Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo

The tithonia is a flowering annual that is also commonly known as the Mexican Sunflower. Monarch butterflies are particularly attracted to tithonia, so I make sure to plant some each year, as well as collecting the seed heads. As a result our garden at the moment is rather full of monarchs, in fact I’ve had to dodge a few as they’ve fluttered right towards me. Monarchs got themselves to New Zealand so are considered a native. They need swan plants though, so I’m growing some as well. In past years, I’ve tried growing swan plants from seed, and while they propagated successfully, I wasn’t fast enough to protect them, and within a few weeks they were gobbled up by tiny hungry caterpillars. So if you do try propagating swan plants, make sure the butterflies can not get to them until you are ready for them to be munched on.

If you’d like to grow both swan plants and tithonia, you can buy the seeds online from Kings Seeds https://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/products/tithonia-sunset-mix and https://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/products/asclepias-swan-plant