June 2024 Butterfly Garden Tour

Hello! Let’s go on a garden tour!

View from the balcony

I grow mostly native perennials, but sometimes I see a pretty novelty at the garden center and can’t resist.

Garden phlox (Phlox paniculata)

The garden phlox has done well! Its fuchsia clusters of flowers are always eye-catching. The orange butterflyweed is also thriving. I bought three tiny seedlings from Mary’s Greenhouse several years ago, and now they are the size of bushes.

orange butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta) are two of my favorite flowers. The butterflies love them, the goldfinches love them, and I love them. It feels like I’m living in a meadow when I look out the window. They can also withstand dry, rocky soil, which is certainly a plus. We often joke that we live on Rocky Top because “corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top, dirt’s too rocky by far,” just like the lyrics of the song.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and a bumblebee

Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Dense blazing star is another favorite of mine. The tall, vertical spikes add interest to the garden composition, and the bright purple flowers create a split complementary color scheme with the Echinacea and Rudbeckia.

Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata). Fun fact: spicata means “spiked” in Latin.

The Chinese butterfly orchids have thrived this year. Although they’re not endemic to Tennessee, I love how the parallel venation adds palm-like variety to the garden.

Chinese butterfly orchid (Bletilla ochrecea)

This post would not be complete without my beloved butterfly bush (Buddleja). I have had the same one since building the garden with my dad in 2017, and it never ceases to live up to its name. Did you know that butterflies are attracted to the color purple?

Butterfly bush ((Buddleja genus)

The coral honeysuckle, or trumpet honeysuckle, has done its best to attract hummingbirds despite attacks from deer. At the end of last season, I pruned it heavily and attempted to propagate the cuttings. A few of them survived and are now growing on the woodshed.

Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). The species name, sempervirens, means “always alive” and refers to the plant’s evergreen leaves.

The St. John’s wort… I questioned including it in this post because it blooms so seldomly. Also from Mary’s Greenhouse, this groundcover has tried to take over the corner of the garden via an underground root system. I didn’t realize that this species was a groundcover when I bought it, but it does do a nice job covering the unsightly downspout beside the stepping stones.

Creeping St. John’s wort (Hypericum calycinum)

Zinnias (below) are like butterfly magnets! Even though they’re annuals, I planted a bunch in the bottom section to fill in the gaps between the Echinacea patches that are still getting established.

Zinnia

Another butterfly magnet is the lollipop verbena. This one tends to look a little weedy and sometimes grows where it hasn’t been invited, but the cabbage whites love it. It attracts clouds of them!

Lollipop verbana (Verbena bonariensis) and a cabbage white butterfly

The ground section is comprised of Echinacea, Rudbeckia, zinnias, and garden phlox. I planted gladiolus beside the wall, but I picked them for an arrangement before I could take their picture.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Let’s walk around to the front of the house. I want to show you the roses. A couple years ago we replaced the boxwoods with azaleas, hydrangeas, and roses.

Knock out rose (Rosa 'Knock Out')

The azaleas aren’t in bloom, but the hydrangeas are!

Panicled hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata)

We also have blue and pink ones.

Bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla)

We put red begonias in the two front planters beside the steps.

We have purslane (Portulaca) in the two side planters. Their succulent leaves and stems store water and help them withstand the Tennessee summer heat.

Purslane (Portulaca)

We tried growing tuberous begonias for the first time this year. They were beautiful, but sadly, the one pictured below only lasted a few months.

Tuberous begonia

And that’s the June flower garden tour! Now for the butterflies to arrive. Swallowtails usually show up in force in July, and the monarchs pass through on their way to Mexico in late August. Thanks for coming along on the tour!