Thanks, I know what you mean, it is a deep freeze here in Minnesota, brrr!

Hi River, I definitely saw more butterflies, monarch in particular, this year than last year, but I can't say why -- I started most of my perennial butterfly plants this year, so I knew there weren't going to be many (or any) blooms, and the heat wave slowed everything down just that much further. That said, I do have a Potter's Purple butterfly bush that's a year old now, and it was a blooming machine this Spring/Summer/Fall. That plant drew the most butterflies and hummingbirds hands down. Butterflies using it were Monarchs, Painted Ladies, American Ladies, Black Swallowtails, Pipevine Swallowtails, hummingbird moths, and a lot of moths and skippers and sulphers that I can't even begin to identify. Anyway, plants! Butterfly magnets: *Butterfly bush 'Potter's Purple' Tropical Milkweed (Still blooming, actually, and there's still a couple of Monarch caterpillars on it right now.) Salvia azurea (I grow other salvias, but this one is visited most by butterflies that I've noticed.) Parsley. I always grow a bunch for Black Swallowtails caterpillars. I have so-so luck growing dill, but parsley is dead easy. Hummingbird magnets: *Anisacanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii -- Hummingbird bush. The biggest draw, after the butterfly bush. Salvia coccinea (red preferred over other colors) Salvia greggii Monarda citriodora -- Lemon Bee Balm. It was probably the first thing blooming in my garden this Spring, so I guess that's why the hummingbirds used it? I didn't know it was a hummingbird plant. Completely ignored by everything: Agastache rupestris Agastache 'Tutti-Frutti' 'Profusion' zinnias Coneflowers (all) Bee balms (no blooms, doh!) Only thing I can guess on the plants that flowered but were ignored is that it was too hot for them to produce pollen and nectar. The plan for next year is to grow more asclepias species, old fashioned tall zinnias, more salivas (never enough salvias, bwa ha ha), various liatris, random natives, and Lantana horrida (L. urticoides). Maybe the bee balms will bloom next year. Better luck next Spring! Meg

Those are beautiful pictures, Christie - your zinnias are always the prettiest ones! I love the Scarlet Flame and the Zowie - I may have been the one who recommended Yowie Zowie, because it was real popular with the butterflies the year I had it. As long as your zinnias have those yellow thingies in the center, they'll be butterfly friendly. I bought three un-named zinnia plants this past spring that made red flowers - in the heat of summer, the blooms are orange. They've only grown to be about 2' tall, and they spill over the bed they're planted in, so they're probably one of the mounding types. They're especially popular with the gulf and variegated frits, common checkered skippers, and various other skippers. I didn't plant Mexican sunflowers this year, which look like another type of zinnia to me, because I used their space for the mounding zinnias. This picture of them was taken in spring, when the blooms were more red than orange, and before they grew so thick - Looking at this variegated fritillary reminds me of the one that's been visiting the garden for the past several days. She's been going through the motions of egg-laying on the violets - the passionvines are full of gulf frits. I say she's been going through the motions, because I went right behind her and couldn't find an egg! Maybe she's just practicing! :/ Sherry

'Love that pride of Barbados, Pam! And, yes, the second one is a gulf frit, too. Thanks for posting your beautiful pictures! Sherry