Native Plants

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Friday - August 14, 2009

From: Atlanta, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Shade Tolerant
Title: Butterfly garden plants for partial shade in Georgia
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I have a patio that is brick with 2 small areas for planting. The area has partial shade and soil is moist and looks dense. Currently there is an Ivy Bush in the back left corner which I like and has started to climb the fence, several Hosta's and some Monkey Grass lining the space. I want to add some color and make the plant area more colorful. I was wondering if I could have a butterfly garden of some type with the partial shade that I have?? Also what other types of flowers would work? nothing tall though. Thanks!!!

ANSWER:

Absolutely! You can have a very colorful butterfly garden and you can choose the plants yourself by going to our Recommended Species page and selecting Georgia from the map or pull-down menu. You can then use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option to select criteria for your plants. For instance, under GENERAL APPEARANCE, select 'Herb'; under LIGHT REQUIREMENT select 'Part shade' and under SOIL MOISTURE select 'Moist'. When you scroll down the page for each plant you will see a section called BENEFIT which will tell you if the plant is a larval food or nectar host for butterflies.

Here are a few recommendations from Mr. Smarty Plants, but there are many more possibilities:

Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Coreopsis auriculata (lobed tickseed)

Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower)

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Phlox divaricata (wild blue phlox)

Stokesia laevis (Stokes' aster)