Jul 3, 2015 05:17 PM
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/16875538/...dlife-Draw
EXCERPT: No one believes me [...but...] The butterfly bush sees one-tenth, even one-twentieth of the action of almost any other native plant. [...] It has proven invasive on both U.S. coasts [...] A native of Asia, it has no checks and balances in the U.S., and as a larger wildlife-supporting plant, it just doesn't pass muster. [...] Butterfly bush flowers limit the types of insects that can reach its nectar, but besides this the nectar and plant have no evolutionary history with native insects — they aren't adapted to each other, so they're like perfect strangers.
[...] The key to good garden design, and replacing butterfly bush, is succession gardening. This means always having something in bloom from spring through fall. When one key pollinator plant stops blooming, another turns on to take its place.
This way we can mimic the long bloom time of butterfly bush, which helps our garden aesthetically while benefiting insects. I'm going to run down a list of plants native to a large portion of the central and eastern U.S., but you should always confirm what's native to you....
EXCERPT: No one believes me [...but...] The butterfly bush sees one-tenth, even one-twentieth of the action of almost any other native plant. [...] It has proven invasive on both U.S. coasts [...] A native of Asia, it has no checks and balances in the U.S., and as a larger wildlife-supporting plant, it just doesn't pass muster. [...] Butterfly bush flowers limit the types of insects that can reach its nectar, but besides this the nectar and plant have no evolutionary history with native insects — they aren't adapted to each other, so they're like perfect strangers.
[...] The key to good garden design, and replacing butterfly bush, is succession gardening. This means always having something in bloom from spring through fall. When one key pollinator plant stops blooming, another turns on to take its place.
This way we can mimic the long bloom time of butterfly bush, which helps our garden aesthetically while benefiting insects. I'm going to run down a list of plants native to a large portion of the central and eastern U.S., but you should always confirm what's native to you....