Hi All,
I decided to really ramp up my pollinator garden this year and thanks to
our wet summer, it's been a huge success! I am starting to collect seeds
and I'm happy to share if anyone wants some. I did my best to stick to
native, drought tolerant plants this year. Here's the list:
Mexican Sunflower - 4-7 ft tall (sounds like George's got even taller!)
with bright orange flowers. More of a "bush" type sunflower with lots of
branching stems and flowers. Branches and the main stalk snap easily, so
it's best to stake these or give them support earlier rather than later
(learned some hard lessons this summer). The butterflies, insects, and
hummingbirds LOVE these. I have about 5 plants left in the yard that
didn't snap and the hummers and butterflies are almost visiting them
exclusively; they aren't even coming to my feeder. These don't seem to get
the aphids and pests on them that other sunflowers in my yard did.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/mexican-sunflower-tithonia-rotundifolia/
Yellow Sunflower (I call these "wild" sunflowers. They are the same ones
that are at Clapp. A volunteer grew last year and I let them almost take
over this year!). These are a host plant for checkerspot butterflies and
some moths. The seeds and caterpillars have brought several birds to my
yard so far this fall including Yellow and Wilson's Warblers, an Orchard
Oriole, and a Painted Bunting. Gorgone Checkerspots laid eggs on mine this
year. They did get covered in aphids during mid to late summer (lots of
ladybugs were happy campers).
Zinnias (single row of petals rather than the fancy ones with lots of
petals) - 1-2 ft tall. The hummingbirds and butterflies love these. They
are what brought the hummingbirds into my yard last year before I went nuts
with the sunflowers. I had the fancy looking ones with lots of petals last
year, too, but the hummingbirds visit the ones with a single row of petals.
I have these in pink and orange this year. If anyone has some purple ones
with seeds they would like to share (or other colors), I would love some!
Dill. This is a host plant for Black Swallowtail Butterflies. I had several
adults lay eggs on them and I currently have 3 chrysalis in the yard that I
am waiting to emerge :)
Tahoka Daisies (also known as Prairie Aster) - about 1ft tall or shorter
with quarter sized purple flowers. These started as volunteers in my yard
and they are also around town. Butterflies love them.
https://www.wildseedfarms.com/products/tahoka-daisy-prairie-aster?variant=33582681924
Denver Daisies - 1-2ft tall. These take 2 years to become mature and bloom.
I planted them last fall and they grew a small set of low leaves until this
spring when they took off. Can't believe it, but they survived the freeze
uncovered. They bloomed earlier than many of my other plants, too. They are
also a host plant for checkerspot butterflies.
https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/77673-product.html
Butterfly Weed (orange). These take two years to really bloom. Mine have
stayed small (I may have planted them in too much shade). They bloom in
spring/early summer and have been too small to attract many butterflies but
they are very pretty.
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=astu
Rayless Greenthread (also called Hopi Tea) - 2ft tall with little, yellow
flowers. These also started as volunteers, but I LOVE them. Most would
consider them a weed, but I have let them take over the front strip by the
sidewalk (bet the neighbors love me hahaha!). Butterflies, bees, and cool
looking flies LOVE them. They bloom all summer long and are very drought
resistant. I never water them - it's up to the rain. They are perennials
and don't show back up until after the grasses do in the spring so I'm
careful to not mow the area early on. Mine have lots of Dainty Sulphur,
Marine Blue, Western-Pygmy Blue, Gray Hairstreak, and Reakirt's Blue
Butterflies all over them. Most of my cool bug finds at my house have been
on these little flowers. They do not transplant well, so seed them where
you want them.
https://rockymountainsflora.com/details/Yellow%20Round%20Clusters/Indian%20Tea.htm
Garlic Chives (white) - Also very drought tolerant and low maintenance.
They are late summer bloomers. Butterflies and bugs love these, but they do
spread easily. Not native but I have a bunch that I started from seed years
ago. I should be able to get seeds off of them, but I can also dig a few
up.
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/garlic-chives-allium-tuberosum/
Snapdragons - I have had one hummingbird visit these, but otherwise they
are mainly pretty and hardy.
I planted a couple of other flowers this year that I have not been able to
harvest seeds off of but I highly recommend:
Scarlet Sage - the hummingbirds love this one and the foliage is fragrant
:) Also prone to snapping easily, so prune away during the summer so they
don't get as leggy as mine! Otherwise, don't prune salvias until February
or so.
https://www.wildseedfarms.com/products/scarlet-sage?variant=33582187716
Cold Hardy Pink Salvia - hummingbirds are also visiting. Mine are young and
don't have too many flowers yet or I think they would be hitting this one
much more.
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/salvia/salvia-greggii-cold-hardy-pink
Dark Shadows Salvia - hummingbirds are also visiting. Mine are young and
don't have too many flowers yet or I think they would be hitting this one
much more.
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/salvia/salvia-flowerkisser-dark-shadows-sage
Luminous Pineleaf Penstemon - also new, this one only has a couple of
flowers this year, but they are gorgeous, the foliage is unique, and I
think hummers are going to love it, too.
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/penstemon-pinifolius-luminous
Walker's Low Nepeta/Catmint - pretty little purple flowers with fragrant
foliage. The Cabbage White butterflies are all over this all day long. I
did have to put a small, wire cage around it to keep the stray cat off, but
it has grown beautifully so that you can't even see the cage anymore.
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/nepeta/nepeta-walkers-low
I have unsuccessfully tried to grow echinacea from seed for the past two
years, but I want to keep trying. If anyone has seeds to share or tips on
growing them, I would appreciate it!
Here's my yard list of butterflies for the year (the ones that I've been
able to get close enough to ID anyway). Almost all of them have been on the
Rayless Greenthread, Mexican Sunflowers, Zinnias, and Catmint:
Cabbage white
Monarch
Queen
Gorgone Checkerspot (caterpillars)
Black Swallowtail (caterpillars)
Goatweed Leafwing
Question Mark
Dainty Sulphurs
Marine Blue
Western Pygmy-Blue
Reakirt’s Blue
Gray Hairstreak
Vesta Crescent
Checkered-skipper
Skippers
Sachem
Orange sulphur or sleepy orange
If I can get seed off of any other plants, I will let everyone know.
Jennifer
--
Jennifer Miller
Lubbock, TX
(o,o)
/)_)
" "
Blog - http://foundnature.weebly.com/index.html