It might be November, but it doesn’t feel much like fall here in Central Texas. We’ve had mostly eighty degree days for a while now, and though that’s better than the one hundred-degree stretch we suffered through in August, it still seems strange. But to be honest, I’m glad it’s still warm because I’m not ready to say good-bye to my flowers yet! Especially when they are so often visited by butterflies.
The butterflies seem to like just about all the flowers in my yard–my butterfly bush is always a favorite, hence the name. But this year, two flowers stood out among all the rest, quite unexpectedly: marigolds and cosmos.
It’s been a stellar year for butterflies. I’ve seen more species in the last few months than I ever have before. Just goes to show, if you want to bring butterflies to your yard, you need to plant flowers–a lot of them!
The biggest butterfly attractors have been the French marigolds I planted in my vegetable garden. I’ve never given much thought to marigolds. I’ve never thought they were all that interesting. The only reason I planted them was as companion plants to my tomatoes to help deter pests. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by just how many flowers each plant blooms and how long they last. The colors are quite stunning too.
Of course, the butterflies aren’t the marigolds’ only visitors. Bees love them too.
My cosmos have been another flower popular with the pollinators. While they don’t bloom quite as profusely as the marigolds, they do put out plenty of flowers–especially if you deadhead or cut them as often as I do for my pressed flower art (by the way, cosmos make excellent pressed flowers; marigolds do not!). I love the cosmos’ long, graceful stems.
I’ve already got my flower seed packets ready for next year, with both nectar and host plant seeds. Maybe next year, I’ll break my butterfly spotting record.
