[Desiderata]

Visiting my local garden centre recently I found a new breeding plant from the Bidens family of daisy plants. This large flowered Beggars Tick Daisy looked ideal for my monarchs – they bloom over a long period and are a vivid yellow – so I bought two home for a group planting.
I had four recent releases resting around my garden then some time later I found all four monarchs feeding/resting on the flowers.. Wow! an amazing response, and a great addition to my garden.

[Jacqui]

http://www.laspilitas.com/images/grid24_24/11334/images/plants/bidens/bidens-laevis-monarch-butterfly.jpg

[Desiderata]

Jacqui Im in Wellington And understand this Biden’s big is quite new to market. perhaps my monarchs were very hungry even though I have lots of nectar plants around.thanks for caz’s comments re beggers tick. I do trust that garden centers are not selling plantsthat could affect our native eco system. We have a wet land on our rual property ando im very careful what I plant there-this bidens will stay in the city!!!

[Caryl]

Jacqui, I found this reference to the plant Desiderata refers to – yes the one you found:
http://ecan.govt.nz/publications/General/weed-of-the-month-beggars-ticks-001205.pdf

Status
Beggars’ ticks has no legal control requirements,
however it is a weed in some situations, especially
in wetlands.

[Jacqui]

That’s great to hear, Desiderata. Whereabouts are you?

I can’t find the plant you describe at all when I google it, but did find Bidy Gonzales Bidens (Bidens ferulifolia ‘Bidy Gonzales’)

Another plant, B. frondosa, comes up as being an nuisance plant in NZ (Canterbury).

I have a lovely yellow Bidens at home. It may well be this one and it’s a great ground cover, smothering weeds, but haven’t noticed butterflies on it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not loaded with nectar. I have this theory that if we have lots of nectar-rich plants, then it seems obvious that it’s like a smorgasbord and the plants (dishes) that are easier to reach may be the most popular.

Thanks for your post and I look forward to hearing more!

[Author]

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