Roots and Shoots: All-Season DIY

For less experienced gardeners, I’m proposing a plant list for creating a beautiful butterfly garden that you can make your own by deciding how many of each and the placement. It can fit into 30 square feet, which could be a rectangular 10-foot-long by 3-foot-wide flower bed, 15-by-2 or some other shape. 

The plan is to plant everything 12 inches apart and install 30 plants. This is where the fun part comes in: Your decisions will consider the conditions of your yard and where you locate the flower bed. Do you want more tall plants or more short plants? Try to use all of them, but it isn’t necessary. By planting densely, you’ll have less weeding and bare soil. The goal is to have a thick, diverse and lovely planting with value for butterflies and bees. 

The plants below all appreciate full sun and average soil moisture. 

Spring bloomers

I’ve planted many flower beds with the spring-blooming plants placed front and center because I want the action to start as soon as possible. But that leaves space for the rest of the season where there’s only foliage. I like all the choices here for their good-looking leaves, which complement the rest of the garden. 

Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum)
Cranesbill is the lower layer of a flower bed that hides the stems and stalks of other plants behind it. Pink blooms are the straight species, but depending on the palette, the white-blooming plant is appropriate. 

Lance-leaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lancelota)
Although this plant is short, a cluster of its yellow, daisy-shaped flowers can have a significant impact.

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)
As I’ve learned over the past decade, these need a bit of control: They spread vigorously and will leave you with overflow for other spaces or a challenge. They have a big impact in early spring, with yellow umbels on tall stalks. 

Summer bloomers

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Smaller gardens can be tough spots for common milkweed, although I love it enough to have it anywhere for its scent, delicate flowers and pollinator activity. If you have something more demure in mind, the orange pop of color from butterflyweed can’t be beat, and it’s also a host for monarchs. 

Echinacea purpurea
This plant delivers so much in a flowerbed. It’s long-blooming, available in a range of colors and stands tall with a solid presence. 

Blazing star (Liatris spicata)
While the tall, purple stalks sometimes need staking after a rainstorm, it’s worth it because of the slow spread of tiny flowers opening and the magnetic pull for moths and butterflies. 

Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
The white stalks work perfectly in this pairing, drawing out other colors to make you feel summer’s glory. 

Fall bloomers

I consider asters and goldenrod essentials for a pollinator garden because they fill a late-season role. As a bonus for humans, they are gorgeous and fill the landscape with long-lasting blooms after many other plants are finished. 

Heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides)
With its sprawling white flowers, this plant looks like a cloud has landed in your yard. 

Fragrant aster (Aster oblongifolius)
Also known as Raydon’s Favorite, this bushy aster works like a small shrub in the garden and doesn’t spread. 

Sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora)
Rub the flowers — if they give off an anise fragrance, you know it’s sweet goldenrod. This is well-behaved and doesn’t spread vigorously. 

Winter interest

Grasses are the evergreens of the flower bed. Consider placement for structure. Both little bluestem and switchgrass are warm-season grasses and will hit their peak in the summer, not in spring, then develop seed heads. Don’t cut anything back until spring and leave the dried stems and grasses of all the plants to enjoy in the winter. 

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
Several popular cultivars are available now, and all work well. The dominant colors vary, so be sure it fits your palette. 

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
Northwind is the most widely available cultivar that I’ve found. It’s taller than little bluestem and has a large presence in the garden. I use them as a focal point, not in a mass, in a smaller flower bed.