This is awesome, Jennifer!
Glenda
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 6, 2021, at 11:17 PM, WILLIAM WENTHE <wwenthe@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
THIS is going in a saved folder!
Thanks.
Bill
On Monday, September 6, 2021, 06:06:38 PM CDT, Jennifer Miller
<foundnatureblog@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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