The butterfly border

The butterfly border

Garden plants |

Look at that!

It’s just lovely to watch butterflies visiting these plants on warm and sunny days in the garden. The flowers in this border will attract lots of the more populous butterflies such as the Peacock Butterfly, Red Admiral, small tortoiseshell and Pieridae (not all are pests, such as the cabbage white). Butterflies are always very welcome in the garden and are attracted to bright colours, so the plants we’d expect to receive the most visits from butterflies are verbena (Verbena), red coneflower (Echinacia), smartweed (Persicaria) and gayfeather (Liatris). Perhaps you still have room for a pretty butterfly bush (Buddleia)? The flowers of the Butterfly bush act like a magnet to butterflies!

Exotic looking red and purple

The unusual mix of reds and purples is conspicuous in this butterfly border. The red spears of Persicaria and the bright red flowers of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ contrast wonderfully with the purple Verbena and the Liatris. The ornamental tufted grass called Deschampsia gives a natural appearance to the entire display in this butterfly border.

Big or small borders

This ready-made butterfly border pack will look wonderful in a large border but is also suitable for a small border or could even be potted up into a large planter. The plants in this border pack should be planted in ordinary garden soil, in a nice, sunny or partly shaded spot.

Cut everything back down to soil level in the early spring and you will soon see new shoots growing above ground from the roots. Remove all weeds from the border and scatter organic fertiliser pellets. This butterfly border is otherwise fairly undemanding.

You will find the following plants in this border:
Verbena bonariensis , Persicaria amplexicaulis 'JS Caliente', Deschampsia cespitosa 'Goldtau', Liatris spicata, Crocosmia 'Lucifer', Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' .

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