With "adopting" a lot of monarchs last year (to see them grow), and starting a sunchoke patch, has anyone had any luck with their sunchoke patch attracting butterflies and caterpillars?
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I believe different butterflys like different plants. Also have a look at http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/butterfly-plants/ – davidgo May 07 '16 at 20:15
1 Answers
Sunchokes will tend to attract smaller butterflies, especially (in my experience), the European cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae). They might not be such an attraction to your monarch butterflies. Also see:
Faunal Associations: The nectar and pollen of the flowers attract primarily bees, including bumblebees, cuckoo bees (Triepeolus spp.), digger bees (Melissodes spp.), leaf-cutting bees (Megachile spp.), Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees. Bees that are specialist pollinators (oligoleges) of sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) include a digger bee (Melissodes agilis), some Andrenid bees (Andrena accepta, Andrena aliciae, Andrena helianthi), a dagger bee (Pseudopanurgus rugosus), and a Halictid bee (Dufourea marginata marginata). Other floral visitors include Syrphid flies, bee flies (Bombyliidae), small to medium-sized butterflies, wasps, and beetles (Robertson, 1929, & others)

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