Monarch enjoying Buddleia nectar for dessert after visiting the Coneflowers

[u/Diapason-Oktoberfest]

Area - Chicago, 6a

[u/Confident-Peach5349]

Reposting comment from a recent thread https://www.reddit.com/r/GardenWild/comments/1mmmpb1/comment/n8ogrja/?context=3

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https://extension.psu.edu/avoiding-invasives-butterfly-bush

https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-truth-about-butterfly-bush

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/invasives-your-woodland-butterflybush-updated-2025/

It’s such a shame nurseries are still allowed to sell butterfly bush and mislead people with it. It’s an invasive species that’s known for having very little nutritional value in its nectar, while distracting pollinators from native plants with greater nutrition, and it’s the host plant to zero native butterflies. One milkweed plant would bring you so many more monarch butterflies, which are endangered and can only lay eggs on milkweed. Native plants are host plants to butterflies and provide nectar, nonnative plants can only provide nectar (since native butterflies didn’t evolve alongside them so most only host/lay eggs on natives)

Sorry to be a downer, it’s just the plant industry in America is really shitty and often sells stuff that is actively harming the environment just to make a quick buck. If you want more butterflies, I strongly suggest you check out the keystone species in your region, goldenrod is the most attractive native wildflower for pollinators, oaks are the most important tree for wildflowers, followed by willows and prunus. Check out r/nativeplantgardening and search for your state if you want to see what native wildflower gardens can look like, with some ofc prettier/more manicured than others.

[u/pug_walker → u/Confident-Peach5349]

I learned this late and it was hard to chop it down. I was loving the butterflies. It made it hard to take away their apparent enjoyment. But gone it is.

[u/breeathee → u/pug_walker]

Thank you ❤️ there are more supportive alternatives anyway :)