This “recipe” for a Butterfly Banquet comes to us from an excellent book I recently checked out of the Hamilton Library: Five-Plant Gardens (635.932 OND) by Nancy J Ondra, garden writer and editor as well as the former owner and operator of a small rare-plant nursery. Artfully arranged with a wide variety of vibrant planting layouts there is sure to be a Five-Plant Garden for any taste. The beautiful Butterfly Banquet below, is only one of 52 captivating gardens in this book, suitable for sun or shade and a range of soils. Check it out from your local library or independent bookstore for simple to follow perennial garden “recipes” with easy planting tips, as well as a detailed “shopping list” and design for the Butterfly Banquet below!
Butterfly Banquet
(full sun to partial shade)
Five-Plant Gardens by Nancy J. Ondra
- SWAMP MILKWEED – Asclepias incarnata
OR: BEE BALM – Monarda ‘Marshall’s Delight’
OR: JOE PYE WEED – Eupatorium dubium ‘Little Joe’ - CONEFLOWER – Echinacea purpurea ‘Little Swan’
OR: PHLOX – Phlox paniculata ‘David’
OR: TURTLEHEAD – Chelone glabra ‘Black Ace’ - RUSSIAN SAGE – Perovskia x ‘Little Spire’
OR: GLOBE THISTLE – Echinops ritro ‘Longwood Blue’
OR: BLUEBEARD – Caryopteris x clandonensis ‘Blue Mist’ - YARROW – Achillea ‘Coronation Gold’
OR: GLORIOSA DAISY – Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’
OR: SHASTA DAISY – Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Sonnenschein’ - PINCUSHION FLOWER – Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’
OR: CATMINT – Nepeta faassenii ‘Kit Kat’
OR: ENGLISH LAVENDER – Lavandula angustifolia
Garddwest 