Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Showing 113–120 of 225 results
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Liatris pycnostachya Prairie blazing star Z 3-9
Tall, erect, purplish- pink spike in August-September
OUT OF STOCK
Tall, erect, purplish- pink spike in August-September
Size: 4’ x 1-2’
Care: well-drained soil in full sun
Native: central & SE US
Wildlife Value: deer resistant, attracts birds, butterflies, and beesCollected by French planthunter Andre Michaux in 1795 on the prairies of Illinois. About 9 years later collected on the Lewis & Clark Expedition in South Dakota September 1804
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Liatris spicata Blazing star, Gayfeather, Button snakeroot Z 3-8
Rosy purple spikes in July and August, a flower arranger’s dream
Rosy purple spikes in July and August, a flower arranger’s dream
Size: 2-3' x 18"
Care: Full sun in moist to well-drained soil.
Native: Eastern and southern U. S., Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: favorite nectar source for Buckeye butterflies & host for caterpillars of Painted lady, Fritillaries, Skippers, Sulphurs, Coppers & Checkerspot butterflies.Native Americans used roots medicinally for backaches, colic, dropsy and to strengthen a weak heart. The Dakota recognized L. spicata as an indication “when the flower is blue-red that corn is good to eat.” Nicollet Diary, August 13, 1838. The dried root reputedly repelled moths from stored clothes. First collected by English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683-1749) and cultivated since 1732. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.
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Lilium canadense, Z 2-6
Showy, drooping bell-shaped flowers from lemon to dark orange in color with conspicuous red spots on the inside
OUT OF STOCK
Showy, drooping flowers from lemon to dark orange in color with conspicuous red spots on the inside.
Size: 2-4’ x 6”
Care: part shade in moist to moist well-drained, slightly acidic soil
Native: Upper Great Lakes & southern Canada
Wildlife Value: attracts butterfliesIntroduced to gardens from its native North America by Jacques Cartier, 1535. Also collected by Swedish botanist Pehr Kalm (1716-1779) who collected in Northeastern US and SE Canada and sent it to Linnaeus. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811. Listed in the 1873 catalog of Leichtlin’schen Gartens in Baden-Baden.
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Lilium martagon Martagon lily Z 3-8
Usually pink to carmine, smallish downfacing, reflexed petals, with one stem baring up to 50 individual flowers on mature plant.
OUT OF STOCK
Usually pink to carmine, smallish downfacing, reflexed petals, with one stem baring up to 50 individual flowers on mature plant.
Size: 3-6’ x 8-12”
Care: part shade to sun (shorter in sun) in well-drained, lime soil. Resents being moved & often will not emerge in 1st year.
Native: Eastern France to Korea.
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit; Elisabeth C. Miller Botanic Garden Great Plant Pick.The name Martagon means cap in Turkish from the style of turban adopted by Turkish ruler, Sultan Mohammed, which was known as a martagon and had a similarly pendulous shape. Described by English herbalist Gerard (1545-1612) in 1596.
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Lilium michiganense Michigan lily Z 4-8
The top of each erect stem curves over like a hook. A single red or orange flower dangles from the stem’s tip. Spotted petals (botanically called tepals) curve up with their tips nearly reaching the top of the flower. Stamens hang down from the center then flare out inviting bees and butterflies to its pollen. They flower for nearly a month in mid-summer.
OUT OF STOCK
The top of each erect stem curves over like a hook. A single red or orange flower dangles from the stem’s tip. Spotted petals (botanically called tepals) curve up with their tips nearly reaching the top of the flower. Stamens hang down from the center then flare out inviting bees and butterflies to its pollen. They flower for nearly a month in mid-summer.
Size: 2-5’ x 8-10”
Care: sun to part-shade in moist to moist well-drained, neutral to acidic soil.
Native: New Hampshire west to Wisconsin, south to Arkansas, east to Alabama and Florida
Wildlife Value: attracts hummingbirds, bees, and butterfliesThis had several prior names, as varieties or subspecies of Lilium canadense or Lilium speciosum. In 1915 botanist Oliver Atkins Farwell (1867-1944) renamed it in “Notes of Michigan Liliaceae,” Bulletin of Torrey Botanical Club 42, p. 353, based on one he collected in 1910 in Wiard’s Crossing, Michigan.
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Linaria alpina Alpine toadflax Z 5-8
Purple snapdragon-like petals bloom all summer and show off golden-orange lips
OUT OF STOCK
Purple snapdragon-like petals bloom all summer and show off golden-orange lips
Size: 4-6” x 6-12”
Care: sun in well-drained soil
Native: Mountains of central and southern EuropeListed in Gardeners Dictionary, 1768. Wm Robinson in July 1872 issue of The Garden: “The alpine Linaria is never more beautiful than when self-sown in a gravel walk.” January 1876 bloomed for 4+ months in the rock garden at Edinburgh Botanic Garden.
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Liriodendron tulipfera Tulip tree Z 4-9
Large tulip-shaped yellow-green petals surround orange corolla, Ornamental leaves turn yellow in fall
Large tulip-shaped yellow-green petals surround orange corolla, Ornamental leaves turn yellow in fall
Size: 80-100’ x 30’
Care: sun in well drained to moist well drained soil. Fast growing and strong wood.
Native: New England to FL, Ontario to IL, south to Louisiana and all states in between.
Wildlife Value: attracts Tiger swallowtail butterfly.
Awards: Recipient Great Plant Pick Award from Elizabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden & England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit & Great Plants for Great PlainsOne of the oldest flowering trees – about 95 million years old. Cherokee cured pinworms, cholera, dysentery, coughs, wounds, boils, fever, bone fractures, indigestion, snakebites, and “women with hysterics” with Tulip tree. Because it is light weight but strong they made canoes for up to 20 people with Tulip tree wood. The Rappahannock chewed the bark as a stimulant for sex. Sent to Europe by Tradescant before 1640. Grown by Jefferson. Washington planted them as an allée around the serpentine bowling green.
State tree of Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.
**LISTED AS OUT OF STOCK BECAUSE WE DO NOT SHIP THIS ITEM. IT IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT OUR RETAIL LOCATION.
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Lobelia cardinalis Cardinal flower Z 3-9
Ruby, cardinal red tubes with an upper lip split in half and a lower lip like a pixie’s apron encircle the spike from August to October beckon hummingbirds to feed.
Ruby, cardinal red tubes with an upper lip split in half and a lower lip like a pixie’s apron encircle the spike from August to October beckon hummingbirds to feed.
Size: 3’ x 12”
Care: sun to part shade in fertile, moist soil. Moist soil important
Native: Canada to Texas, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: attracts hummingbirds
Awards: Received England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit & Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit.Cherokee cured stomach aches, worms, pain, fever, nose bleeds, rheumatism, headaches, colds, and croup with Lobelia. They used the root to treat syphilis. Other Natives and colonists used the plant to induce vomiting. At the end of a funeral, Meskwaki Indians threw the dried and pulverized plant into the grave. Meskwaki also chopped the roots and secretly put it in the food of “a quarrelsome pair.” Allegedly “this makes the pair love each other again.” Lobelia is named for Matthias L’Obel (1538-1616) French expatriate who immigrated to England and became physician to English King James I. Tradescant the Younger introduced this to European gardens when he sent it to England in 1637. Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside. In 1749 Swedish botanist Peter Kalm wrote that Indians used five species of Lobelia to cure venereal disease, “an infallible art of curing it.” Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.
