This month we focus on attracting living stained glass to your garden – butterflies! Host plants, larval food plants, and nectar sources are important to them to meet the needs of all their life stages.

Design for a butterfly garden should include many different flowering plants for a long season of blooms. Include shelter from winds, a small shallow water source and maybe even some mud. Leave a corner of the yard messy – unpruned and weedy – for additional habitat.

We may be lucky to see Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and a variety of Skippers in our gardens.

Monarch butterflies are as iconic to Californians as the redwoods. Plant Asclepius speciosa /Milkweed to provide their favorite host plant. They bloom and seed profusely.

May Pollinator Plants

	Cosmos – tall annuals with delicate foliage and large showy flowers in white, pink and rose.
	Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa sp.) – old fashioned favorites hold their purple “pincushion” flowers well above the foliage.
	Lantana – many tiny flowers in one head in these multi-colored tropical looking trailers and low shrubs.
	Lavender – water wise, easy to grow, colorful and fragrant, there is a lavender variety for every garden.
	Penstemon – Showy, brightly colored trumpets withstand sunny dry conditions.
	Sea Thrift (Armeria sp.) – cute little grassy tufts grow pink pom pom flowers.
	Valerian or Jupiter’s Beard (Centranthus sp.) – vigorous, happy go lucky pink or white flower spikes.
	Mallow – many species including easy to grow, water-wise native and old-fashioned garden varieties with showy flowers.