Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Showing 177–184 of 208 results
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Solidago cutleri Cutler’s alpine goldenrod Z 3-9
Golden tufts of flowers on this mounding, compact, bone-hardy goldenrod July-September
Golden tufts of flowers on this mounding, compact, bone-hardy goldenrod July-September
Size: 6-10” x 12”
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: Mountains of New England and NY, north through Nova Scotia
Wildlife Value: attracts butterfliesNamed for New England plant explorer Manasseh Cutler , Rhodora 10(113): 87. 1908 by M.L. Fernald
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Solidago riddellii syn. Oligoneuron riddellii Riddell’s goldenrod, Stiff goldenrod Z 3-7
Sunshine yellow dome-topped flowers Sept.- Oct. Differs from S. gramnifolia by fewer leaves and its leaves fold toward the center vein.
Sunshine yellow dome-topped flowers Sept.- Oct. Differs from S. gramnifolia by fewer leaves and its leaves fold toward the center vein.
Size: 3’x2’
Care: sun in moist to moist well-drained soil.
Native: swath down middle of No. Am. From Hudson Bay to AK, incl. Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Loved by butterflies for its nectar – Small copper, Monarch, Giant swallowtail, Gray hairstreak, Clouded Sulphur, Fritillary, Pearl crescent, & Cloudless sulphur. Attracts praying mantises. Resists deer.The name Solidago from solidus and ago meaning to bring together. First published by German botanist Joseph Frank (1782-1835) who named it riddellii in honor of John Riddell who had collected it in Ohio before 1835.
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Solidago speciosa Showy goldenrod Z 3-8
Broad spikes of erect panicles of mustard yellow welcome late summer into autumn
Broad spikes of erect panicles of mustard yellow welcome late summer into autumn
Size: 3-5’ x 12-18”
Care: Sun, any soil
Native: Central & eastern US, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Loved by butterflies for its nectar – Small copper, Monarch, Giant swallowtail, Gray hairstreak, Clouded Sulfur, Fritillary, Pearl crescent & Cloudless sulfur. Attracts praying mantises.Meskwaki applied an infusion made of roots to burns. Chippewa used this plant for many things – to stop bleeding in the mouth and lungs, reduce pain from strains and sprains, as a stimulant and tonic and, mixed with bear grease, for a hair ointment. HoChunk and Winnebago made a blood purifier and remedied incontinence. Collected by Thomas Nuttall, English planthunter (1786-1859) who wandered over all of No. America searching for plants, animals, birds, and rocks from 1809 to 1842.
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Spigelia marilandica Carolina pink, Woodland pinkroot Z 5-9
Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare atop the tubes in late spring to early summer, later in the north. Deadhead for rebloom
Stems topped with showy red tubes and fireworks-like yellow, five-pointed stars flare atop the tubes in late spring to early summer, later in the north. Deadhead for rebloom
Size: 12-24” x 6-18”
Care: part to full shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: NJ to Fl west to TX
Wildlife Value: nectar for hummingbirds; deer resistant
Awards: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal 2023Cherokee used this to purge parasites from intestines. In garden by 1753. Philip Miller’s Dictionary “the plant “is esteemed as the best medicine (in North America) yet known for the worms.” (1768) According to Jacob Bigelow in American Medical Botany, 1817 one doctor used it as a purgative and another as a narcotic.
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Spiraea alba Meadowsweet, Du Roi Z 3-7
This short shrub sports white flower spikes 4” long blooming from June to August, deadhead for rebloom.
This short shrub sports white flower spikes 4” long, blooming from June to August, deadhead for rebloom.
Size: 3-4’ x 3-4’
Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
Native: Northeastern 2/3 of North America, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: nectar attracts butterflies & hosts caterpillars of Spring azure butterfliesAlgonquin made a medicinal tea with Meadowsweet’s leaves and stems. Iroquois administered a decoction of mashed and powdered dry roots to remedy pain in the sides. 1st described in literature in 1772
**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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Succisa pratensis Devil’s bit scabiosus Z 5- 9
A tall, thin stem, unbranched until its upper quarter, then branching, each branch topped with its own flower head. Innumerable tiny flowers surround a global, lake-blue flower head, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Thread-like stamens poke out from the flowers all around the globe – blue too. Blooms for nearly three months mid-to-late summer into fall.
A tall, thin stem, unbranched until its upper quarter, then branching, each branch topped with its own flower head. Innumerable tiny flowers surround a global, lake-blue flower head, about the size of a ping-pong ball. Thread-like stamens poke out from the flowers all around the globe – blue too. Blooms for nearly three months mid-to-late summer into fall.
LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE, LIMIT OF 1 PER CUSTOMER PLEASE
Size: 2-4’ x 12”
Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist-well drained soil
Native: Europe to central Siberia, NW Africa
Wildlife Value: provides nectar and pollen to butterflies, moths, and beesHistorically this has made a dye, a tea, and seasoned food. It treated numerous medical conditions including scabies, eczema, fevers, wounds, syphilis and plague. Devil’s bit named for the legend that the Devil disapproved of the plant uses and attempted to destroy it by biting off its roots. First described by Swiss botanist Gaspard Bauhin in 1623, Pinax theatri botanici, with a different name. Linnaeus renamed it in Hortus Cliffortanus, 1737and then Möench renamed it to Succisa pratensis in 1794.
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Symphoricarpos albus Snowberry Z 3-7
Small pink bell-shaped flowers turn into copious clusters of round, white berries, like miniature snowballs, grace this shrub from late summer through winter.
OUT OF STOCK
Small pink bell-shaped flowers turn into copious clusters of round, white berries, like miniature snowballs, grace this shrub from late summer through winter.
Size: 3-6’ x 3-6’
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
Native: Canada east to west coasts; US all states north from Virginia to California. Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: deer tolerant, attracts numerous birds including Hummingbirds, Towhees, Grouses, Robins, and Waxwings for nesting and food, although the fruit is poison to humans. Bees flock to the flowers’ pollen. Host for caterpillars of the Snowberry Sphinx moth and Snowberry Clearwing moth.Pauites of Oregon constructed cradle boards with the wood, sharpened the stem for digging tool and used its branches in a game of dice. The Nez Perce boiled sticks in water then used to remedy fevers, and encircled its branches around cradleboards to protect babies from ghosts. Flathead cured injured eyes with juice for the fruit and made a paste of its fruit, bark and leaves to remedy skin ailments and burns. For the Blackfoot the smoke from burning twigs blackened newly made pipes. Sioux made a diauretic from the fruit. Ojibwa speeded up convalescence for new mothers after giving birth with water infused with this. Shoshone made arrows from shoots for small birds. Collected for botany before 1753. Also collected on Lewis and Clark Expedition along the Missouri River west of Council Bluffs.
**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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Symphyandra zanzegura syn Campanula zanzegura Ring bellflower, Rock bellflower Z 5-10
Flared petal ends of lilac bells on wiry red stems over soft, velvety leaves bloom much of summer.
OUT OF STOCK
Flared petal ends of lilac bells on wiry red stems over soft, velvety leaves bloom much of summer.
Size: 15” x 15”
Care: full to part shade in well-drained soil
Native: mountains of Armenia, Eastern Europe
Wildlife Value: attracts beesDescribed and published by Ukrainian botanist Vladimir Lipsky (1863-1937) in 1894. Reclassified as a Campanula in 1980.
