by Lydia Holley October 19, 2020
Do you want butterflies to visit your garden? If so, you need Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinium greggii), a perennial plant which blooms in autumn, attracting monarchs as they make their way to their winter home in Mexico. Besides monarchs, Gregg’s mistflower will make other butterflies happy, too. Common buckeyes, red admirals, sulphurs, queens, hairstreaks, and skippers flock to Gregg’s mistflower, and it is the larval host for Rawson’s Metalmark.
Although Gregg’s mistflower is not the prettiest plant, being a bit unruly, it goes very well in a cottage-style garden or alongside meadow-type plantings. Some consider it blue but it also tends to lean toward a soft violet. Either way, this plant blends well with almost any color scheme. It multiplies readily, so feel free to let it wander or give it plenty of space. When it has reached its limit in your garden, you will need to pull or dig it up along the edges as it spreads by rhizomes.
Native to West Texas, Gregg’s mistflower grows in full sun or part shade and is drought tolerant. It will die back each winter, so plant something evergreen in front of it to keep from looking at a patch of dried stems all winter long.
If you are concerned about deer visiting your garden, be aware that deer love to eat this plant. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center states it provides deer browse. In my own garden, it took me several years to get a bloom on my patch due to the deer eating the tops of it. However, once the deer left, my Gregg’s mistflower began blooming profusely and now I have butterflies instead of deer tracks. The fact that it continued not only to live but also to spread even though it was being ravaged for several years is a testament to its reputation for being easy to grow.
For more information, call 903-675-6130, email hendersonCMGA@gmail.com.
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