9 Plants That Will Add Fireworks To Your Fall Butterfly Garden

An American Lady enjoying the nectar of a Liatris flower.

Fall can sometimes be a disheartening season. The days are growing shorter, evenings darker, and the summer's bounty is drying up. But there are still a whole lot of insects busy at work out there, Monarch butterflies and honeybees being two of the most charismatic and well-known. If you're gardening specifically to support pollinators like these, you should think about adding fall-blooming plants to your garden. Here are nine of my favorite plants and plant groups for fall blooms in the butterfly garden:

1. Joe Pye Weed  (Eupatorium species). A very tall plant stretching 5 to 7 feet high, the reddish-pink fuzzy blooms are often covered with Tiger Swallowtails and other butterflies.

I also grow native Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) in my garden, but find that its white flowers are not as popular with butterflies as the pink flowers are. Many kinds of bees do love the Boneset flowers, though. Be warned, Boneset is a pretty aggressive reseeder in my experience. I pull seedlings out of the driveway, the lawn, and my vegetable garden every year. My Joe Pye Weed isn't very good at reseeding, on the other hand.

Joe Pye Weed at Brookside Gardens, with several skippers and a bumble bee

2. Ironweed  (Vernonia species). I love the vibrant purple of Ironweed flowers! Like Eupatorium, they look like fuzzy little clusters. I'd say they are less popular with my pollinators on a pure total insects basis, but probably on a ratio of pollinators per square inch they're pretty close.

To be honest, I'm not sure whether I'm growing New York Ironweed (Vernonia novaboracensis) or Tall Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea), or even another species, since I got them at a plant swap a few years ago, where they were labeled simply "Ironweed."

Vernonia, like Eupatorium, is very tall, so I grow both against a fence between my yard and my neighbor's yard. The contrast of the purple with a butter-yellow Eastern Tiger Swallowtail or orange Monarch Butterfly is really something. For that matter, they'd look pretty sharp in a bouquet with the next two flowers.

Ironweed with a Peck's Skipper, a Tawny-Edged Skipper, and a honeybee

3. Goldenrod-- Solidago genus. There are tons of different goldenrod species. Some have flat-topped clusters of flowers, while others are like wands or fans. Some grow very tall while others stay fairly short. All of course have the classic tiny yellow individual flowers that are so popular with bees and butterflies. This is another plant that has been a vigorous spreader in my garden.

Different species of goldenrod seem to have very different bloom times; some varieties I see at Brookside Gardens are already in bloom, while my plants are still budding up. So the earlier varieties could help to feed the last local generation of Monarch butterflies in my area, while the later ones can help migrators as they pass through the area in a couple weeks or so.

Bees also love goldenrod, as evidenced by the bulging pollen basket of this bumblebee!

4. The state flower of Maryland, Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), is another great flower for your late summer and early fall pollinators. There are actually several different varieties of Rudbeckia, and it seems like more are developed each year by plant breeders. I would use any one in order to add a cheerful pop of yellow to the butterfly bed, and do in fact grow at least two or three varieties.  Goldfinches love the seeds of these if you allow the flowers to ripen, so you'll also have the bright yellow flashes darting through your garden to add to the flowers' own beauty in that case.

Black-eyed Susan with a hungry Pearl Crescent

5. Several native Asters are good additions to a late-season pollinator garden. New England Asters (Aster novae-angliae) are covered with purple daisy-like flowers. New York Asters (Aster novi-belgii) has flowers that range from purple to pink to white. Both of these asters are very popular with bees and butterflies.

New England Aster with bee

6. I used to think that Liatris were native only to the Midwest, but it turns out there are several species that are native to the midAtlantic. Dense Blazingstar (Liatris spicata) and Rough Blazingstar (Liatris aspera) both bloom in late August through at least September. During my recent visit to Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD, Liatris flowers were highly popular with skippers as well as bees of many types. Both species grow medium-tall stalks of pinkish to purplish flowers. They're nowhere near as tall as the Joe Pye Weed or Ironweed, though, so they might be a nice counterpoint in your pollinator garden. (I did not note the exact species of the Liatris I used for this post's lead photo, but clearly it was satisfactory to the American Lady butterfly!)

Dense Blazingstar with skipper

7. Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus strumosis) is just as popular with songbirds as it is with pollinators. It's another fairly tall plant, holding clusters of bright yellow flowers up to six feet off the ground. Sunflowers are one of my all-time favorite flower groups: the cheery yellow always puts a smile on my face. Plus it turns out they are particularly important for many of our native bee species and other pollinators, according to the Xerxes Society.

I couldn't find a Woodland Sunflower to photograph, but this Syrphid Fly sure thinks this similar looking flower is a great source of nectar anyway!

8. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Until now, you might have wondered at my purple and yellow color theme so far. Cardinal Flower, however, is a vivid scarlet and is beloved by hummingbirds as well as many bees and butterflies. I often see Spicebush Swallowtail nectaring on the Cardinal Flowers at Brookside Gardens, like the one below. Unfortunately, Cardinal Flower seems to be not as vigorous a plant as some of the others on my list. The Prairie Nursery seed catalog warns, "Short-lived, it may require replanting every few years, but is well worth the effort." I did indeed experience this: the Cardinal Flower I planted lasted maybe two or three years before disappearing. If you don't have any red blooms in your late-summer garden it might be worth adding this to your garden, to help support migrating hummingbirds as they pass through your yard, as well as to round out your color scheme.

Spicebush Swallowtail on Cardinal Flower

9. Asclepias or Milkweed species are nearly mandatory for any pollinator garden plant list, in my opinion. There are so many to choose from, regardless of where in the US you live. Although their flowers are probably going to wind down near the end of August, I think they still merit a mention here as they will certainly attract Monarch butterflies, a fireworks-like species if there ever was one! You may still have breeding Monarchs in your area in August and September, as I often do, so if you hope to attract them for the food you might as well get them to stay for their larval host plant. Then when their offspring are ready to migrate, or when the migrating monarchs from further north come through your area, they will certainly be glad of the late-season buffet you are providing with the above list of plants.

This Monarch caterpillar is so plump, I think it must surely be close to pupation! This late in the season, it might be destined to be a migrating butterfly and will soon be on its way to Mexico.

Did I leave out any of your favorite fall flowers? Let me know in the comments.

Catalogs I consulted for this entry:

• Wildseed Farms Sells most if not all of the plants listed here. Their FAQ also has lots of good information about planting and maintaining wildflower gardens.
• Prairie Nursery's American Natives This is a wholesale site, but it does have a lot of good plants and information. You could probably use this as a reference and then look for individual or local retailers who carry their plants and seeds. 

Locations I visited for this entry's photographs:

• Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD.
• Meadowside Nature Center, in Rockville, MD.

Frost Whispering

It’s been an unusually mild fall and early winter so far. We had half an inch of snow a couple days before Halloween—very early for our area—but other than that the weather’s been quite warm. We’ve had some daytime temperatures as high as the 50s and 60s (Fahrenheit) even into December, and only in the last few weeks have we regularly had nights cold enough for frost.

About two weeks ago, though, a particularly heavy frost inspired me to try some winter photography both in my back yard and at Meadowside.

Due to the crazy weather, I still had dill in the garden. The volunteer seedlings that sprouted in late summer were still thriving despite the early snow and occasional hard frosts.  Now the feathery fronds were all sugared with frost and surprisingly ethereal.

Dill in December?!

I harvested some dill just a few days later; it wasn't frost-burnt at all.

Of course I had to scrape the ice off my windshield before I could hit the road. I grumbled at even this short delay, worried the frost might melt before I could get to the park.

I had to rummage through the garden shed before I found my ice scraper, more delay!

But when I reached Meadowside everything was still rimed with ice. Frost lay in a glittering cover across the grass, and crunched under my boots.

Part of the path around Meadowside's pond.

There was even a patchy skin of ice on the pond. I’m told by my family in Maine that their favorite skating pond hadn’t even had this much ice yet—their weather has been oddly mild so far too.

Not exactly skating ice.

A little clump of reeds in the middle of the water was positively furry with ice crystals.

 

I love the two different forms of crystal here: flat plates vs sharp spikes.

This shot makes me think of a monstrous spider crawling across the pond.

Here the whippy loops of the reeds seem almost frantic to get out of the pond.

A short hour after I arrived, the sun had cleared the treetops and sunshine began to creep across the grassy areas.  I crouched down to try to capture light shining through the frost.

Sparkly.

As I snapped shot after shot, I started to notice a quiet crackling just at the edge of my hearing. It was a little bit like distant static, or like somebody gently crumpling a piece of plastic wrap.  I couldn’t trace the sound to any specific location, it was just whispering all around me. Then I realized perhaps I was hearing the frost start to melt, as the tiny ice crystals cracked and even detached from leaves and twigs. Wow!

The sunlight starts to hit the frosty field.

After an early-morning ice storm you can sometimes hear the ice quietly shifting and resettling on everything around you. This was like that but on a much, much smaller scale. It was totally unexpected, and if there had been anybody else at the pond I might have missed it. For that matter, if I hadn’t been holding still for so long, I might even have drowned it out with my own breathing or my own footsteps. I’ve never heard frost whisper before; I didn’t know it was even possible. It was a brief and solitary experience, but it was still the best part of my day.

This entry's locations:

• Meadowside Nature Center, Rockville, MD.
• My yard, Montgomery County, MD.

End of Season Death and Drama at Meadowside

 Ok, just a quick post today. I'm sorry I haven't been posting very often lately, I'm taking a writing class this semester so a lot of my writing time and energy is going toward assignments. But I did find a few hours lately to get out and look around.

I spent a few brief hours at Meadowside Nature Center this week.  Again I planned to search for late-season butterflies.  I did find some, including my first-ever American Lady. Although not as well known for migrating as Monarchs, American Ladies also survive cold northern winters by fleeing south.

This could have been a migrant from north of our area, or could have hatched locally. It's gorgeous either way!

I also saw more Buckeyes and a Common Checkered-Skipper. Their summer ranges include my area, but I've only ever seen both species at the very end of the season. So for me they mean fall.

Such an unblemished individual makes me think this Buckeye originated locally. But who knows, maybe it's just a very lucky traveler-- Buckeyes migrate too, like Monarchs and American Ladies.

The only other Common Checkered-Skippers I've seen were all nectaring on aster type flowers like this. I don't think they're migrants though.

But the real drama at the pond wasn't the long journeys of the butterflies, but something much fiercer. I found several praying mantids hiding in the goldenrod all around the pond. Two females, one male, and a couple others of unidentified gender. The male even flew onto the grass in front of me for a moment.  I shooed it to safety though as some kids on a field trip approached. Then on the other side of the pond, I spent about half an hour watching and photographing one large mantis as she caught and devoured bug after bug after bug. Yikes!

When I started photographing, the mantis glared at me as if to say, "What are you lookin at?"

But then she spotted a small green bee that looked mighty tasty. She froze, waiting for the right moment...

...and bam! Almost too fast to see, she snatched the bee and sank her mandibles into the poor bug's abdomen.

She caught several more bugs as I watched. Even as the mantis devoured her prey, other bees continued to buzz nearby, including this hovering one with an apparent deathwish.

It's a rough life, being a bug. They have to escape bonechilling temperatures, bloodthirsty predators, and even survive hundred-mile-long journeys. I'm glad I have the chance to observe it all though.

This entry's site: Meadowside Nature Center, Rockville, MD

Mantis Wrangling

Yesterday morning was one of the coldest we’d had in months. When I woke up, it was only 41 degrees F.  Brr!  A cold front had swept through Thursday night, its dramatic thunderstorms leaving us much colder air than normal: our usual lows this time of year are more like 50 or 60 degrees.

So I decided to delay my planned hike for a few hours.  I’d hoped to spot some late-season butterflies, perhaps even some migrating monarchs, but there was no way I'd find much with such chilly temperatures.  The cold front might even have dropped in some really neat migrant birds, but I just wasn’t feeling the birding vibe. I know, I’m a slacker birder.

I finally got to the pond around 11:20 to find it crawling with children, maybe 7 or 8 years old. Their shrieks of discovery and delight filled the air even as far away as the parking lot, as did the frantic and increasingly flustered scoldings from the chaperones.  I nearly turned tail, but decided I would be strong and carry on. It’s not like I was looking for birds anyway, right? Bugs would be much more tolerant of the noise, or so I hoped.

Hunting for insects.

Near the pond, one of the chaperones crouched protectively over a spot near the path.  Shouts like “I found a rattlesnake!”, “I caught a praying mantis,” and “A butterfly landed on my sleeve!” were frequent. So I too wanted to see what the adult was guarding.  I hoped perhaps a snake made sluggish by the cold. Dozens of hyperactive children zoomed back and forth along the pond’s edge as I approached.

It turned out to be a lovely chocolate-brown praying mantis. One of the adults had discovered the mantis next to the path, right in the way of stampeding feet, and wanted to keep it safe.  The man told me he intended to move her to some nearby brush, but he seemed reluctant to touch her.  Just then, the teacher started chivvying the class to the next station down the trail.  So of course I offered to help with the mantis.

First I tried to gently scoop her up in my cupped hands.  Boy, was that a failure. Every time I got her in one hand she’d scuttle right off.  I even tried walking my alternating hands in front of her, but she was too fast for me even in the cold temperatures.  After half a dozen failed tries I declared she could get to the brush under her own power if she was going to be so ornery.  The class was gone now and the chaperone made his way after them as well.  I started herding the mantis across several feet of lawn.

I still needed to somehow pick her up to place her deep enough in the brush for safety.  I was sure more children were headed my way, since the first group left their equipment behind.

Basket of bug-catchers.

Since my scooping technique had already failed, and I didn’t want to cause her any more damage (her right eye looked injured, although she didn’t seem to have any trouble seeing my hand approach from the right side, or evading said hand), I needed a new strategy.  Finally it occurred to me maybe I could just coax her onto my sleeve and carry her that way.  Indeed that worked, perhaps all too well: once I got her onto my sleeve she did not want to get off. I chased her up and down my arm for a few minutes.

I'm comfy here, thank you very much.

Finally I managed to push her into the brush. She perched upside down there for several minutes, allowing me to admire her colorful abdomen.

Does this leaf make my butt look big?

Eventually I wandered off to explore the pond and the nearby meadow as I’d planned.  There really were very few butterflies or any insects at all in attendance, even far from the disturbance of children; I didn’t even see a single dragonfly until three in the afternoon when it finally warmed up enough for them.  Mostly the bees had exclusive control of the thistles and other flowers, but I did I find a few dozy butterflies, many of whom were a bit tattered this late in the season. I even surprised a deer who had ventured down to the pond for a snack after the children left. 

Bumble bee slurping up the thistle nectar.

Rather tattered Great Spangled Fritillary.

A surprisingly cherry Gray Hairstreak.

One of my target species for the day: a Buckeye.

The surprise sighting of the day: this hungry doe.

So I’m glad I braved the horde of children that had taken over the normally quiet pond.  I’ll check back there in a few days when the weather warms up again. Maybe by then more butterflies will be back out. 

Today's location: Meadowside Nature Center, Rock Creek Regional Park, Rockville, MD

Yikes

Praying Mantis lurks in some Boneset.

Predators were everywhere when I visited the pond at Meadowside Nature Center last week.  Some of them I spotted right away, some I only found when I looked at my photos later. I photographed this Monarda to catch a small bee in action, but later realized I had captured a Praying Mantis lurking in ambush! Good thing I’m not small enough to be prey, I would have blundered right into the mantis’ trap.

The mantis is just to the left of the top two blossoms.

I also found these tattered remains of a Monarch butterfly in the pond—perhaps a dragonfly’s victim.  It’s too bad, too-- I haven't seen many Monarchs this summer. Hopefully I’ll spot more over the next several weeks, especially as their migration starts.

Death among the lily pads.

Later I discovered another mantis lurking on the side of a wooden fence post.  Here it’s munching on half of a bug; in the next shot you can also see the other half of the carcass on a nearby plant stem.

Munch munch.

Cleaning up after dinner.

A few hours later I witnessed a tremendous battle in miniature. First I heard an odd-sounding cicada, rattling slowly and somewhat erratically.  I was able to trace the sound to a clump of shrubby plants with willow-like leaves.

A cicada I'd seen earlier in the day.

It took me a few minutes to search the greenery.  Then I noticed a small patch of leaves shaking.  I finally found the dark shape of the cicada—and realized why it was struggling to make noise: a praying mantis had it clutched in a death grip! The cicada was pretty huge compared to the mantis, several times the size of the mantis’s head.  That was one strong and ambitious mantis. It hung on to the cicada even when pulled upside down. The cicada wasn’t giving in easily, either. The battle seemed to go in waves: first the cicada would make some progress, the mantis getting yanked back and forth as the cicada almost got free.  Then the mantis would wrestle it back under control and the cicada would quiet down, but not for long.  Finally the mantis won, chomping into the cicada’s abdomen while the latter’s legs were still wriggling! Yikes.

Fight stage A-- mantis is currently winning.

Fight stage B-- cicada's struggles have pulled mantis upside down.

I saw lots of other hunting going on at the pond that morning too. A Red-tailed Hawk circled overhead, a spider wasp prowled among the lily pads and a fishing spider stalked across the pond surface.

Red-tailed Hawk looking for lunch.

Spider wasp, family Pompilidae.

Six-spotted Fishing Spider creeps across the hydrilla.

Wow. I was sure glad there were no predators large enough to hunt me.

This entry's location: Meadowside Nature Center, Rock Creek Regional Park, Rockville, MD.

Beaten by the heat

As you may have heard, it’s been really, really hot and humid in much of the US lately, including my neck of the woods. I am not a fan of extremely hot weather, having grown up in Massachusetts.  On one of the cooler days though, when temps peaked only (!) in the mid 90s, I managed to eke out a few hours of nature exploration.  It was already hot and humid when I got outside in the morning, but worse was forecast for later in the week.

I wanted to check out Meadowside Nature Center, at the opposite end of Rock Creek Regional Park from Lake Frank. Unfortunately, I chose the one day the center is closed weekly. The trails are open sunrise to sunset, though, and there is also a small pond nearby. The pond was my primary target this trip anyway.

Meadowside's pond looks quiet but it's full of wildlife even in the heat.

I found a ton of juvenile robins in the area, a few weeks or so past fledge.  I love to watch adolescent birds, they’re so gawky and cute. I saw some of the robins in grassy areas near the nature center and many more in the forest later, bathing in and drinking from a small stream. Many of them were gaping too, the bird equivalent of panting. They didn’t like the heat any more than I did.

A few of the bathing robins trying to stay cool.

When I got down to the pond I spotted a White-tail doe hock deep in the water, munching on juicy water lily and spatterdock leaves. She kept glancing up at me to see if I was a threat. But since I stayed still and crept closer only when her head was lowered, I got to watch her for several minutes before she trotted calmly away.

The spatterdock this doe is eating must be cool and tasty!

The pond is small, but I spent almost the whole morning there. My husband gave me a copy of Dragonflies Through Binoculars this summer (thanks sweetie!), and there were tons of dragonflies around the pond. Although the guide is thorough, it’s not well set up for field use by a complete newbie.  I would spot a dragonfly with a slate blue body and mostly unmarked wings, for example, and have to page through the entire set of color plates before I could find the ID.  I wish it was somehow indexed or cross-referenced by key field marks instead of merely grouped by family classification.  I’ll get the hang of it eventually though.

Anyway, my favorite dragonfly sighting was the dramatically marked Banded Pennant. I also found Eastern Pondhawks, Widow Skimmers, Amberwings, and Blue Dashers, plus others I couldn't identify.

I chased several Banded Pennants before I finally got one to hold still for a photo.

I don't know what species this is, but it sure let me get close! Very cool.

The most interesting dragonfly behavior I spotted was how a Blue Dasher dealt with the heat.  Instead of perching broadside to the sun all the time, it did something called obelisking.  It lifted its body into somewhat of a handstand, pointing the tip of its abdomen directly toward the sun to reduce its exposure. Definitely something I could identify with!

Blue Dasher perched normally

A few minutes later... Blue Dasher obelisking to stay cool.

After the pond I spent a short while on the shady, wooded trails, but even there I couldn’t escape the sweltering heat. Eventually I just had to give in. I headed home around noon, a couple hours earlier than I normally do. I’ll return again soon, though, once the weather is a little more tolerable for this New England girl!

This entry’s location: 
Meadowside Nature Center, Rock Creek Regional Park, Rockville, MD.