Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Showing 113–120 of 208 results
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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.
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Lobelia siphilitica ‘Alba’ z 4-8
A striking, erect spike of pure white blossoms opening from bottom up. On top club-shaped buds, below trumpet-shapes made of a tube flaring open at the ends with the top of the flare looking like a quarter moon with the circle at the bottom and the lower divided into three, each segment pointed at the ends. Its fresh white blooms stand out in late summer to early fall.
A striking, erect spike of pure white blossoms opening from bottom up. On top club-shaped buds, below trumpet-shapes made of a tube flaring open at the ends with the top of the flare looking like a quarter moon with the circle at the bottom and the lower divided into three, each segment pointed at the ends. Its fresh white blooms stand out in late summer to early fall.
Size: 2-3’ x 1-2’
Care: sun to part shade in moist or moist well-drained soil
Native: The blue form, the species Lobelia siphilitica is native from Connecticut to Wyoming, south to Texas then east to Georgia and all states in between, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant, attracts bees, hummingbirds and some butterflies.This white one is “An albino of occasional occurrence.” Britton, Nathaniel Lord “On the Naming of ‘Forms,’ in the New Jersey Catalogue” Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 17: 121,125. 1890. This may, therefore, be native in the same locations as the blue species or it may not.
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Lobelia siphilitica Great lobelia Z 4-9
A striking, erect spike of sky to blueberry-blue blossoms. On top club-shaped buds, below trumpet-shapes, open flowers, made of a tube flaring open with the bottom divided into three, each segment pointed at the ends. From late summer to early fall.
A striking, erect spike of sky to blueberry-blue blossoms. On top club-shaped buds, below trumpet-shapes, open flowers, made of a tube flaring open with the bottom divided into three, each segment pointed at the ends. From late summer to early fall.
Size: 3' x 12"
Care: Full sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: Connecticut to Wyoming, south to Texas then east to Georgia and all states in between, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: attracts bumble bees, hummingbirds and some butterfliesLobelia is named for Matthias L’Obel (1538-1616) a French expatriate who emigrated to England and became physician to English King James I. Cherokee used the root to treat headaches, stomachaches, worms, nosebleeds, colds and syphilis. 1st collected by Rev. John Banister who moved to colonial Virginia in 1678. A gunman mistakenly shot and killed him while he collected plants. In 1749 Swedish botanist Peter Kalm wrote that Indians used five species of Lobelia to cure venereal disease, having “an infallible art of curing it.” According to John Bartram (1699-17760) “The learned Pehr Kalm (who gained the Knowledge of it from Colonel Johnson, who learned it of the Indians, who, after great Rewards bestowed on several of them, revealed the Secret to him) saith, That the Roots of this Plant cureth the Pox much more perfectly and easily than any mercurial Preparations, and is generally used by the Canada Indians, for the Cure of themselves“ (Better than mercury!) Oneidas considered this good medicine for distemper. Sioux treated bloat, diarrhea and dysentery as well as a love charm by adding powdered root to the food of the intended. Offered for sale in Bartram Garden’s 1783 Broadside, America’s 1st plant catalog.
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Lunaria annua Money plant, Honesty, Silver dollar Biennial Reseeds Z 5-10
Mauve phlox-like blooms spring to early summer turn into silvery, translucent seedpods.
Mauve phlox-like blooms spring to early summer turn into silvery, translucent seedpods.
LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE, LIMIT OF 1 PER CUSTOMER PLEASE.
Size: 1'-3' x 1’
Care: Full sun to part shade.
Native: mountains of Italy
Wildlife Value: attracts bees and butterfliesOld-fashioned heirloom. Silver dollars are perfect for dried bouquets! Popular in winter flower arrangements since colonial times. Introduced to England from Germany in the late 1500’s and carried to America by the Puritans as a reminder of home. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.
**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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Lupinus perennis Sun-dial lupin, Old maid’s bonnet, wild pea Z. 4-9
Many flowered blue, pea flowered raceme May-June
Many flowered blue, pea flowered raceme May-June
Size: 1-2' x 12"
Care: full sun in well drained soil. A legume, so it enriches the soil by adding nitrogen.
Native: Maine to FL, Ontario to MN to Louisiana, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: Attracts both hummingbirds and butterflies. The only food for larvae of endangered species, Karner Blue butterfly.Lupinus is Latin from Lupus meaning “wolf.” Likely sent from its native Virginia to England by Tradescant the Younger in 1637. Certainly collected by Frenchman Michaux, who scoured eastern North American over 11 years in late 1700’s. Grown by Jefferson. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.The Cherokee used this to stop bleeding. The Menominee fattened their horses with this Lupin and made them spirited. They rubbed the plant on themselves to give power to control the horses.
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Malva alcea ‘fastiagata’ Hollyhock mallow Z 5-9
Bright rose mallows from early to late summer. Cut back by half in late July for rebloom.
OUT OF STOCK
Bright rose mallows from early to late summer. Cut back by half in late July for rebloom.
Size: 3’ x 18”
Care: Sun well-drained soil, drought tolerant
Native: ItalyMalvas have been cultivated for food or flower since 6000 B.C. In 1629 Parkinson described the uses for the Hollyhock mallow: “By reason of their viscous or slimie quality doe helpe to make the body soluble… helpe also to ease the paines of the stone and gravell, causing them to be the more easily voided: being outwardly applied, they mollisie hard tumors.”
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Monarda didyma ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ Beebalm Z 4-9
Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer
Whorls of scarlet tubes & bracts looking like fireworks, in summer
Size: 3-4' x spreading
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil.
Native: N. E. America
Wildlife Value: Checkered white, Fritillary and Melissa blue butterflies relish Beebalm’s nectar.Cherokee used the species medicinally, to cure colic, flatulence, nosebleed, measles, flu, hysteria and to induce restful sleep. Monarda was named in honor of Nicholas Monardes (1493-1588), a Spanish botanist who wrote about plants of the New World. Discovered by John Bartram (1699-1777) being used by colonists in Oswego N.Y. to make tea. Oswego Indians taught the colonists how to make tea from the dried leaves. Bartram sent this Beebalm to Peter Collinson in England in whose garden it grew in 1744. By 1757 its English availability was “nearly universal” among gardeners. During the American Revolution used as a substitute for tea. Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.This cultivar ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ recommended by Gertrude Jekyll in 1908.
