Native Plants That Attract Butterflies
Texas gardener begins nursery and butterfly house to show off the state’s native plants.
By Donna Lowrance
January/February 2012
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Beginning a plot with just one each of salvia, lantana and indigo spires will spread to approximately a 5-foot-square area, which will attract a lot of hummingbirds and butterflies.
Greg Page
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A country prairie can seem like a stark abyss to first-time gardeners, but Regina McVey hopes to change this misconception. In just a few seasons she has cleverly turned her acreage into a haven for native plants that attract butterflies, and created McVey’s Native Nursery in Maryneal, Texas.
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“Like most hardworking people, I did not have the time or money to amend the soil and buy plants for an area this size. So, I decided to utilize what grows naturally in our environment,” McVey says of her 1 1/2-acre rural plot.
The mother garden and her xeric plants
McVey rounded up the xeric, sun-worshipping perennial plants and flowers that thrive in the sandy loam of the West Texas prairie. She planted lantana, salvia, sage, mist flower and indigo spires on the site of a former horse corral behind her home. With these plantings, she created a backyard utopia bustling with nectar-sipping hummingbirds, alighting butterflies, and a variety of songbirds.
She believes that if gardeners use plants that are native to their areas, they will be encouraged by the rapid growth and low maintenance. She suggests the money saved by not replanting each year be spent on a water feature to further entice birds and butterflies to the garden.
“I began the other flower gardens from propagations out of my first flower bed,” she says.
McVey’s subsequent gardens include many hard-to-find perennials like Texas Bird of Paradise and Salvia greggii ‘Lipstick’. Each flower bed has a unique height and color combination.
“As each of the new gardens become more established, I can add a splash of various color by propagating from one of the older beds,” she says.
Show and tell: native plants
Those who visit McVey Native Nursery get a firsthand demonstration of how a native plant will grow in the garden plot.
McVey places the plants chosen by gardeners on the ground according to height, width, color and bloom time. Beginning a plot with just one each of salvia, lantana and indigo spires will spread to approximately a 5-foot-square area, which will attract a lot of hummingbirds and butterflies.
She suggests sturdy perennials like lantana and salvia for less-experienced gardeners. Lantana blooms in a variety of colors and can be found growing wild out on the Texas prairie.
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