I had trouble watching the video, I'm afraid. It kept "buffering." I got the general idea, though. I wish I had that much action in my garden! It looks beautiful! I'm hoping to put in liatris next, year; I hope that will help.
Congrats!
Liz

Yeah, I see what you mean...
I think photobucket has the bandwidth restricted such that it is not streaming smoothly.

To bad, b-fly lovers would have enjoyed it..

I'm SO glad you posted, Ron! Remember all those liatris seeds you sent me, and we were disappointed that they never came up? Well, they came up, and there are about 8 or 9 of them blooming now. One is about 5 1/2' tall, with about 3' of it in buds and/or blooms. I may not have noticed them in the weeds, but they did indeed come up.

I really enjoyed the video! There were a lot of tigers, at least one monarch (amazing!) a gulf frit?, and I think I saw a palamedes swallowtail? I haven't seen a monarch all year. :(
The liatris in your video looks just the same as mine, but yours is further along in its blooming. Mine only get a half day of sun. I'll gather seeds and scatter them about - I'd love to have as much as you do!

Sherry

This post was edited by misssherry on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 21:08

That is a very popular liatris patch. Shows that mass planting of nectar plants are great butterfly attractors. Thanks for posting.

This post was edited by butterflymomok on Sun, Aug 4, 13 at 17:31

WOW!!! Awesome action for sure. I loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Angie

What a thrill to see so many butterflies at one patch of flowers! That must have been a fabulous sight!

Did you shoot that video in the wild or is the Liatris growing in your garden?

That was some great footage. It is inspiring me to work even harder on developing my butterfly area. I was thinking of just letting things mature for a year or so, but I can always rip things out if it gets too crowded. I have two types of liatris that each bloom separately. The "Gayfeather" is just finishing, and the L ligulastylis is about to bloom for the first time. It was a wintersown seedling last year. I took a picture yesterday to keep track of how the season progresses and to help me know where to move things according to height.

Cool. Liatris, as well as Milkweed and other late blooming summer/fall nectar sources are important to the Monarch now for their trip South.
Goldenrod and Asters are also excellent for Monarchs and other butterflies.

Ron,

Thank you so much for sharing. It's so nice to watch the little jewels enjoying the day. Wonderful activity on the Liatris. I have grown it before and it is a butterfly magnet. Like other's have mentioned, it is an excellent bloomer for late summer nectar ... ordered 22 plugs this summer and they are busy developing a good root structure. Will go into the ground as soon as I've removed all of the crossvine.

Sherry, congrats on your new Liatris plants. I have had no luck with germinating Liatris ligulistylis, which is native to my state. I ordered fresh seed and I'm going to try again.

Mary

Well, thanks for all the nice comments and new info.
Sherry, so pleased to hear some came up!

To combine a few answers:
The patch is alongside my "driveway", I never planted a single seed or rootstock...Mother Nature did all the work, after I burned the brush out. I do alternately cut or burn it once a year..in late winter/early spring.

I do this in several other areas as well, resulting in wide variations of flowers/grass/brush due to slope, moisture levels, soil type etc., but all patches lure butterflies and various pollinators. Due to limited success with purchased/planted stuff, this has become my "minimal effort" volunteer B-fly gardening technique... ; -)

I adopted this method after Katrina and a minimal tornado opened up large gaps in the tree canopy...otherwise known as "making lemonade," it works for me in large part because I can burn "out there"

Going offshore for two weeks...till next time.

All I can say is wow! I have only seen so many Tigers one other time and that was in a state park. I think I saw at least four different types of butterflies in the video. Remarkable.