previous
  • Homegrown / Homemade
    Homegrown / Homemade
  • Lawn Alternatives
    Lawn Alternatives
  • Building a Compost Bin
    Building a Compost Bin
  • Containers as Focal Points
    Containers as Focal Points
  • Plants that Spark!
    Plants that Spark!
  • Comfortable Alfresco Dining
    Comfortable Alfresco Dining
  • 6 Tips for Weed Control
    6 Tips for Weed Control
  • Thoughts From a Foreign Field
    Thoughts From a Foreign Field
  • Stylish Shady Containers
    Stylish Shady Containers
  • Pretty in Pink
    Pretty in Pink
  • Slideshow: Beautiful Clematis
    Slideshow: Beautiful Clematis
  • Designing with Curved Terraces
    Designing with Curved Terraces
  • Elephant's Ears
    Elephant's Ears
  • Make a Succulent Topiary
    Make a Succulent Topiary
  • Fragrant Plants for Pathways
    Fragrant Plants for Pathways
  • Colorful Selections for Shade
    Colorful Selections for Shade
  • Fast-Growing Trees for Impatient Gardeners
    Fast-Growing Trees for Impatient Gardeners
  • Garden Confidential: A Plant Walks into a Bar
    Garden Confidential: A Plant Walks into a Bar
  • Plant an Easy-to-Water Strawberry Jar
    Plant an Easy-to-Water Strawberry Jar
  • Mulch for a Healthy Garden
    Mulch for a Healthy Garden
  • Indeterminate or Determinate Tomatoes?
    Indeterminate or Determinate Tomatoes?
  • Dwarf Citrus Trees
    Dwarf Citrus Trees
  • NEW Video Series: There's a Better Way
    NEW Video Series: There's a Better Way
  • In Pursuit of the Perfect Potting Shed
    In Pursuit of the Perfect Potting Shed
  • Save Money by Growing Your Own
    Save Money by Growing Your Own
next

Browse Plants

Narrowed By:Characteristics: Attracts Butterflies, Self Seeds+ Spread: 3 - 6 ft
Displaying 1 - 20 of 56 listings   1 | 2 | 3View AllNext > Sort By: Sort
Abelmoschus manihot Abelmoschus manihot
(Hibiscus manihot)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A large ornamental okra with dinner-plate-sized, sulfur yellow flowers with dark eyes. Each flower lasts only a day—unfolding slowly in the morning and closing gradually in the evening—but the abundance of flowers open on any one day conceals their short life span.

Actaea simplex ‘Hillside Black Beauty’ Actaea simplex ‘Hillside Black Beauty’
(Bugbane, Autumn snakeroot, black cohosh)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Unlike other bugbanes, 'Hillside Black Beauty' offers deep purple-black foliage. From late spring to late summer, its dark hue makes a wonderful backdrop for colorful foliage and flowering shade plants. In fall, fragrant, cream-colored flowers appear on tall, wandlike stems. An added plus: this plant is deer resistant. --Michael Ruggiero, Regional Picks: Mid-Atlantic, Fine Gardening issue #127

Callicarpa americana Callicarpa americana
(American beautyberry)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Although it produces small, lavender-pink flowers in spring, this plant is known mainly for its violet to magenta berries, which start appearing in October. The berries, massed in tight bunches that encircle the branches, are vivid against deep-green leaves.

Callirhoë involucrata Callirhoë involucrata
(Wine-cups)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This plant resembles a rosy-purple poppy mallow that blooms all summer. The saucer-shaped flowers are held above prostrate red stems and fingered leaves.

no image available Clethra alnifolia 'Pink Spire'
(Summersweet, Sweet Pepperbush)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Very fragrant, light pink bottlebrush flowers grace this native shrub in late summer and early fall, attracting butterflies and other insects and perfuming the garden for weeks. Plant it in beds or borders, in a woodland or shade garden, or at waterside. It also has nice fall color.

Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice' Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'
(summersweet, sweet pepperbush)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This summersweet is a sport of C. alnifolia 'Pink Spires'. Its fragrant, bottlebrush flowers are a darker pink; they attract butterflies, bees, and other insects in late summer and early fall. 'Ruby Spice' grows to about 4 to 6 feet tall and almost as wide, making this shrub suitable for a bed or border, a woodland or shade garden, or a waterside planting. Its yellow fall color extends the season of interest.

Crambe cordifolia Crambe cordifolia
(Colewort)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This species is notable in stature, forming a giant mound and producing a profusion of airy white flowers on tall stems in late spring to midsummer and then dying down in midsummer to late summer. Colewort can reach 8 feet high and about half as wide. Grow in a large border or open woodland.

Diervilla sessilifolia 'Butterfly' Diervilla sessilifolia 'Butterfly'
(Southern bush honeysuckle)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Southern bush honeysuckle has an attractive thicket-forming habit. Glossy green leaves with tapered tips emerge tinged with bronze and mature to mid-green on reddish stems. Sulfur-yellow flowers in terminal clusters to 3 inches across appear in summer.

Eupatorium maculatum Eupatorium maculatum
(Joe Pye weed)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Large, flat-topped flowerheads in shades of purple add soft color and texture to the summer and fall garden. The leaves are purple-tinged on thick stems with maroon spots. Butterflies love this eastern U.S. native.

Eupatorium maculatum 'Gateway' Eupatorium maculatum 'Gateway'
('Gateway' Joe Pye weed)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This cultivar of the eastern North American native Joe Pye weed is shorter and bushier than the species. From late summer into fall, its domes of dusky pink flowers attract butterflies and other insects. The seedheads persist well into winter. Grow 'Gateway' in a border, meadow, or cottage garden. It does best in soil that does not dry out.

Eupatorium purpureum Eupatorium purpureum
(Joe Pye weed)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Large, domed flowerheads of pink, light purple, or off-white add soft color and texture to the summer and fall garden. The leaves are purple-tinged on thick stems suffused with maroon. This eastern U.S. native attracts butterflies from mid-summer to early fall.

Gardenia augusta 'MADGA 1' Gardenia augusta 'MADGA 1'
(Heaven Scent® gardenia )
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This gardenia cultivar features a very tight, upright form that is perfect for smaller gardens. It also boasts increased cold tolerance while maintaining the lustrous dark green foliage and abundant fragrant blooms you’ve come to expect from this genus.

Helianthus angustifolius Helianthus angustifolius
(Swamp sunflower)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

A profusion of golden yellow flowers appears for two to three weeks starting in early autumn. Daisy-like flowerheads are 3 inches across with 15 to 20 yellow ray florets radiating from a flat-topped purple or dark brown cone. The entire plant looks like a giant flame, drawing the attention of gardeners and many species of butterflies, bees, and other nectar feeders.

Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet' Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'
('Henry's Garnet' Virginia sweetspire)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

'Henry's Garnet' Virginia sweetspire is a very dependable, showy plant. It is an arching, 3- to 5-foot-tall shrub that holds its leaves well into fall, allowing the maroon, yellow, and orange tones to develop and reveal themselves over time. Virginia sweetspire also produces an early-summer show, featuring slender, drooping racemes of white flowers that attract all sorts of pollinating insects. Its suckering, slowly spreading, 6-foot-wide habit makes it a good choice for slopes and mass plantings.

Myrrhis odorata Myrrhis odorata
(Sweet cicely)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This elegant fern-like herb has a mounding form and anise-flavored bright-green leaves. In late spring, it bears compound umbels of star-shaped white flowers, followed by shiny, ridged brown seeds.

Pennisetum alopecuroides Pennisetum alopecuroides
(Fountain grass)
(1 user review)
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This species produces 2- to 5-foot-tall mounds of narrow green foliage and bottle brush-like silvery-pink to purple flowers, both of which mature to shades of brown. It is the parent of numerous cultivars with notable flowers that range from purple to gray/black. It and some of its cultivars self-sow plentifully in warm climates. It is marginally hardy in Zone 5.

Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty'
(Pearl millet)
Be the first to rate this plant

This cultivar of pearl millet has wide, deep purple foliage and stems. It forms a 5-foot-high specimen with tight cylindrical flowers of purple-brown seeds—a favorite of many birds. This plant makes a stunning container specimen. In the mixed border, its foliage contrasts nicely with other plants.

Pennisetum messiacum Pennisetum messiacum
(Bunny tails)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This annual grass produces deep pink flowers that resemble rabbits' tails. Flowers persist throughout the season. It forms a tidy, evergreen clump, 2 feet high and 3 feet wide.

no image available Pennisetum messiacum 'Red Buttons'
(Red bunny tails, Fountain grass)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This annual produces deep reddish-black flowers that resemble rabbits' tails. Flowers persist throughout the season. This plant forms an evergreen clump of green foliage with burgundy highlights, 2 feet high and 3 feet wide.

Persicaria amplexicaulis Persicaria amplexicaulis
(Bistort, Mountain fleece)
Be the first to rate this plant
Hardiness Zones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

This vigorous, but noninvasive perennial flowers from early summer into autumn with bright red, purple, or white blossoms. The narrow blossoms are up to 4 inches long, and are held on long stalks above pointed, slightly puckered leaves. It grows to 4 feet high and wide.


Displaying 1 - 20 of 56 listings   1 | 2 | 3View AllNext > Sort By: Sort