Butterfly magnets for the garden

I've tried different remedies to keep destructive deer away from tender, tasty plants in my garden. Now I'm on a mission to attract butterflies to its flowers.

Walters Gardens, a wholesale grower of perennials, sent me a box of plants. Inside were several aptly-named butterfly bushes. I hope their newly-introduced variety, Buddleia 'Glass Slippers,' has magical Cinderella qualities to lure the winged beauties to my back yard.

The ID photo showed a low, wide-spreading shape with lavender- blue flowers on silver stems that gracefully arch from the center like butterfly wings. But the best part was the perfectly- timed blooms from late summer to fall.

Most everything else in my garden - like coneflowers and black-eyed susans - have packed it in by then. The Walters Gardens description promises that butterflies, bees and hummingbirds "will flock to their honey-scented blossoms."

I planted three of the 18-inch tall shrubs in a sunny spot last weekend and was looking forward to the late summer show. But on the tag in teeny-tiny print was "Zone 5-10." Darn it. The Twin Cities metro area is predominantly Zone 4 - except for some lucky parts of south Minneapolis. So I'll have to make sure to heavily mulch and give them good protection before winter.

After a Google search - I found a Zone 4 variety - the stunning Buddleia 3-in-1 Butterfly Bush. It's a prolific bloomer of lavender, white and magenta star-like flowers. It's on my list for next spring.
I laid a flat stone next to my butterfly bushes after reading about how boulders add structure and give a warming spot for butterflies in a "Northern Gardener" story from the March/April issue. It includes a list of other great butterfly magnets - blazing star, golden Alexander, yarrow, swamp milkweed and oxeye sunflower.

I'll report in the fall on the progress of my 'Glass Slippers' and if butterflies flit to my yard for happy hour. What do you plant to lure butterflies to your beds? Have you had good luck with butterfly bushes?

Photos by Walters Gardens and Michigan Bulb.