deep, dry, well-drained sand, while others want seepy muck. For the plants that require a very particular type of growing situation, plan to prepare a special bed for them. The majority of plants, including many natives, grow well in moderately rich, well-drained soils of a loose or porous texture. Creating the perfect planting medium in which most plants will grow their absolute best takes time. Regardless of the type of soil you start with, whether deep sand, hard caliche, or the tightest of clays, organic matter is the best amendment available to enrich the soil. Organic matter not only helps hold moisture in the soil but slowly releases nutrients as the matter decomposes, thus providing the plants a steady source of the good things they need for healthy growth.

In the beginning stages of bed preparation, add plenty of organic matter to the beds. Sphagnum moss, barnyard or horse manure, old mushroom growing medium, and compost are all effective. Work in well-rotted sawdust, chopped corncobs, cotton burrs, peanut shells, pecan shells, or rice hulls. Half-deteriorated pine needles and bark chips are excellent. Visit the local fresh produce market where vendors shell peas in the summer and pecans in the fall, and get the discarded hulls. In some cities such as El Paso, Austin, and Houston, organic composting programs are available that provide compost to the home gardener. If you have nothing but last year’s leaves, run the lawn mower over them a couple of times to shred them finely, and then add them to the spaded soil. In South Texas, vegetable trimmings can possibly be gathered from the fields after harvest, composted, then eventually added to the soil. Add some sand and garden gypsum if the soil is heavy and full of clay particles.

If you suspect your soil is drastically lacking in something, do a soil test. Then add whatever is specifically needed, if anything. Finally, sprinkle in bonemeal, blood meal, and cottonseed meal. After you have added every good thing you can think of to make the soil richer, loamier, and better drained, turn the soil once more, mixing everything together thoroughly, and then level the bed. To settle the soil in freshly prepared beds, soak it down thoroughly and completely. Usually more soil will need to be added to bring the bed back to the desired height.

After plants are in and before adding the mulch, consider adding some earthworms. A most important thing to remember here is that plants do not eat dirt—they drink moisture. Earthworms do eat dirt, along with an enormous amount of ground litter. Their castings (excrement), when dissolved, enrich the soil and can then be taken up by the plants. During this ingesting and casting process, earthworms moderate the soils’ pH to neutral; they also aerate or loosen the soil, making it more friable, increase moisture absorption and stability, and bring the deeper-buried nutrients closer to the soil surface, liberating them in a more soluble form that plants can use. When adding the earthworms to the beds, just sprinkle them on top of the ground—they will work their way into the soil. There is simply nothing better for continual aeration and enrichment of soils.

In creating the garden, if cost becomes a factor and a choice has to be made between some “extra” items, such as paving or edging materials and a load of manure for the beds, go for the manure. The health and survival of every plant depend to a large extent on the medium in which it is growing, so you simply cannot afford to skimp on good soil. It will be no problem adding the extras the following season, but once beds are planted, it would be a major undertaking to completely redo the soil.

WATER

Supplemental water can come from several sources, the most common the tap (treated water) or rain barrels (collected water). If using all native plants is planned, then it will be best to install rain-collecting barrels. Many native plants will not respond well to tap water or may die altogether.

Whichever type of water is used, the most efficient and least troublesome way of providing necessary moisture to the plants is with a watering system of some sort. Watering systems range from simple to elaborate. One simple system, of course, is the familiar watering hose, which can be so frustrating, aggravating, and time-consuming that the watering may not be done adequately, if at all. On the other end of the spectrum is the elaborate (and expensive) network of underground lines complete with timers for automatically turning the water on and off.

One common method for watering gardens is placing one or more sprinklers about the yard, generally in spots where some of the water hits the flower beds. Sprinklers waste a tremendous amount of moisture because of evaporation, and they should never be used in the garden except in very early morning, allowing the plants to become completely dried off before starting nectar production. If sprinklers are used in late evening and foliage is not completely dry before nightfall, you are risking invasion of all kinds of fungus diseases to the plants.

No sprinkler of any kind should ever be used to water a butterfly garden. Most sprinklers have to run from four to six hours to saturate the soil well enough to benefit the plants, and butterflies cannot feed from flowers while a sprinkler is spraying them with water. The water also dilutes the nectar, or washes it away entirely, so the butterflies will have to wait until the nectar flow is back to normal, which may take several hours. Even if the sprinklers have been used in the early-morning hours, the nectar will have been affected. As often as gardens need to be watered during the hottest summer weather, the butterflies may be without food for a day or so at a time. This is too long. They will go somewhere else for their nectar.

One system that is not very expensive and works quite well is the drip system. There are several brands of drip systems to choose from, but basically they are all the same. A solid, flexible plastic pipe is run underground from the faucet to the beds; on top of the ground in the bed area are short lengths of much smaller flexible tubing running off the main pipe. At the end of each short length of tubing is an emitter or dripper, which allows the water to drip slowly to thoroughly saturate the soil. These systems do not work as well in the western half of the state due to lime buildup in the openings.

The best system of all is the round, seeping or soaker hoses from which the water gently and steadily oozes out into the soil. They work on the same principle as the drip system except minute holes are prepunched at regular intervals, so water comes out in a continuous stream instead of a drop at a time as in the drip system. The soaker hose is less expensive than a drip system, is less trouble to install, and does not have a problem with clogged holes (a frequent occurrence with emitters). These hoses come in different grades and quality; if you opt for this system, getting quality hoses with good fittings is highly recommended. They will last for many years, and a hose with sturdy, nonleaking connections is worth every penny of the few extra dollars of initial cash outlay.

To install, after plants are situated within the beds, attach the hose to a faucet, then curve it back and forth from front to back of the bed all the way from faucet to end of bed. After the soaker hoses are satisfactorily installed (making sure the entire bed is being reached with the water), cover them with a deep layer of loose mulch. Covering with mulch hides the hoses from view, conserves moisture, and protects the hoses from deer, squirrels, and mice—animals with a special liking for plastic. Flexibility and light weight make the hoses easy to install, move, or rearrange later if needed, without damaging the plants. When a soaker hose has been covered over with mulch, it is very easy to overwater the plants. Keep a hand digger or flat stake stuck in a bed and frequently check the soil moisture. To check, pull the digger or stake to one side. If the soil is satisfactorily moist to an approximate depth of six inches, then discontinue watering.

Once the plants in the beds have become deeply rooted and are growing well and the beds are properly mulched each year, there may no longer be a need for an intensive watering program. Most likely only an occasional watering during the hottest parts of the year will be necessary. But until that time, a good, reliable watering system is one of the best investments to be made to assure survival and good nectar production of the butterfly plants.

MULCH

For easiest upkeep once the shrubs and perennials have been planted, applying a good mulch on the beds is the nicest thing you can do for yourself—and the plants. Not only does the proper mulch eliminate practically all weeding, watering, and fertilizing but it also keeps the soil from cracking due to moisture evaporation and helps keep plant roots at a more even temperature, which encourages healthier growth. Also, a proper mulch prevents the erosion of good topsoil during heavy rains and stops water from splashing back onto the foliage, which could spread soilborne diseases. Soil-splattered plants are unsightly, and if the plants are low, the dirt may cover the flowers, contaminating the nectar to the extent it cannot be used by butterflies. Furthermore, an organic mulch is food for earthworms, which are constantly adding nutrients to the soil.

Do not add deep, permanent mulch to the beds until all plants are up and growing, especially if annuals have been used in combination with perennials. Until this time, some weeding may be necessary. If possible, bury the weeds pulled out. Often the extracted plants can simply be turned upside down and stuffed back into the holes from which they were dug. If this is not possible, at least turn them upside down (exposing the roots so there will be no danger of rerooting) and leave them on the flower bed to act as a thin mulch until a deeper one can be applied. As the plants deteriorate, they add more good nutrients to the soil. A little soil sprinkled on top of the uprooted plants and a good watering a few days after they have sufficiently dried out will speed the rotting process. If the pulled plants cannot be left on the bed, by all means add them to the compost pile. However, plants that have already gone to seed should never be left on the beds, for all you will be doing then is planting more.

Many materials can be used as a permanent mulch. Often, the same product used to enrich the soil can be used as mulching material when applied in depth and placed on top of the bed. Organic mulches are popular, and those from wood or vegetable by-products are especially desirable. These attractive mulches decompose slowly, continually enriching the soil. If the organic matter is relatively fresh or new when applied, it is best to add a good nitrogen fertilizer because the mulch has a tendency to deplete the soil of nitrogen while decomposing.

Sawdust is often free for the hauling from a local sawmill. Whether the sawdust is hauled yourself or bought, select from the oldest, most rotted piles possible. The older the sawdust is when applied, the faster it deteriorates into the soil. To avoid any nitrogen loss from using sawdust, add a little blood meal or cottonseed meal to the soil before applying the mulch.

PINE NEEDLES MAKE AN ATTRACTIVE AND EFFECTIVE MULCH.

Pine needles make a beautiful mulch, as does shredded pine bark. Mushroom compost is excellent where available and is usually relatively inexpensive since you generally haul it yourself.

Do not let any of the leaves in the yard get away. Rake them into low piles, run the lawn mower over them a time or two, and then spread about the beds and around the plants. If all of the leaves cannot be used that winter, keep them in bags until spring. By then, the leaves that were placed on the beds in the fall will have partially decomposed and can be worked into the soil as humus. Then shred the saved leaves, applying fresh mulch for the summer.

Be constantly on the lookout for tree-trimming trucks. These folks usually shred their trimmings and are always looking for a close, convenient dumping spot; your yard is probably much nearer than the city garbage heap. They are usually happy to deposit their chipped trimmings in your yard or driveway. These make an attractive top dressing for the beds and are slower to deteriorate than leaves.

In the agricultural sections of the state, cottonseed hulls or burrs are available as are ground corncobs, peanut shells, rice hulls, and sunflower seed hulls. If possible to obtain, a mixture of materials is less likely to compact on the beds, and it provides better aeration and water penetration. All of these materials have a natural, attractive appearance and last well when applied to a three-inch depth. Ideally, a three-inch organic mulch should be spread over a one-inch layer of organic fertilizer, such as well-rotted horse or chicken manure.

Wood products or vegetable by-products for mulching are not as available in the western, northern, or central portion of the state and, where they are, are usually very expensive. There are ways around this, however, and by thoughtful preplanning, this should not deter anyone from having beds of good rich soil that will support a number of beautiful native and cultivated flowering shrubs and perennials. After the soil has been enriched as much as possible, and this may mean working with small areas at a time, lay the soaker hoses and put in the plants. Lay a thick covering of newspapers all over the bed. Ordinarily, newspapers do not work well, especially in the eastern part of the state, because they do not allow rain to soak through to the roots. But in the western half, the plants will benefit more from a few thorough soakings from the soaker hoses with the newspaper mulch conserving the moisture than from the few and infrequent rains. After the newspapers are put down, they can be covered with thin, flat stones, or a layer of shredded bark.

A mulch of decomposed granite or other crushed rock is often used. This helps conserve moisture, protect plant roots from extreme heat and cold, and prevent erosion. A native rock is often chosen, giving the garden a more natural appearance that blends with the surrounding landscape.

USING NATIVE PLANTS

The use of native plants in the home landscape has been advocated for years, but only the true wildflower lover has taken the message to heart. In the more eastern states, gardeners have created beautiful woodland gardens using native plants such as Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia), Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), and trilliums (Trillium spp.). Only in the last few years has the term “wildflower gardening” come to be meaningful for the more southwestern states. We should take special interest in it, for nature has been more than generous in providing beautiful and varied species of trees, shrubs, and herbs. Texas has more than five thousand species of vascular plants (this includes ferns and grasses), many of them producing showy flowers or other features worthy of including in gardens. It is time to take a good look at these natives, learn their ways and growth needs, and claim them as our heritage.

Using these plants in our landscaping to attract butterflies has both practical and aesthetic advantages. Using native plants that have been observed to be useful to butterflies gives the gardener a better chance of bringing the insects into the garden and at the same time brings the natives closer so that their beauty can be more fully enjoyed and appreciated. To attract butterflies, you must plant the things they prefer, and certainly they are familiar with and have developed a liking for many of the natives. To combine the best-loved natives with the best-loved cultivated species is further guiding the garden toward becoming a butterfly paradise.

As an added bonus, most native herbaceous plants are perennials or self-sowing biennials or winter annuals. Once they are established, an abundance of plants is provided each year, both for your own space and usually with enough left over for sharing. The native species are already well adapted to the soil and climate in which they are growing. If planted in a similar situation in the garden, they are the least-demanding plants in cost and amount of care. Native plants also have the advantage of giving a more natural appearance to the garden. The flowering season often can be extended in the garden, both earlier and later, by using these hardier native species.

PLANT A WILDFLOWER MEADOW IF SPACE PERMITS.

PLANTING NATIVE SEEDS

Study the wildflowers in your area, decide on a few that are wanted in the garden or in a naturalized area, and obtain seeds from a source as nearby as possible, even if it means collecting the seeds yourself. Even though a plant may have an extensive range, seeds collected from plants in the immediate area will have the highest germination rate and will grow and bloom better than plants from seeds collected elsewhere. Plants become adapted to soils, rainfall, and climatic conditions; when introduced into different habitats, they generally do not grow or flower as well.

Before collecting or buying seeds, very carefully study the area where you intend to plant. Make notes about type of soil, amount of moisture, and amount of sun or shade available. Most wildflowers, especially the ones planted for butterflies, need at least six to eight hours of sun each day, so select the site carefully.

Make note of the plants already growing there. If the area is covered in King Ranch Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica), Guinea Grass (Panicum maximum), Common Bermuda Grass, or other solid covering, this covering will need to be removed. Native plants generally cannot compete with such persistent nonnative species. Fall planting of seeds is generally best, as most species need to germinate in the fall in order to have developed strong root systems by spring. Some species need the winter’s cold and moisture to break dormancy.

Following are some general hints on planting select wildflower seeds, whether in a scattered naturalized planting or as grouped individual species in the border. These suggestions provide the best way to ensure a successful showing of healthy plants with masses of nectar-producing flowers for the butterflies.

To prepare garden beds for planting, the first step is to move back the existing mulch and gently loosen the soil. For a large, naturalizing area, soil should be broken up according to its type: three to four inches if the soil is tight clay, one to two inches if sandy loam. If the ground is exceptionally dry, soak it thoroughly and wait two or three days before tilling.

Seeds can be planted in rows, in groups of separate species, or in your own special mix broadcast by hand. If the seeds are very small, it is helpful to mix them with dry builder’s sand to prevent their clumping. After sowing, cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil. The general rule here is to cover no deeper than three or four times the diameter of the seed. One easy method for covering seeds is to flip over a rake and use the smooth edge to rake the soil over the seeds. This method covers a large percentage of the seeds.

Next comes a most important step. In order for the seeds to survive after germination, they must be in direct contact with the soil, so it is very important to firm the seedbed after covering. If a roller is not handy, the area can be firmed by gently patting with the back of a flat shovel. If nothing else is handy, walk on the area in flat-soled shoes, or lay a wide board down and walk on the board. Small areas can be pressed down by hand.

After the soil has been completely firmed, gently but thoroughly soak the entire area. All seeds need moisture to germinate, so keep the bed moist until the seedlings are up. Also, do not let the young seedlings dry out after sprouting. Do not overwater, but keep the area moist until all plants are well established and growing.

Do not overfertilize wildflowers. Heavy fertilizing usually results in plant death or an extraordinary amount of foliage but no flowers. If the wildflowers have been planted in a mass or in an uncultivated area, probably no fertilizing will ever be necessary. If the plants are in a border where more lush growth is desired, use a very weak fertilizer solution occasionally through the growing season. As a general rule, however, wild plants bloom much better if nothing richer than a light top dressing of organic compost and manure is used.

If the area is large or meadowlike and the vegetation becomes unruly or too unsightly late in the season, instead of mowing or shredding, do as much as possible with a scythe. This gets the vegetation down and the ripened seeds in contact with the soil but leaves the stems intact. Any chrysalides attracted to the stems will most likely remain attached and survive. Many larvae seek shelter at the base of plants, and stems left standing fairly high afford some winter protection.

Different species of wildflowers respond to different maintenance techniques. Some species respond better to mowing in the fall; others, to mowing in the spring. Others can tolerate year-round mowing or even burning off, while others cannot. Disking and the time of year it is done also have effect. Each of these may be favorable to one kind of plant but fatal to another. If an area is being naturalized, try dividing it into sections and experiment with one of the preceding techniques to see what happens. Most likely there will be a dominant species for each section, even if the entire area was originally planted with exactly the same mixture of species.

SEEDS OF WILDFLOWERS CAN BE COLLECTED ALONG THE ROADSIDE. ALWAYS OBTAIN PERMISSION IF ON PARK LAND OR PRIVATE LAND.

If the wild or untamed area is already begun but now you want to add some special butterfly plants, you certainly do not want to retill the area and lose the species already established. The simplest way to plant now is to choose spots with the least vegetation, scratch the earth as much as possible with a three-pronged hand digger, scatter seeds into the disturbed area, and barely cover with fine soil. Gently step on the area to firm the soil, and then water thoroughly.

One of the beauties of wildflowers is their ability to find their own niches—the places they like best. If something is found coming up in a different part of the garden from where it was originally planted, you might want to leave it there to see how it will do. If the conditions are conducive to the seed’s sprouting, then the adult plant will most likely grow well also.

Get to know what the baby seedlings of the newly planted species look like. Study the seedbed constantly; if several plants look similar, chances are they are what you planted. Become familiar with these babies so if they are found in a different part of the garden, they will be recognized and not removed as weeds. They can then either be nurtured or moved to a more desirable area.

Include one or two species of the taller native grasses in your garden plantings. Many of the Skippers (family Hesperiidae) are grass feeders in the larval stage, so they need the native grasses to complete their life cycles in the garden. It is unusual to find any of the common native grasses in a nursery, but a couple of small clumps should be easily obtained from a landowner or from a construction site. One or two good-sized clumps can be divided before placing in the borders, providing plenty of starters. There are beautiful grasses all over the state, and the Skippers use many of them. Choose clump-forming ones (not those that spread by rhizomes or runners), such as Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Yellow Prairie Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), Broad-leaf Wood-oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), Hairy Grama (Bouteloua hirsuta), Sideoats Grama (B. curtipendula), Blue Grama (B. gracilis), and Southwestern Bristle Grass (Setaria scheelei). When clumps of grasses such as these are used in the flower border among flowering plants, the graceful foliage and seed heads add a most unusual interest to the plantings.

NATIVE GRASS LAWN

Unless you already have a well-established lawn of some special turf grass such as zoysia (Zoysia spp.), or St. Augustine or Common Bermuda, there is a wonderful alternative, at least for all except the extreme eastern portion of the state: Buffalo Grass (Buchloe dactyloides). This native, sun-loving grass requires less mowing and has fewer other maintenance problems than the more popular lawn grasses and also offers yet another opportunity for attracting the Green Skipper (Hesperia viridis).

Staying low to the ground and spreading by aboveground runners or stolons, Buffalo Grass rarely reaches more than eight inches in height. It is a tough, slow-growing, disease-resistant grass and, once established, needs practically nothing except admiration. Occasional mowing will help it become thicker and lusher, but toward the end of the season it should be allowed to become a little taller so it can blow and ripple in the wind. The small stems and soft green coloring of this grass give a natural, rustic look to the yard and never overwhelm the flower borders as the massive, dark green sheets of most lawn grasses do.

Male and female flowers of this grass are on separate plants. Female flowers are inconspicuous and remain low to the ground, later forming small burrlike seed pods. Male flowers are larger, comblike, and held on erect stems extending above the foliage. These later turn brown, remain for some time, and are very attractive.

A lawn of Buffalo Grass should be started in much the same way as preparing flower beds. Remove all existing vegetation by tilling no deeper than two inches; then rake or sift the soil. If the area was a weedy one, let the soil remain bare until any seeds remaining in the soil have sprouted. These sprouts should be eradicated either by hand or by using an herbicide with no soil-residual activity. Since it is much easier to eliminate weeds and other grasses before planting, start with as clean an area as possible.

Not only can a lawn of Buffalo Grass be used to complement your plantings but the lawn itself is a perfect place for some special plants that the butterflies will find enticing. After the lawn area has been properly prepared but before planting the Buffalo Grass seeds, randomly scatter bulbs, plants, or seeds of low-growing native wildflowers all over the area to be planted. With a bulb planter or trowel, dig a hole large enough for the bulb or roots to be covered completely; then plant the grass seeds as recommended.

Most of the smaller plants from bulbs have foliage that is somewhat grasslike and usually remains aboveground for only a few weeks. And even while it is green and growing, it blends in with the grass and is not distracting. By using only low-growing species and choosing the ones to plant according to their bloom period, you can have some plants in flower almost the entire season. Or make it an early-spring spectacular of wildflowers before the grass really gets going. Or plant only “rain lilies” (Cooperia spp., Habranthus spp., or Zephyranthes spp.), and have a lawn covered with white or gold after each rain.

There are three entirely different plants that have the general name “rain lily”—all of them beautiful and perfect for use in a Buffalo Grass lawn. In the genus Cooperia the flowers are mostly white or pinkish-white (yellow in some species), open in the afternoon, and remain open during the night. The flowers will begin closing the following day in the heat of the sun. In Habranthus and Zephyranthes the flowers are generally golden-yellow, often streaked with coppery-red. A thick colony of any of these makes an absolutely stunning sight a day or so after a rain, and while the flowers are open, the air is filled with an almost intoxicating fragrance.

A LAWN OF BUFFALO GRASS (Buchloe dactyloides) IS A PERFECT BACKDROP FOR ATTRACTING BUTTERFLIES TO YOUR PLANTINGS.

For early-spring color, try using blue-eyed grasses (Sisyrinchium spp.), Yellow Star-grass (Hypoxis hirsuta), Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), Blue Funnel-lily (Androstephium coeruleum), and False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve)—the latter, one of the few flowers the Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea) will take the time to visit for nectar. Following these will be Celestials (Nemastylis geminiflora), Golden-eye Phlox (Phlox roemeriana), and the wild onions (Allium spp.). There are many species of wild onions in the state, ranging from white to dark rose to yellow in color and with bloom periods from early spring to frost. Many of them produce wonderfully fragrant flowers that bear an abundance of nectar and are much used by many species of butterflies. Choose the ones already growing in your area or as near to the same conditions as possible.

The native, ground-hugging Erect Pipevine (Aristolochia erecta) is a must for any native grassy area. Its grasslike leaves are one of the favored larval food plants for the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) and possibly the Polydamas Swallowtail (B. polydamas).

For the best effect in the lawn-garden, choose only really low-growing plants so that the flowers either mingle with the grass or barely peek over the top. Leave these little jewels to reseed themselves, and if the lawn is not mowed too frequently, they will quickly naturalize and form showy colonies.

ADOPT A WEED

Many food plants used by larvae are plants that can only be referred to as downright “weeds”: those plants having totally undesirable characteristics or with very few desirable ones. And it is true that some of these plants might stretch the patience of a gardener having only a little space, but there are numerous others that perhaps could be given an area in the garden “just for the butterflies.” Just cultivate the attitude of mind that these plants are not really weeds but future butterflies.

A patch of Heart-leaf Stinging-nettle (Urtica chamaedryoides) may not be what you want growing up front among the zinnias, but a healthy stand of it at the back of the border and out of harm’s way will ensure many generations of Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta rubria). There will never be a bright show of flower color from evax (Evax spp.) or cudweed (Gnaphalium spp.), but their nondescript leaves and flower heads provide larval food and a fluffy pupating nest for the American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis).

Conversely, some weeds such as Woolly Croton (Croton capitatus), food plant of the Goatweed Leafwing (Anaea andria), are very attractive. Woolly Croton can be used in a mixed border, where its silvery foliage blends beautifully with the brighter green of other plants. Ferny-leaved Partridge-pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), eaten by the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae), makes an interesting contrast to coarser-leaved cultivated plants. Many of the clump-forming native grasses become lovely accents in the flower border and are the main food source of many species of Skippers.

Check the list of larval food plants in chapter 8, and choose three or four of the weedy sort that grow in your area. Then, give some thought to adopting one or more of these waifs into your garden. If you do not want them in any of the flower beds or borders, consider areas along and on the outside of a fence or building. Perhaps use them to hide the compost heap or winter’s brush pile. If they already exist in the garden area, simply allow them their space by not mowing them down. No special care is needed for these wildings, for they are generally extra tough, having developed under such adversities as always being unloved and unwanted.

SEED AND PLANT SOURCES

To obtain some of the special plants recommended in this book (especially those needed for larvae), check with local nurseries first. If they do not carry the plants you need, ask if they can obtain the material for you. Make sure the material they offer or can obtain has been propagated from your local region. Do not accept “native” material actually grown in Utah or California; this was tried, firsthand, and it does not work. Excellent native, nectar-producing plants from one region of the state can (and usually do) change in the quality and quantity of nectar when transplanted into another region. If a choice has to be made, you will be much better off using a locally grown second-choice plant rather than a first-choice plant that has been propagated and grown in other climates.

If plants native to your region are wanted or needed that are not available at your local nurseries, here are some suggestions. Whenever you travel and see massive construction going on, stop and ask permission to dig the plants needed. Contact the local offices of the Highway Department and the county commissioners in your area to learn of sites where road work is in progress or planned for the future. The county agent may know of land being cleared. If you travel county, ranch, or farm roads, you will frequently find fence rows in the process of being cleaned or cleared of the existing vegetation. Permission to remove plants from such sites is usually readily granted.

Local contractors or builders are another source for obtaining plants. Usually they know months in advance where large construction is to be done, and the digging of a few plants beforehand is of little concern to them.

Some cities have “plant rescue teams” that stay in contact with local contractors and dig choice plants before they are lost to construction. Usually these plants are placed in arboretums, city gardens, and zoos. Check with local garden clubs to find out about such rescue groups in your area. Garden clubs are often good sources for native plants and seeds. Many of them have sales or exchanges throughout the year and would welcome your participation. Various other organizations have sales and exchanges, usually during early spring or late fall. A good source of information for such events is the newsletter of the Native Plant Society. At least one of the gardening magazines that specializes in covering the state has a letter section that can be of great benefit in trying to locate such unpopular and little-known plants as nettle and cudweed.

Do not forget friends, relatives, and even total strangers. Always be on the lookout for places to visit in rural areas as possible sources for needed species. Rare is the landowner who will deny the privilege of taking a few plants generally considered weeds. If an extra-good spot of wildflowers is found, the landowner is almost always delighted to share some seeds. Do not be shy about knocking on doors. When driving down a road and a much-needed plant is sighted in someone’s yard, stop and visit. Rarely will you walk away empty-handed.

For just such times, you should always be prepared. Make up a collecting basket or box, and always have it handy. In the basket include scissors, clippers, a pocketknife, cheesecloth or nylon netting, various sizes of plastic and paper bags, twist ties, gloves, flagging, metal or plastic tabs or ties (for labeling), a waterproof pen, a small notebook, and transparent tape. If space in the car trunk permits, always carry a sharpshooter shovel, several thin cardboard boxes, a bundle of newspapers, and a couple of jugs of water (tightly sealed). Now you are ready for gathering seeds and plants when the opportunity arises. Do not forget or neglect to ask permission before collecting, and do not collect on public land.

A NATURALIZED BUTTERFLY GARDEN.

It is very easy, especially when the opportunity to dig plants from a large area arises, to take things simply because they are pretty or might attract butterflies or because they are being destroyed. In such a situation, be firm and be selective. Before digging one plant, consider such things as the plant’s growth habit, length of bloom period, how it will fit into your landscaping scheme, and, most important, how often and by how many species of butterflies it is used. This is not to say that new species should not be continually tried, but serious thought should be given to the planting space available in your garden so you do not fill it up with less-than-choice species.

One of the easiest methods of transplanting the smaller, more shallow-rooted plants from the wild is to spread a layer of soil in the bottom of a thin cardboard box and, as the plants are dug, compactly place the plants in the box until full. Set the box in a rolled-down plastic bag, and water the plants well. Then, partially close the plastic bag until ready to plant. Extra-heavy or double paper sacks can be used in the same way, either cutting or rolling the tops down before placing the plants inside.

Some native plants are more easily started from seeds than by transplants. If an especially attractive plant is seen along the roadside, perhaps one of exceptional color or robustness, tie flagging tape around its base and also tie some of the tape near the base of some nearby object, such as a fence post or small bush. Give the plant time to set seeds; then go back and gather them. Store the seeds in small paper bags (never plastic) in a cool, dark place or in the refrigerator until proper planting time.

If purchasing wildflower seeds, buy only those packaged as individual species. Be very specific in your selections, choosing only the species that will do well in your garden situation and have the flowers with characteristics that butterflies like, namely, nectar, fragrance, a good landing platform, and favored colors. Packaged mixes contain few species that are butterfly favorites; although they provide an array of colorful flowers, butterflies will ignore them.

TYPICAL BORDER ARRANGEMENT

LANDSCAPE PLANS

Here are sample garden designs for inspiration. Use your imagination and personal preferences in substituting plants and materials, adapting these ideas to fit your yard and area. When choosing plants, refer to the complete larval food plant list as well as the general nectar plant list—the plants listed are all known to be used by the butterflies in the area where they are given.

HIGH PLAINS/ROLLING PLAINS (REGION 1)

Abilene, Amarillo, Big Spring, Lubbock, Midland, Wichita Falls

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

American Elm (L) (Ulmus americana)

Black Locust (L) (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Chinquapin Oak (L) (Quercus muhlenbergii)

Cottonwood (L) (Populus deltoides)

Desert Willow (N) (Chilopsis linearis)

Flowering Mimosa (N) (Albizia julibrissin)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Honey Mesquite (L) (N) (Prosopis glandulosa)

Little-leaf Mulberry (L) (Morus microphylla)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Red Mulberry (L) (Morus rubra)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii)

Shrubs

Agarita (N) (Mahonia trifoliolata)

Barbados-Bird-of-Paradise (N) (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Black Dalea (L) (Dalea frutescens)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Cat-claw Acacia (L) (Acacia greggii)

Chickasaw Plum (N) (Prunus angustifolia)

Eastern Red Cedar (L) (Juniperus virginiana)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Fragrant Lilac (N) (Syringa vulgaris)

Fragrant Sumac (L) (Rhus aromatica)

Roemer’s Acacia (L) (Acacia roemeriana)

Smooth Yucca (L) (Yucca glauca)

Trailing Lantana (N) (Lantana montevidensis)

Trifoliate Orange (L) (N) (Poncirus trifoliata)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

Wright’s Acacia (L) (Acacia greggii var. wrightii)

Yellow Bells (L) (N) (Tecoma stans)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Drummond’s Virgin’s Bower (Clematis drummondii)

Mexican Flame Vine (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

Cosmos (N) (Cosmos bipinnatus)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Hollyhock (L) (N) (Alcea rosea)

Maximilian Sunflower (N) (Helianthus maximiliani)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Plains Sunflower (L) (N) (Helianthus petiolaris)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Showy Bergamot (N) (Monarda didyma)

Showy Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias speciosa)

Summer Phlox (N) (Phlox paniculata)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Copper Globe-mallow (L) (Sphaeralcea angustifolia)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Globe Amaranth (N) (Gomphrena globosa)

Goldenrod (N) (Solidago spp.)

Heath Aster (L) (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

Ironweed (N) (Vernonia spp.)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Old-fashioned Petunias (N) (Petunia axillaris)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Scarlet Globe-mallow (L) (Sphaeralcea coccinea)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias curassavica)

Tropical Sage (L) (Salvia coccinea)

Thread-leaf Groundsel (N) (Senecio flaccidus)

Woolly Paper-flower (N) (Psilostrophe tagetina)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Butterfly Weed (N) (Asclepias tuberosa)

Evax (L) (Evax spp.)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Gregg’s Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium dissectum)

Huisache Daisy (N) (Amblyolepis setigera)

Paintbrush (L) (Castilleja spp.)

Peppergrass (L) (Lepidium spp.)

Prairie Verbena (N) (Glandularia bipinnatifida)

Society Garlic (N) (Tulbaghia violacea)

Sweet Sand-verbena (N)

(Abronia fragrans)

Tahoka Daisy (N) (Machaeranthera tanacetifolia)

Trailing Lantana (N) (Lantana montevidensis)

Two-leaved Senna (L) (N) (Senna roemeriana)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Bayou Violet (L) (Viola sororia)

Bristle-leaf Dyssodia (Dyssodia tenuiloba)

Dogweed (L) (N) (Thymophylla spp.)

Fringed Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia fimbriata)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Garden Pansy (L) (Viola x wittrockiana)

Nasturtium (L) (Tropaeolum majus)

Plains Zinnia (N) (Zinnia grandiflora)

Scarlet Pea (L) (Indigofera miniata)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Plants beneath Trees

Drummond’s Wax-mallow (N) (Malvaviscus drummondii)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Spring Elbow-bush (N) (Forestiera pubescens)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

GRASSLANDS/PRAIRIES/SAVANNAHS (REGION 2)

Dallas, Bryan/College Station, Fort Worth, Goliad, Gonzales, Paris, Sherman, Waco

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

American Elm (L) (Ulmus americana)

Ash (L) (Fraxinus spp.)

Black Locust (L) (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Bur Oak (L) (Quercus macrocarpa)

Carolina Basswood (L) (N) (Tilia americana var. caroliniana)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Chinquapin Oak (L) (Quercus muhlenbergii)

Eastern Red Cedar (L) (Juniperus virginiana)

Flowering Mimosa (L) (N) (Albizia julibrissin)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Hercules’-club Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthoxylum clavahercules)

Honey Mesquite (L) (N) (Prosopis glandulosa)

Little-leaf Mulberry (L) (Morus microphylla)

Mexican Plum (L) (N) (Prunus mexicana)

Northern Catalpa (L) (Catalpa speciosa)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Red Mulberry (L) (Morus rubra)

Rusty Blackhaw (N) (Viburnum rufidulum)

Sassafras (L) (Sassafras albidum)

Southern Red Oak (L) (Quercus falcata)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii)

Wild Black Cherry (L) (N) (Prunus serotina)

Willow (L) (Salix spp.)

Shrubs

Argentina Senna (L) (Senna corymbosa)

Arkansas Yucca (L) (Yucca arkansana)

Barbados Bird-of-Paradise (N) (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Black Dalea (L) (Dalea frutescens)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Common Beebrush (N) (Aloysia gratissima)

Common Buttonbush (N) (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Downy Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthoxylum hirsutum)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Flame-leaf Sumac (L) (Rhus copallina)

Fragrant Lilac (N) (Syringa vulgaris)

Illinois Bundleflower (L) (Desmanthus illinoensis)

Mexican Buckeye (L) (N) (Ungnadia speciosa)

Redroot (L) (Ceanothus herbaceus)

Spring Elbow-bush (N) (Forestiera pubescens)

Sweet Almond Verbena (N) (Aloysia virgata)

Texas Kidneywood (L) (Eysenhardtia texana)

Trailing Lantana (N) (Lantana montevidensis)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

West Indian Lantana (L) (N) (Lantana camara)

Wright’s Snakeroot (N) (Ageratina wrightii)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Common Balloon-vine (L) (Cardiospermum halicacabum)

Groundnut (L) (Apios americana)

Least Snoutbean (L) (Rhynchosia minima)

Mexican Flame Vine (N) (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides)

Purple Passionflower (L) (Passiflora incarnata)

Red-fruited Passionflower (L) (Passiflora foetida)

Virginia Butterfly-pea (L) (Centrosema virginianum)

Wisteria (L) (Wisteria spp.)

Woolly Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia tomentosa)

Yellow Passionflower (L) (Passiflora lutea)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Hollyhock (L) (Alcea rosea)

Ironweed (N) (Vernonia spp.)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Maximilian Sunflower (N) (Helianthus maximiliani)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Plains Sunflower (L) (N) (Helianthus petiolaris)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Summer Phlox (N) (Phlox paniculata)

Tooth-leaved Goldeneye (N) (Viguiera dentata)

Virginia Frostweed (L) (N) (Verbesina virginica)

Yellow Prairie Grass (L) (Sorghastrum nutans)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Agalinis (L) (Agalinis spp.)

Broad-leaf Wood-oats (L) (Chasmanthium latifolium)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Butterfly Weed (N) (Asclepias tuberosa)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Copper Globe-mallow (L) (Sphaeralcea angustifolia)

Canna (L) (Canna x generalis)

Heath Aster (L) (N) (Symphyotrichum ericoides)

Late-flowering Eupatorium (L) (N) (Eupatorium serotinum)

Mealy Sage (N) (Salvia farinacea)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Rootstock Iresine (L) (Iresine rhizomatosa)

Scarlet Globe-mallow (L) (Sphaeralcea coccinea)

Texas Abutilon (L) (Abutilon fruticosum)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias curassavica)

West Indian Lantana (N) (Lantana camara)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Cudweed (L) (Gamochaeta spp.)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Hispid Wedelia (L) (N) (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida)

Paintbrush (L) (Castilleja spp.)

Pigeon-wings (L) (Clitoria mariana)

Two-leaved Senna (L) (Senna roemeriana)

Violet Ruellia (L) (Ruellia nudiflora)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Fringed Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia fimbriata)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Garden Pansy (L) (Viola x wittrockiana)

Nasturtium (L) (Tropaeolum majus)

Powderpuff (L) (Mimosa strigillosa)

Prairie Verbena (N) (Glandularia bipinnatifida)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Plants in Lawn

Blue-eyed Grass (N) (Sisyrinchium spp.)

Bluets (N) (Houstonia spp.)

Copper Lily (Habranthus tubispathus)

False Garlic (N) (Nothoscordum bivalve)

Prairie Rain Lily (Cooperia spp.)

Spring Beauty (N) (Claytonia virginica)

Texas Centaury (Centaurium texense)

Texas Dutchman’s-breeches (L) (Thamnosma texana)

Wild Onion (N) (Allium spp.)

Yellow Star-grass (N) (Hypoxis hirsuta)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

PINE/HARDWOODS (REGION 3) Mount Pleasant, Longview, Tyler, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Huntsville, Beaumont

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

Ash (L) (Fraxinus spp.)

Black Locust (L) (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Carolina Basswood (L) (N) (Tilia americana var. caroliniana)

Camphor Tree (L) (Cinnamomum camphora)

Carolina Silverbells (N) (Halesia carolina)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Eastern Red Cedar (L) (Juniperus virginiana)

Elm (L) (Ulmus spp.)

Flowering Dogwood (L) (Cornus florida)

Flowering Mimosa (L) (N) (Albizia julibrissin)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Hercules’-club Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis)

Mexican Plum (L) (N) (Prunus mexicana)

Oak (L) (Quercus spp.)

Pine (L) (Pinus spp.)

Red Bay (L) (Persea borbonia)

Red Mulberry (L) (Morus rubra)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Sassafras (L) (Sassafras albidum)

Sweet-bay (L) (Magnolia virginiana)

Tulip Tree (L) (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii)

Wild Black Cherry (L) (N) (Prunus serotina)

Shrubs

Azalea (N) (Rhododendron spp.)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Common Buttonbush (N) (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Coral Bean (L) (Erythrina herbacea)

Deerberry (L) (Vaccinium stamineum)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Fragrant Lilac (N) (Syringa vulgaris)

Glossy Abelia (N) (Abelia x grandiflora)

Highbush Blueberry (L) (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Illinois Bundleflower (L) (Desmanthus illinoensis)

New Jersey Tea (L) (N) (Ceanothus americanus var. pitcherii)

Parsley-leaved Hawthorn (L) (N) (Crataegus marshallii)

Spicebush (L) (N) (Lindera benzoin)

Sumac (L) (Rhus spp.)

Tall Pawpaw (L) (Asimina triloba)

Trailing Lantana (L) (N) (Lantana montevidensis)

Trifoliate Orange (L) (Poncirus trifoliata)

Virginia Sweetspire (N) (Itea virginica)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

Wax-myrtle (L) (Morella spp.)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Climbing Hempweed (N) (Mikania scandens)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Common Balloon-vine (L) (Cardiospermum halicacabum)

Groundnut (L) (Apios americana)

Least Snoutbean (L) (Rhynchosia minima)

Purple Passionflower (L) (Passiflora incarnata)

Southern Hog-peanut (L) (Amphicarpaea bracteata)

Virginia Butterfly-pea (L) (Centrosema virginianum)

Wisteria (L) (Wisteria spp.)

Woolly Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia tomentosa)

Yellow Passionflower (L) (Passiflora lutea)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

Bergamot (Monarda spp.)

Blue Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium coelestinum)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina enceiloides)

Goldenrod (N) (Solidago spp.)

Hollyhock (L) (Alcea rosea)

Ironweed (N) (Vernonia spp.)

Joe-Pye Weed (N) (Eutrochium fistulosum)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Slender-leaf Mountain-mint) (N) (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)

Swamp Milkweed (N) (Asclepias incarnata)

Virginia Frostweed (L) (N) (Verbesina virginica)

Yellow Prairie Grass (L) (Sorghastrum nutans)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Agalinis (L) (Agalinis spp.)

Broad-leaf Wood-oats (L) (Chasmanthus latifolium)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Butterfly Weed (N) (Asclepias tuberosa)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Common Canna (L) (Canna indica)

Flamingo Plant (L) (Jacobinia carnea)

Globe Amaranth (N) (Gomphrena globosa)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Partridge Pea (L) (N) (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

Pentas (N) (Pentas lanceolata)

Old-Fashioned Petunias (N) (Petunia axillaris)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Ascepias curassavica)

Woolly Croton (L) (Croton capitatus)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Cudweed (L) (Gamochaeta spp.)

Evax (L) (Evax spp.)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Green Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias viridis)

Pigeon-wings (L) (Clitoria mariana)

Spring Bittercress (L) (Cardamine rhomboidea)

Violet Ruellia (L) (Ruellia nudiflora)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Blue-eyed Grass (N) (Sisyrinchium spp.)

Fringed Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia fimbriata)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Garden Pansy (L) (Viola x wittrockiana)

Nasturtium (L) (Tropaeolum majus)

Peppergrass (L) (Lepidium spp.)

Powderpuff (L) (Mimosa strigillosa)

Scarlet Pea (L) (Indigofera minuata)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Violets (L) (Viola spp.)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

COASTAL PRAIRIES/MARSHES/BEACHES (REGION 4)

Corpus Christi, Galveston, Houston

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

Anacahuita (N) (Cordia boissieri)

Ash (L) (Fraxinus spp.)

Carolina Basswood (L) (N) (Tilia americana var. caroliniana)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Elm (L) (Ulmus spp.)

Flowering Dogwood (L) (Cornus florida)

Flowering Mimosa (N) (Albizia julibrissin)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Mexican Plum (L) (N) (Prunus mexicana)

Oak (L) (Quercus spp.)

Orange (L) (N) (Citrus spp.)

Pine (L) (Pinus spp.)

Red Bay (L) (Persea borbonia)

Red Mulberry (L) (Morus rubra)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Sassafras (L) (Sassafras albidum)

Sweet-bay (L) (Magnolia virginiana)

Wild Black Cherry (L) (N) (Prunus serotina)

Shrubs

Argentina Senna (L) (Senna corymbosa)

Azalea (N) (Rhododendron spp.)

Barbados Bird-of-Paradise (N) (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Barbados Cherry (L) (Malpighia glabra)

Bougainvillea (N) (Bougainvillea glabra)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Cenizo (L) (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Common Buttonbush (N) (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Coral Bean (L) (Erythrina herbacea)

Downy Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthloxylum hirsutum)

Drummond’s Wax-mallow (L) (Malvaviscus drummondii)

Dwarf Screwbean (L) (Prosopis reptans)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Flame-leaf Sumac (L) (Rhus copallina)

Lime Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthloxylum fagara)

New Jersey Tea (L) (N) (Ceanothus americanus var. pitcherii)

Parsley-leaved Hawthorn (L) (N) (Crataegus marshallii)

Sweet Almond Verbena (N) (Aloysia virgata)

Trifoliate Orange (L) (Poncirus trifoliata)

Virginia Sweetspire (N) (Itea virginica)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

Wax-myrtle (L) (Morella spp.)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Alamo Vine (N) (Merremia dissecta)

Asian Pigeon-wings (L) (Clitoria ternate)

Climbing Hempweed (N) (Mikania scandens)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Common Balloon-vine (L) (Cardiosperma halicacabum)

Drummond’s Virgin’s Bower (L) (Clematis drummondii)

Groundnut (L) (Apios americana)

Least Snoutbean (L) (Rhynchosia minima)

Purple Passionflower (L) (Passiflora incarnata)

Queen’s Wreath (N) (Antigonon leptopus)

Red-fruited Passionflower (L) (Passiflora foetida)

Salt-marsh Morning Glory (N) (Ipomoea sagittata)

Snapdragon Vine (L) (Maurandya antirrhiniflora)

Virginia Butterfly-pea (L) (Centrosema virginianum)

Wild Cow-pea (L) (Vigna luteola)

Wisteria (L) (Wisteria spp.)

Woolly Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia tomentosa)

Yellow Passionflower (L) (Passiflora lutea)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Goldenrod (N) (Solidago spp.)

Gulf Vervain (N) (Verbena xutha)

Joe-Pye Weed (N) (Eutrochium fistulosum)

Powdery Thalia (L) (Thalia dealbata)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Swamp Milkweed (N) (Asclepias incarnata)

Texas Abutilon (L) (Abutilon fruticosum)

Virginia Frostweed (L) (N) (Verbesina virginiana)

Wild Bergamot (N) (Monarda fistulosa)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Agalinis (L) (Agalinis spp.)

Betony-leaf Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium betonicifolium)

Blue Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium coelestinum)

Broad-leaf Wood-oats (L) (Chasmanthium latifolium)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Lemon Beebalm (N) (Monarda citriodora)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Pentas (N) (Pentas lanceolata)

Pickerel Weed (N) (Pontederia cordata)

Pigeonberry (L) (N) (Rivina humilis)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Shrimp Plant (L) (Justicia brandegeana)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias curassavica)

Violet Ruellia (L) (Ruellia nudiflora)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Hispid Wedelia (L) (N) (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida)

Lindheimer’s Tephrosia (L) (Tephrosia lindheimeri)

Wright’s False Mallow (L) (Malvastrum aurantiacum)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Garden Pansy (L) (Viola x wittrockiana)

Powderpuff (L) (Mimosa strigillosa)

Prairie Verbena (N) (Verbena bipinnatifida)

Scarlet Pea (L) (Indigofera miniata)

Spreading Sida (L) (Sida abutifolia)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Violets (L) (Viola spp.)

Woolly Stemodia (L) (Stemodia lanata)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

CHAPARRAL PLAINS/RIO GRANDE VALLEY (REGION 5)

Alice, Crystal City, Eagle Pass, Edinburg, Harlingen, Kingsville, Laredo, McAllen, Mission, Pharr

(L) indicates larval food plant (N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

Anacahuita (N) (Cordia boissieri)

Black Locust (L) (Robinia pseudoacacia)

Cedar Elm (L) (Ulmus crassifola)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Desert Willow (N) (Chilopsis linearis)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis spp.)

Honey Mesquite (L) (N) (Prosopis glandulosa)

Orange (L) (N) (Citrus spp.)

Retama (N) (Parkinsonia aculeata)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii)

Shrubs

Acacia (L) (Acacia spp.)

Argentina Senna (L) (Senna cormybosum)

Barbados Cherry (L) (Malpighia glabra)

Bougainvillea (N) (Bougainvillea glabra)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Carlowrightia (L) (Carlowrightia spp.)

Common Beebrush (N) (Aloysia gratissima)

Coral Bean (L) (Erythrina herbacea var. arborea)

Cenizo (L) (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Crucita (N) (Chromolaena odorata)

Desert Lantana (N) (Lantana achyranthifolia)

Drummond’s Wax-mallow (L) (N) (Malvaviscus drummondii)

Flame Acanthus (L) (N) (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii)

Mexican Bird-of-Paradise (N) (Caesalpinia mexicana)

Southwest Bernardia (L) (Bernardia myricifolia)

Spiny Hackberry (L) (Celtis pallida)

Sweet Almond Verbena (N) (Aloysia virgata)

Texas Kidneywood (L) (Eysenhardtia texana)

West Indian Lantana (L) (N) (Lantana camara)

Yellow Bells (L) (N) (Tecoma stans)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Chinese Wisteria (L) (Wisteria sinensis)

Climbing Hempweed (N) (Mikania scandens)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchoides)

Common Balloon-vine (L) (Cardiospemum halicacabum)

Drummond’s Virgin’s Bower (L) (Clematis drummondii)

Least Snoutbean (L) (Rhynchosia minima)

Mexican Flame Vine (N) (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides)

Queen’s Wreath (N) (Antigonon leptopus)

Red-fruited Passionflower (L) (Passiflora foetida)

Slender-lobed Passionflower (L) (Passiflora tenuiloba)

Snapdragon Vine (L) (Maurandya antirrhiniflora)

Tropical Balloon-vine (L) (Cardiospermum corundum)

Virginia Butterfly-pea (L) (Centrosema virginianum)

Yellow Passionflower (L) (Passiflora lutea)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

Croton (L) (Croton spp.)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Hollyhock (L) (Alcea rosea)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Virginia Frostweed (L) (Verbesina virginica)

White-flowered Plumbago (L) (Plumbago scandens)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Awnless Bush-sunflower (N) (Simsia calva)

Betony-leaf Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium betonicifolium)

Broad-leaf Wood-oats (L) (Chasmanthium latifolium)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Clammyweed (L) (Polanisia dodecandra)

Croton (L) (Croton spp.)

Flamingo Plant (L) (Jacobinia carnea)

Canna (L) (Canna x generalis)

Goldenrod (N) (Solidago spp.)

Gregg’s Mistflower N) (Conoclinium greggii)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Mexican Oregano (N) (Poliomintha longiflora)

Partridge-pea (L) (Chamaecrista fasciculata)

Pentas (N) (Pentas lanceolata)

Pigeonberry (L) (Rivina humilis)

Rio Grande Dicliptera (N) (Dicliptera sexangularis)

Shrimp Plant (L) (Justicia brandegeana)

Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye) (N) (Viguiera stenoloba)

Trailing Boneset (N) (Fleischmannia incarnata)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias curassavitica)

Tropical Sage (N) (Salvia coccinea)

Willow-leaf Aster (L) (N) (Symphyotrichum praealtum)

Wright’s Abutilon (L) (Abutilon wrightii)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Fern Acacia ((L) (N) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Hispid Wedelia (L) (N) (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida)

Ruellia (L) (Ruellia spp.)

Upright Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia erecta)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Brittle-leaf Dyssodia (L) (N) (Dyssodia tenuiloba)

Common Dogweed (L) (N) (Thymophylla pentachaeta)

Prairie Verbena (L) (N) (Verbena bipinnatifida)

Dwarf Crownbeard (N) (Verbesina nana)

Fringed Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia fimbriata)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Nasturtium (L) (Tropaeolum majus)

Powderpuff (L) (Mimosa strigillosa)

Purple Bush-bean (L) (Macroptilium atropurpureum)

Scarlet Pea (L) (Indigofera miniata)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

EDWARDS PLATEAU (REGION 6)

Killeen, Austin, San Antonio, Del Rio, Odessa, Midland, San Angelo

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

POTS

Use plants from the Medium Herbs or Low Herbs lists bordered by the lower-growing plants from the Edging list.

Trees

Anacahuita (N) (Cordia boissieri)

Anacacho Orchid Tree (N) (Bauhinia lunarioides)

Ash (L) (Fraxinus spp.)

Ashe Juniper (L) (Juniperus ashei)

Carolina Basswood (L) (N) (Tilia americana var. caroliniana)

Cedar Elm (L) (Ulmus crassifolia)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Desert Willow (N) (Chilopsis linearis)

Flowering Mimosa (N) (Albizia julibrissin)

Golden-ball Lead Tree (L) (N) (Leucaena retusa)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Honey Mesquite (L) (N) (Prosopis glandulosa)

Live Oak (L) (Quercus virginiana)

Mexican Orchid Tree (N) (Bauhinia mexicana)

Mexican Plum (L) (N) (Prunus mexicana)

Red Bay (L) (Persea borbonia)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Retama (N) (Parkinsonia aculeata)

Spanish Oak (L) (Quercus buckleyi)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii)

Wild Black Cherry (L) (N) (Prunus serotina)

Shrubs

Agarita (N) (Mahonia trifoliolata)

Barbados Bird-of-Paradise (N) (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Barbados Cherry (L) (Malpighia glabra)

Butterfly Bush (N) (Buddleja davidii)

Cenizo (L) (N) (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Common Beebrush (N) (Aloysia gratissima)

Common Buttonbush (N) (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Desert Lantana (N) (Lantana camara)

Downy Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthoxylum hirsutum)

Drummond’s Wax-mallow (L) (Malvaviscus drummondii)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Flame Acanthus (L) (N) (Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii)

Havana Snakeroot (L) (N) (Ageratina havanensis)

Lime Prickly-ash (L) (Zanthloxylum fagara)

Mexican Buckeye (L) (N) (Ungnadia speciosa)

Redroot (L) (Ceanothus herbaceus)

Red Yucca (N) (Hesperaloe parviflora)

Southwest Bernardia (L) (Bernardia myricifolia)

Spiny Hackberry (L) (Celtis pallida)

Spicebush (L) (Lindera benzoin)

Spring Elbow-bush (N) (Forestiera pubescens)

Sweet Almond Verbena (N) (Aloysia virgata)

Texas Kidneywood (L) (N) (Eysenhardtia texana)

Trailing Lantana (N) (Lantana montevidensis)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

Wright’s Snakeroot (N) (Ageratina wrightii)

Yellow Bells (L) (N) (Tecoma stans)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funasrum cynanchoides)

Common Balloon Vine (L) (Cardiospermum halicacabum)

Drummond’s Virgin Bower (L) (Clematis drummondii)

Groundnut (L) (Apios americana)

Least Snoutbean (L) (Rhynchosia minima)

Mexican Flame Vine (N) (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides)

Purple Passionflower (L) (Passiflora incarnata)

Queen’s Wreath (N)

(Antigonon leptopus)

Red-fruited Passionflower (L) (Passiflora foetida)

Slender-lobed Passionflower (L) (Passiflora tenuiloba)

Snapdragon Vine (L) (Maurandya antirrhiniflora)

Virginia Butterfly-pea (L) (Centrosema virginianum)

Wisteria (L) (Wisteria spp.)

Yellow Passionflower (L) (Passiflora lutea)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

False Wissadula (L) (Allowissadula holosericea)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Hollyhock (L) (Alcea rosea)

Joe-Pye Weed (N) (Eutrochium fistulosum)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Russian Sage (N) (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

Scarlet Bouvardia (N) (Bouvardia ternifolia)

Summer Phlox (N) (Phlox paniculata)

Swamp Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias incarnata)

Tooth-leaved Goldeneye (N) (Viguiera dentata)

White-flowered Plumbago (L) (Plumbago scandens)

Wild Bergamot (N) (Monarda fistulosa)

Yellow Prairie Grass (L) (Sorghasturm nutans)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Broad-leaf Wood-oats (L) (Chasmanthium latifolium)

Brown-eyed Susan (N) (Rudbeckia hirta)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Canna (L) (Canna x generalis)

Globe Amaranth (N) (Gomphrena globosa)

Gregg’s Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium dissectum)

Ironweed (N) (Vernonia spp.)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Mealy Sage (N) (Salvia farinacea)

Mexican Oregano (N) (Poliomintha longiflora)

Partridge-pea (L) (Chamaecrista fasciculate)

Pentas (N) (Pentas lanceolata)

Pigeonberry (L) (N) (Rivina humilis)

Porterweed (N) (Stachytarpheta spp.)

Prairie Agalinis (L) (Agalinis heterophylla)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Scarlet Globe-mallow (L) (Sphaeralcea coccinea)

Shrimp Plant (L) (N) (Justicia brandegeana)

Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye (N) (Viguiera stenoloba)

Tropical Milkweed (L) (N) (Asclepias curassavica)

Violet Ruellia (L) (Ruellia nudiflora)

Low Herbs (1–2 feet)

Cedar Sage (N) (Salvia roemeriana)

Cudweed (L) (Gamochaeta spp)

Damianita (N) (Chrysactinia mexicana)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Hispid Wedelia (L) (N) (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida)

Paintbrush (L) (Castilleja spp.)

Prairie Verbena (L) (N) (Verbena bipinnatifida)

Spectacle Pod (N) (Dithyrea wislizenii)

Tahoka Daisy (N) (Machaeranthera tanacetifolia)

Two-leaved Senna (L) (Senna roemeriana)

Woolly Paperflower (N) (Psilostrophe tagetina)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Bayou Violet (L) (Viola sororia)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Garden Pansy (L) (Viola x wittrockiana)

Gregg’s Dalea (L) (N) (Dalea greggii)

Lindheimer’s Tephrosia (L) (Tephrosia lindheimeri)

Plains Zinnia (N) (Zinnia grandiflora)

Prickle-leaf Dogweed (N) (Thymophylla acerosa)

Sweet Alyssum (L) (N) (Lobularia maritima)

Western Peppergrass (L) (N) (Lepidium alyssoides)

Woolly Stemodia (L) (Stemodia lanata)

Plants in Lawn

Annua1 Pennyroyal (Hedeoma acinoides)

Blue-eyed Grass (N) (Sisyrinchium spp.)

Bluets (N) (Houstonia spp.)

Buffalo Grass (L) (Buchloe dactyloides)

Cut-leaf Germander (N) (Teucrium cubense var. laevigatum)

Cut-leaf Gilia (Giliastrum incisum)

Drummond’s Wild Onion (N) (Allium canadense)

False Garlic (N) (Nothoscordium bivalve)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Funnel Lily (Androstephium coeruleum)

Lady Bird’s Centaury (Centaurium texense)

Prairie Celestials (Nemastylis geminiflora)

Prairie Rain Lily (Cooperia spp.)

Spring Beauty (N) (Claytonia virginica)

Spring Evax (L) (Evax verna)

Texas Dutchman’s-breeches (L) (Thamnosma texana)

Texas Toadflax (L) (Nuttallanthus texanus)

Upright Pipevine (L) (Aristolochia erecta)

White Milkwort (Polygala alba)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

TRANS-PECOS (REGION 7)

Alpine, Balmorhea, El Paso, Fort Davis, Fort Stockton, Marathon, Presidio, Terlingua, Van Horn

(L) indicates larval food plant

(N) indicates nectar plant

Trees

Alligator Juniper (L) (Juniperus deppeana var. deppeana)

Chaste Tree (N) (Vitex agnus-castus)

Choke cherry (L) (N) (Prunus virginiana) Cottonwood (L) (Populus deltoides)

Desert Willow (N) (Chilopsis linearis)

Golden-ball Lead-tree (L) (N) (Leucaena retusa)

Hackberry (L) (Celtis laevigata)

Honey Mesquite (L) (N) (Prosopis glandulosa)

Little-leaf Mulberry (L) (Morus microphylla)

Oak (L) (Quercus spp.)

Redbud (L) (N) (Cercis canadensis)

Retama (N) (Parkinsonia aculeate)

Western Soapberry (L) (Sapindus saponaria var. drumondii)

Wild Black Cherry (L) (N) (Prunus serotina)

Shrubs

Big Bend Silverleaf (L) (Leucophyllum minus)

Black Dalea (L) (Dalea frutescens)

Cat’s-claw Mimosa (N) (Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera)

Cenizo (L) (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Common Beebrush (N) (Aloysia gratissima)

Common Buttonbush (N) (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Desert Ceanothus (N) (Ceanothus greggii)

False Indigo (L) (N) (Amorpha fruticosa)

Four-wing Saltbush (L) (Atriplex canescens)

Mexican Buckeye (L) (Ungnadia speciosa)

Mexican Orange (N) (Choisya dumosa)

New Mexico Locust (L) (Robinia neomexicana)

Red Yucca (N) (Hesperaloe parviflora)

Smooth Yucca (L) (Yucca glauca)

Texas Carlowrightia (L) (Carlowrightia texana)

Texas Kidneywood (L) (N) (Eysenhardtia texana)

Wafer-ash (L) (Ptelea trifoliata)

Willow-leaf Baccharis (L) (N) (Baccharis salicifolia)

Wright’s Snakeroot (N) (Ageratina wrightii)

Yellow Bells (L) (N) (Tecoma stans)

Vines (on trellis/fence)

Climbing Milkweed Vine (L) (N) (Funastrum cynanchloides)

Drummond’s Virgin’s Bower (L) (Clematis drummondii)

Slender-lobe Passionflower (L) (Passiflora tenuiloba)

Snapdragon Vine (L) (Maurandya antirrhiniflora)

Texas Snout-bean (L) (Rhynchosia senna var. texana)

Tall Herbs (3–5 feet)

Argentina Verbena (N) (Verbena bonariensis)

False Wissadula (L) (Allowissadula holosericea)

Golden Crownbeard (L) (N) (Verbesina encelioides)

Goldenrod (N) (Solidago spp.)

Hollyhock (L) (Alcea rosea)

Mexican Sunflower (L) (N) (Tithonia rotundifolia)

Purple Marsh-fleabane (N) (Pluchea odorata)

Scarlet Bouvardia (N) (Bouvardia ternifolia)

Summer Phlox (N) (Phlox paniculata)

Tooth-leaved Goldeneye (N) (Viguiera dentata)

Medium Herbs (2–3 feet)

Aster (L) (N) (Symphyotrichum spp.)

Butterfly Weed (N) (Asclepias tuberosa)

Cardinal Flower (N) (Lobelia cardinalis)

Cherry Sage (N) (Salvia greggii)

Chocolate Daisy (N) (Berlandiera lyrata)

Globe Amaranth (N) (Gomphrena globosa)

Lemon Beebalm (N) (Monarda citriodora)

Liatris (N) (Liatris spp.)

Mealy Sage) (N) (Salvia farinacea)

Pigeonberry (L) (N) (Rivina humilis)

Prairie Flax (L) (Linum lewisii)

Purple Coneflower (N) (Echinacea purpurea)

Skeleton-leaf Goldeneye (N) (Viguiera stenoloba)

Texas Milkweed (L) (Asclepias texana)

Thread-leaf Groundsel (N) (Senecio flaccidus)

Tropical Sage (N) (Salvia coccinea)

Low Herbs (to 1–2 feet)

Cedar Sage (N) (Salvia roemeriana)

Croton (L) (Croton spp.)

Damianita (N) (Chrysactinia mexicana)

Fern Acacia (L) (Acacia angustissima var. hirta)

Gregg’s Coldenia (Coldenia greggii)

Gregg’s Dalea (L) (N) (Dalea greggii)

Gregg’s Mistflower (N) (Conoclinium dissectum)

Hispid Wedelia (L) (N) (Wedelia acapulcensis var. hispida)

Huisache Daisy (N) (Amblyolepis setigera)

Paintbrush (L) (Castilleja spp.)

Prairie Verbena (N) (Verbena bipinnatifida)

Sand-verbena (N) (Abronia spp.)

Tahoka Daisy (N) (Machaeranthera tanacetifolia)

Two-leaved Senna (L) (Senna roemeriana)

Western Peppergrass (L) (N) (Lepidium alysssoides)

Woolly Paper-flower (N) (Psilostrophe tagetina)

Edging (to 1 foot)

Common Dogweed (L) (N) (Thymophylla pentachaeta)

Desert Marigold (N) (Baileya multiradiata)

Desert Zinnia (N) (Zinnia acerosa)

Dwarf Germander (N) (Teucrium lacinatum)

Frogfruit (L) (N) (Phyla spp.)

Limoncillo (N) (Pectis angustifolia)

Plains Zinnia (N) (Zinnia grandiflora)

Plants for Buffalo Grass Lawn

Bluebells (Campanula rotundifolia)

Blue-eyed Grass (N) (Sisyrinchium spp.)

Bluets (N) (Hedyotis spp.)

Copper Lily (N) (Zephyranthes longifolia)

False Garlic (N) (Nothoscordum bivalve)

Flax (L) (Linum spp.)

Needle-leaf Gilia (Gilia rigidula var. acerosa)

Prairie Rain Lily (N) (Cooperia spp.)

Slender Shellflower (Southwestern Pleatleaf) (Nemastylis tenuis)

White Milkwort (Polygala alba)

Wild Onion (N) (Allium spp.)

Yellow-flowered Onion (N) (Allium coryi)

Plants for Natural Area

Blue-flowered Flax (L) (Linum lewisii)

Mealy Sage (N) (Salvia farinacea)

Paintbrush (L) (Castilleja spp.)

Prickle-leaf Dogweed (N) (Thymophylla acerosa)

Spotted Beebalm (N) (Monarda punctate)

Wright’s Verbena (N) (Verbena wrightii)

Flagstone

Decomposed Granite

Turf

EASTERN BLACK SWALLOWTAIL (Papilio polyxenes esterius)