Butterfly Caterpillar Host Plants

Wide flat-topped clusters of white flowers are produced in spring atop sturdy stems adorned with deep green finely cut deep green foliage. American Wild Carrot, Daucus pusillus, is a native annual common to roadsides throughout much of the US and is commonly confused with the non-native Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota, which is a parent to the common Carrot. The flowers attract bees and other garden beneficials and once through flowering the flattened clusters curl upward at the outer edges creating a protected 'nest' of ripening seeds. The American Wild Carrot makes an easy addition to naturalistic roadside plantings, meadows, and prairies where it readily reseeds on exposed soils. Full sun is preferred in average to well-drained soils. Item# 12027

Large clusters of white late spring flowers produce green berries that ripen to a blue-black. The flowers attract butterflies, bees, and other pollinators and the edible fruits attract a variety of wildlife, especially birds. Arrowwood Viburnum is a vigorous growing, naturally rounded, multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with rich green foliage and is tolerant of a wide range of growing conditions. Fall color includes yellows, orange, reds, and near purple. Arrowwood Viburnum makes an easy hedge, background specimen, or screen. Easy and reliable. Item# 10922

4-5" wide flowers with white petals and sepals are topped by a crown of white filaments with a light purple halo surrounding the central portion of these exotic looking flowers. Bahama Blue Passion Flower is a beautiful and vigorous free flowering selection of the Blue Crown Passion Flower, Passiflora caerulea, with all its hardiness and reliability. The nectar rich flowers are adored by larger bees and the foliage is a host to a variety of butterflies. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a moderately fertile, average moist, well-drained soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Click on "More Details and Growing Info" or the image to learn more about growing Passionvines as perennials in containers or in the garden and landscape. Item# 11222

An unusual conversation starting Milkweed that is eagerly consumed by caterpillars of Monarchs, Queens, and possibly Soldier butterflies. Balloon Milkweed is a vigorous heat and sun loving tropical African shrub that is grown as a dieback perennial except in areas with mild winter climates. It produces clusters of 1/2" wide cream to white star shaped flowers with a purplish 'eye' and the flowers attract butterflies along with a variety of other pollinators. Balloon Milkweed is adaptable to a wind range of soil types as long as they are well-drained and is moderately drought resistant once well established. Item# 10974.

One of the hottest new native grasses on the market! Blackhawks Big Bluestem starts off in spring as a deep green clump of upright to arching blades that may be tipped with red to purple. It is in late summer when the real show begins with the upright and arching foliage and flowering stems of August deepen to red to red-purple and further deepening and intensifying as the cooler fall weather arrives becoming nearly all black as its sturdy and showy flowering stems begin to mature. Blackhawks Big Bluestem is a slightly more compact plant reaching about 4-5' high when in flower. The species is native throughout much of the eastern 2/3's of the US and is a clumping to slowly spreading rhizomatous grass whose seeds are utilized by a number of seed eating birds. Provide a full to mostly sunny site with an average to well-drained, acidic soil for the deepest foliage colors and optimum vigor. Plants are in their best form when grown in a low fertility soil. Overly fertile soils can cause them to topple at maturity. Images courtesy of Brent Horvath, Intrinsic Perennials, all rights reserved. Item# 12169

Light blue to blue-purple 1/4" wide nectar-rich flowers adorn the tall narrow indeterminate flower spikes from spring to frost to year round under warm tropical conditions. Native to Florida and much of the tropical Americas, Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, has smoother lighter green foliage and generally grows wider than tall whereas the other Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta cayennensis or S. urticifolia, has more rugose or quilted deeper green glossier foliage with a typically upright habit. Porterweeds are excellent pollinator plants where they attract a continuous menagerie of aerial acrobats from spring until frost. This a heat and sunloving tropical to tender perennial that can be added to gardens and landscapes or plant them in containers to draw the pollinators in for upclose viewing. Blue Porterweed is also a caterpillar host plant for the Tropical Buckeye butterfly. Item# 12046

The dark purplish-bronze, finely textured, licorice scented foliage makes a beautiful addition to the perennial border or the butterfly garden. Mix Bronze Fennel with yellow and chartreuse foliaged and flowering plants for a great combination. The foliage and stems are utilized by the Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly as a caterpillar host plant. For optimum health and vigor plant Bronze Fennel in a full to mostly sunny site, in a well-drained, fertile soil. It can be grown as a reliable perennial in gardens and landscapes as well as in containers, either as a specimen plant or in mixed company. Item# 9121

Tall spikes of dark golden yellow 1" blooms are born in summer and fall on an upright growing shrub. Called Popcorn Cassia because when brushed or crushed the foliage emits the wonderful fragrance of freshly buttered popcorn. Item# 9018.

Tall candles to 18" high that are composed of golden yellow blossoms and buds rise well above the foliage of this popular pass along plant from mid to late summer well into fall for an outstanding show. The Candlestick Tree, Senna alata, is a moderately fast growing and vigorous sun loving tropical that is excellent for the back of the border, as a specimen plant singly or in mass, and even as a large container plant. Attracts butterflies as well as serves as a host to Sulphur butterfly caterpillars. Reseeds readily or save seeds in fall to replant in spring. The Candlestick Tree is a heat and sunloving easy to grow tropical to tender perennial where winters are mild. Item# 10017.

Tall candles to 18" high that are composed of golden yellow blossoms and buds rise well above the foliage of this popular pass along plant from mid to late summer well into fall for an outstanding show. The Candlestick Tree, Senna alata, is a moderately fast growing and vigorous sun loving tropical that is excellent for the back of the border, as a specimen plant singly or in mass, and even as a large container plant. Attracts butterflies as well as serves as a host to Sulphur butterfly caterpillars. Reseeds readily or save seeds in fall to replant in spring. The Candlestick Tree is a heat and sunloving easy to grow tropical to tender perennial where winters are mild. Item# 12020

Large deep rose rounded clusters of buds open to show off the contrasting lighter pink to white 'eye' and are lightly scented of vanilla for venturesome noses. Cinderalla Swamp Milkweed, a selection of our native Asclepias incarnata, has a naturally upright habit reaching about 4' when flowering begins. This is one of the easier to grow native milkweeds and it slowly spreads by rhizomes but still plays well with other garden perennials. It is native to moist habitats and is quite happy in low areas of the garden, as part of the rain garden complex as well as in more naturalistic moist prairies and meadows. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators and the plant is utilized as a host to the Monarch butterfly. Provide a full to mostly sunny site and beyond its preference for moisture it is fairly adaptable. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12253

Large clusters of star-shaped of purplish pink flowers are borne in summer among the large, tropical looking, somewhat gray-green foliage. This root hardy native perennial will often develop into a colony of plants spreading by underground rhizomes as well as reseeding. Common Milkweed is native to the eastern 2/3's of the US as well as occurring in WA, MT, and Canada and is considered by many to be one of the most important milkweed species for the regal Monarch butterfly. Item# 10162.

The stiff ferny fronds are adorned with numerous thick leathery medium to deep green leaflets often with a bronze tinge and emerge from what becomes an underground trunk. The Coontie, Zamia integrifolia (a.k.a Z. pumila), is a small tough southeastern native Cycad that eventually develops an underground trunk that will branch with age creating a dense 24-36" high cover of the soft to medium textured fronds. It is resistant to drought, tolerates high heat and humidity, sun or shade, and is a very low maintainence addition to the landscape. In areas that experience hard freezes, like zone 8, the foliage may freeze back but a new flush readily returns in spring. Makes an easy bonsai and a low maintenance container plant. Item# 12729

This native perennial Hibiscus boasts large 6-8" wide typically white but occassionally pink flowers with a dark burgundy eye. The Crimson-Eyed Rosemallow, Hibiscus moscheutos, is common in moist and wet areas as the name implies but is tolerant of average moist garden soils but may require extra moisture during dry spells. This is a vigorous and hardy native perennial that can reach 5-7' high but is more commonly found at 4'. The foliage may be used as a butterfly caterpillar host by Hairstreaks, Blues, Coppers, and others. Hibiscus moscheutos is one of the main species used in breeding of the large dinner plate-sized Hardy or Perennial Hibiscus cultivars. Item# 9399

The huge 8-9" wide ruffled white flowers sporting darker pink veining with a dark burgundy eye shine like spotlights against the foil of dark burgundy to near black foliage and are produced throughout summer. A top performing selection, Dark Mystery Hardy Hibiscus is a vigorous and reliable clump forming perennial Hibiscus with a good branching habit. It is sure to be a star in almost any garden or landscape! Like most other Walter's Gardens introductions, Dark Mystery is an indeterminate plant producing flowers from the top to the bottom of the plants creating a knockout display in the garden and landscape. Provide a full to mostly sunny location in moist to average moist to wet, moderately fertile soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12060

Fine textured, narrow, bronze-tinged yellow-green new growth matures to deep olive green on this compact native evergreen shrub. Don's Dwarf Wax Myrtle, a selection of Myrica cerifera, a.k.a Morella cerifera, makes a tough and easy, low-maintenance low to medium-sized evergreen hedge that could easily be used to replace Boxwood, Indian Hawthorn, and even Dwarf Yaupon Holly in the garden and landscape. Its toughness lends it to use in parking lot islands. Don's Dwarf Wax Myrtle is resistant to leaf spot that plagues some Wax Myrtles, is drought resistant once fully established, and is not likely to be bothered by deer thanks to its Bayberry-like fragrance. Provide a full sun to part shade site in a fertile, average to well-drained soil for optimum growth and vigor. The only drawback is that Wax Myrtle is subsceptible to fire and so should be utilized away from houses, businesses, and other structures, although, the plants themselves generally recover from the root stock. Item# 12746

The dwarf form of it's much larger cousin and native to the sandy and sandy loam soils of much of the southeast US. The Dwarf Pawpaw produces 3-5" green-yellow elongated fruit that eventually turn brown to nearly black when ripe. It is reported to have a banana custard-like flavor, some say that fully ripe fruit of the Dwarf Pawpaw is equal to the Pawpaw, while others firmly disagree. Produces small maroon to greenish flowers flowers in spring. A small to medium-sized, spreading to upright, moderately slow growing, native deciduous shrub. A caterpillar host plant of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. Seedling grown. Plant two for pollination. Item# 10232.

Another excellent native shrub for the landscape! The dense neat mound of deep green glossy foliage and red tinged stems is topped by clusters of white flowers in spring which make way to red berries ripening through purple and finally black. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators and the fruit attract songbirds and smaller fructivores. Walter's Dwarf Viburnum, Viburnum obovatum 'Densa', is a compact, densly branching selection of this southeastern native. This shrub's dense habit lends it to use anywhere a small to medium-sized shrub is desired in the landscape. It is generally evergreen into zone 8A and tends to be deciduous to semi-evergreen in zones 6 and 7. Use this tough native shrub in place of Dwarf Yaupon, Indian Hawthorne, or anywhere a medium-sized, disease resistant, low maintenance shrub or hedge is desired. Provide a full sun to part shade site in an average to well-drained soil for optimum vigor. Item# 12731