Among the best summer flowers are pentas plants, or Pentas lanceolata, charming shrubs with clusters of blooms that often grow in pink, red and white. They're native to tropical climates ...

The blossoms of few plants – if any – are as alluring to butterflies and hummingbirds as those of pentas (P. lanceolata), a bushy, evergreen perennial.

A. Start as many new plants as you need by rooting 4- to 6-inch tip cuttings. Pentas root easily in trays or pots of coarse vermiculite available at many garden centers.

Their larvae feed voraciously on pentas’ leaves at night. They look like little brown or green snakes along the plants’ stems, and they have what look like spooky eye spots along their bodies.