I live in Short Pump and have a nice bed that really draws them in (along with the bumblebees and hummingbirds) They seem drawn to some of the following: scabiosa, salvia (especially the black and blue) verbena, monardia, liatris, butterfly bush, and dill/fennel. I also recommend planting some milkweeds as the monarch catapillers really love munching on them.

Hope that's a start,
TBT

I don't have a butterfly garden, I have a butterfly farm in Short Pump! The black swallowtails have taken over my parsley patch and have been hatching caterpillars like crazy since the beginning of July. Last week was a bumper crop of close to 16 caterpillars (it was hard after a while to get an exact count). After these cocoon, that will probably be it as the parsley is now nearly gone.

I have let my oregano go to flower to give the new butterflies something to eat after they hatch.

I have a butterfly garden over our pet cemetery :) I've planted five different colors of butterfly bush, butterfly weed, three different colors of monarda, and random scattered seeds from the butterfly/hummingbird combo seeds I bought at Lowe's, as well as letting sweet basil grow wild and go to flower, which butterflies seem to really swarm when it's at its peak. There's a whole forum for butterfly gardening, although a lot of it is about collecting and raising caterpillars which is far above what I'm capable of :) The FAQ there is wonderful, though.

It was rather interesting to watch how as the parsley dwindled, so did the amount of caterpillars munching on it. I don't know if they died because of the competition for the remaining parsley or if they crawled off and made their cocoon somewhere. We have several cocoons on the sides of the deck and probably more in the scarlet runner beans that were on the other side of the deck from the parsley.

We did have a black swallowtail butterfly back on Sunday to check out the parsley, but the Vizsla nearly caught it. He's been chasing the bumble bees hanging around the beans and the butterfly came just within range. Unfortunately, after that we did not see the butterfly again.

I have a anise plant that is over 5 feet tall and is producing seeds. I don't care for its licorice flavor so I don't use the seed or foliage. The only reason I grow this plant is to feed black swallowtail caterpillars. They are happy to eat it and leave the dill and parsley to me. If you want seeds, dogear6, let me know.

Ryan,

How old is your 5ft anice plant? Is it a fast growing plant? Would you happen to have a picture of it to share online? Thanks.

This is its third and last year, a short lived perennial. I grow dill(an annual) and anise self-seeded in the same area. They look exactly alike as seedlings. The only way you can tell them apart is to pinch off a bit and taste. The dill tastes like dill and the anise tastes like licorice.

It is magnificent in its final year (actually taller than 5ft.) So handsome, I let this one grow beside the front walk but now it's heavy with seed and leaning into the azaleas. I'm just waiting for the last of the seed to ripen before I take it out.

I've been growing anise for years, so I must have pictures of it in all stages. I need to find them and figure out how to post pictures. No time now though...

I promised to bring anise seeds to the mid-atlantic swap this spring, but I have extra. If dogear or any one else on this thread is too far away from southern Maryland, let me know and e-mail me your address. I have 5 extra seed pkts I can send out.

Sorry--I still haven't gone through the pictures....

I work at a flower farm and our butterflies love the zinnias, scabiosa, monarda, and especially the tithonia (mexican sunflower)Those are the only flowers we practically have to shake the butterflies off to harvest!

rian, do you have any anise seed left?

Sorry, I sent the last of the paper pkts out to va-plantlover earlier this week. Somewhere or other I have a jar of seeds that I put aside for the mid-atlantic swap and as back up for myself if for some reason I don't have volunteers next spring.

I'm happy to send some your way if I don't use them then or if you can wait, I should have more next year.