Feeding the Bees and Butterflies

Feeding the Bees and Butterflies

Monarda( bee balm)

Last year when I was buying native plants for my yard I was looking especially for a butterfly bush as I had seen these big lilac /blue bushes in everyone's yard but it took ages before I found one. I should have looked for buddleia a friend told me.

I planted it and it was a spindly looking thing with narrow leaves. It had a few buds growing and I kept checking it . Then the grasshoppers hit and for some reason they really liked this new bush. Within weeks the leaves were all gone and it looked miserable. The few buds came out and quickly disappeared. I didn't see many of the butterflies even going near it. By the fall it looked dead and by this Spring it was really dead so I yanked it out.

So this year at all the plant sales I kept looking for another replacement but couldn't find one even though I asked for buddleia.

Butterfly bush ( buddleia )

“Why not get some bee balm” said one helpful lady. “They are very pretty and the bees and butterflies love it”. So I did. It was also a spindly green plant with no blooms when I bought it in April but it really did turn out to be a very pretty plant. I found out it's real name is monarda and the flowers have a very complicated structure but they are a lovely color and yes, the bees do love it. The flowers have now all died away but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the grasshoppers will leave it alone and it will flourish and grow and will come back next year.

We need to keep the bees and butterflies happy.