Ultimate Nectar Plant for Monarch Butterflies

September 3, 2025
Larry Hurley
Insects, Inspiration, Perennial Plants
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For Monarch Butterfly lovers, this is the perennial for you. Liatris ligulistylis, the Meadow Blazing Star. It’s native from Illinois and Wisconsin west to the eastern Rocky Mountain states. Although not the best of photos (taken August in my garden in Wisconsin), if you zoom in you can see six monarchs, two of which are in monarch love. (Stephanie has put the group shot at the link below. Left is the amorous couple.) Monarchs are drawn to Meadow Blazing Star like Ravens fans to beer at a tailgate party.

These plants are three years old and getting more shade than they would prefer. I staked them and have them in a wire cage because the rabbits ate them to the ground in year one, although they are said to be deer and rabbit resistant. I have found that newly-planted perennials are much more susceptible to feeding damage than established plants so next year I’ll try removing the cage. Also, We’ve had a lot of rain here this summer, and these plants are six feet tall and they would likely stand up stronger in drier, sunnier conditions.

If you like the Liatris look and you want to try one native to the East Coast, Liatris spicata , the Dense Blazing Star, is available in any perennial department. They are shorter and more formal than my higgledy-piggledy plants.

Meadow Blazing Star is harder to find. I got mine from Prairie Moon Nursery, which is a native plant mail-order nursery in Minnesota. Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin also has it in their catalogue.

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.