Stachytarpheta attracts Butterflies

Stachytarpheta sounds more elegant for the garden than the common name, Porterweed. There's a native porterweed that grows here, and tropical porterweed. Nurseries stock a red/coral and blue/purple. Last year, I had red everywhere. They failed to return, except for a single plant. None of the blues returned, but I kept cuttings over the winter, some potted and some in water. Early spring, I cut off the leggy cuttings that were in water and rooted them in soil.

Porterweed, Lantana, Pentas, Tithonia and Zinnias attract the most butterflies here for the longest period of time.