Plant This Pretty Trailing Plant In Pots For A Summer Full Of Yellow Flowers That Butterflies Love

Building beautiful container gardens that attract pollinators and look pleasing to the eye can be considered a kind of art. You want to ensure a balance in your design, so try to select plants with different dimensions, including ones that trail or spill over the edge. A good choice for a spiller flower is the 'Goldilocks' cultivar of creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Goldilocks'). It's a vibrant species that's sometimes used to create beautiful ground cover, but that can create chaotic consequences for your yard; as such, creeping jenny does well in a pot. A suitable addition alongside other pollinator-friendly flowers, it will bring sunny yellow warmth to your porch along with lovely butterflies. 

'Goldilocks' is a variety of creeping jenny, or moneywort, that is native to temperate parts of Asia and Europe. Its leaves resemble coins with rounded edges. The 'Goldilocks' cultivar displays pretty golden leaves instead of green ones, making it a bright, fun species for a container. Growing at its tallest between 2 and 4 inches with about 1 foot of spread, this creeping jenny cultivar makes an ideal container plant, especially when paired with taller container species. Though the plant is notorious for infrequently flowering, it does sometimes produce small yellow blooms. Whether it flowers or not, it can be a suitable cascading ground cover to fill a window box.

The optimal growing environment for 'Goldilocks' is full sun to partial shade, with moist, rich, and well-draining soil, though it doesn't require a lot of maintenance even in hotter months. 'Goldilocks' is hardy in zones 3 through 10. Because it is pollinated by insects, creeping jenny is popular with butterflies, even in North America. Growing it in a pot will especially bring attention from nearby butterfly species.

Despite its pretty flowers and dazzling nature when grown in containers, it is not the best idea to use creeping jenny, including the 'Goldilocks' variety, as ground cover. In fact, it is one type of common plant that should only ever be grown in containers due to its tendency to aggressively spread. Several states — Connecticut, Delaware, and Wisconsin — have even declared it either invasive or restricted. Instead, it's one of the common plants that should only ever be grown in containers.

For a full display, grow 'Goldilocks' together with Joseph's coat (Alternanthera dentata), a fast-growing perennial with bold foliage. The 'Brazilian Red Hots' variety features bright red-pink leaves that contrast with the green-yellow of 'Goldilocks.' The result is a beautiful container display that does well in full sun and well-draining soil, and one that will be irresistible to butterflies.