Flowering shrubs and bushes are a terrific way to entice butterflies to your garden. While they may be more expensive to buy than annuals or perennials, they’re worth it. Flowering bushes require only a little care each season, such as fertilizing and pruning. In return, they may bloom for decades, attracting butterflies to your yard for all that time.
When choosing a flowering bush for your garden, you should consider:
- your yard’s growing conditions and hardiness zone;
- your available space;
- which butterflies you’re hoping to attract; and
- whether to choose native or non-native bushes.
Hardiness Zone, Growing Conditions & Space
As with all plants, one of the first things to consider is your hardiness zone. Choose bushes that will survive in your region’s climate. If you’re unsure which zone you live in, check the hardiness maps available on the Canadian and American government websites.
You should also take note of your yard’s growing conditions. If you have a lot of shade, don’t choose a shrub that requires full sun. If you have an incline, shrubs that prefer moist soils would do well at the bottom where water collects.
Some shrubs become quite large in terms of height and/or girth. Make sure your new shrub will have the space it requires to grow happily for many years to come.
Your Region’s Butterflies
If you’re new to butterfly gardening, you might not know which butterfly species live in your region. Different species prefer different plants. To choose the best host plants for butterflies that inhabit your area, do a little research. The Butterflies of Ontario website is a terrific resource, as is the Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility website.
Native vs Non-Native Flowering Bushes
Native plants develop over millennia as part of a region’s ecosystem. As they evolve together, a region’s flora and fauna create a symbiotic relationship. Native plants often fulfill multiple wildlife needs. For instance, milkweed provides greenery for butterfly larvae to eat and nectar for adult butterflies to drink.
Non-native plants are those that were introduced into a region from another geographic area. Even if that took place a few hundred years ago, they’re still considered non-native (sometimes, they’re called “exotic”). A few hundred years is just a drop in the evolutionary bucket, after all.
Non-native plants are often introduced to a region because they have desirable characteristics, like beautiful blooms or vigour. But because they haven’t evolved within the region, there are no natural checks and balances in place for their growth. As a result, they don’t integrate well into the existing ecosystem and often become problematic. One example of an exotic plant that hasn’t integrated well is butterfly bush.
Non-Native Flowering Bush: Butterfly Bush
Also known as buddleja, butterfly bush originated in China. These deciduous shrubs grow to about 2-3m tall. They are extremely hardy and drought-tolerant, even thriving in poor growing conditions. Butterfly bush produces masses of tiny flowers in spike or cone shapes, much like lilacs. Their highly-fragrant and pollen-rich flowers attract tiger swallowtails, monarchs, and other butterflies and moths.
Sounds like the perfect shrub for your butterfly garden, right? As it turns out–it’s not.
Due to its vigour and the massive number of seeds each bush produces (up to three million per year!), butterfly bush is now considered an invasive species in some areas and a noxious weed in others. It has taken root in established ecosystems, crowding out native plants and altering soil properties.
Although butterfly bush provides nectar for adult butterflies, it is not a food source for butterfly larvae. For that reason, female butterflies seeking a place to lay their eggs will bypass butterfly bush. This becomes problematic when that shrub crowds out native plants that DO host larvae.
Because butterfly bush is a gorgeous plant, many gardeners are loathe to give up on it. As a result, horticulturalists developed sterile cultivars of the plant. These cultivars are considered non-invasive. They’re a great choice for those who want to plant a flowering bush that attracts butterflies. Keep in mind, though, that along with butterfly bush, you should also establish plants that host larvae, such as milkweed, hollyhocks, and sunflowers.
Native Flowering Bushes
Although a sterile butterfly bush is a better choice than an invasive variety, native plants are by far the best choice for your garden. There are several different flowering bushes that produce beautiful blooms and attract butterflies. The Canadian-based Evergreen website suggests these five:
1 – Red flowering currant/Redflower currant/Blood currant/Winter currant/Pink flowering currant (Ribes sanquineum)
The United States Department of Agriculture explains that, beginning in early spring, red flowering currant produces abundant and showy blossoms. These blossoms provide nectar for butterflies emerging from hibernation. The bush is also a food source for the larvae of more than two dozen different species of moths and butterflies. The shrub grows at a moderate rate and may reach up to 4m tall. Red flowering currant is hardy in Zones 5-10.
2 – Ninebark/Common ninebark/Atlantic ninebark/eastern ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)
Ninebark is extremely easy to grow, being both hardy and drought-resistant. It’s found growing in the wild in Zones 2 to 7. It can grow up to 4m high and should be given space for its long arching branches. Ninebark produces beautiful round clusters of small white or pink blossoms. These clusters are similar in shape to hydrangea flowers. It blooms in spring and early summer and is attractive to butterflies.
3 – Common lilac (Syringa spp.)
Lilac bushes produce masses of incredibly fragrant flowers in late spring. According to the Canadian Forestry Association website, the flowers are particularly attractive to tiger swallowtail butterflies. Lilac bushes may grow anywhere between 2 to 5 metres tall. They have a substantial girth as well, growing 2.5 to 3.5 metres wide. Lilacs do best in cooler climates and are hardy in Zones 3 to 7. There are many different varieties and cultivars, making it easy to choose one that will suit your garden’s aesthetic and growing conditions.
4 – Red elderberry/Red-berried elder/Bunchberry elder/Red elder/ Scarlet elder (Sambucus racemosa)
Red elderberry is one of the tallest flowering shrubs that is attractive to butterflies. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, this bush typically grows 3-6 metres tall. A member of the honeysuckle family, it produces abundant clusters of small white flowers between April and July. It is extremely cold hardy, growing best in Zones 0-5. (Yes, you read that correctly: Zone Zero!)
5 – Oceanspray/Mountain spray/Cream bush/Ironwood (Holodiscus discolor)
Oceanspray normally grows to about 1-1.5 metres in height, but may grow a little taller. It is a deciduous shrub that flowers May to August. Its tiny white flowers cluster together as plumes. Native to western North America, it is hardy from Zones 4-8. The Mount Pisgah Arboretum website states that oceanspray’s nectar attracts many types of adult butterflies. As well, it is “a favored larval host plant for specific butterfly species including Spring Azures, Pale Swallowtails, Lorquin’s Admirals, and Gray Hairstreaks.”
Flowering bushes are a terrific investment for any garden, and especially for butterfly gardens. While bushes are more expensive to purchase than annuals or perennials, they will last considerably longer. As well, many will bloom earlier in the season than seeded or hothouse flowers. Those earlier blooms will provide needed sustenance to butterflies coming out of hibernation. And then, with a little thought and planning, you can choose bushes that will attract and nourish butterflies throughout the flight season.
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