Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators

Showing 185–192 of 223 results

  • Sidalcea malvaeflora Checker bloom Z 5-9

    Bright pink mallow type blooms looking like a miniature hollyhock.

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Bright pink mallow type blooms looking like miniature hollyhock.

    Size: 2-3' x 10"
    Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
    Native: western No. America
    Wildlife Value: Attracts large white skipper butterflies.

    Sidalcea is the conjunction of sida and alcea.  Collected by Mexican botanist José Moziño around 1790 while on the Expedición Real de Botánica, probably in today’s Southern California.

  • Silene flos-cuculi syn. Lychnis flos-cuculi Ragged robin Z 4-9

    May-June, cotton-candy pink star shaped of thin petals as if a bursting star.  

    $12.95/bareroot

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    May-June, cotton-candy pink star shaped of thin petals as if a bursting star.

    Can not ship to: Connecticut and Maryland.

    Size: 30” x 32”
    Care: Sun to part shade, moist well-drained soil
    Native: Europe, Caucasus, Russia
    Wildlife Value: Butterfly plant, attracts Small Pearl Bordered Frilillary and Common Blue

    Flos is Latin for “flower.”  According to Parkinson (1629) Ragged robin was used to cure wounds as early as Roman times.   Grown by Washington at Mount Vernon. In 1851 Breck called the Ragged robin “an old inhabitant of the flower garden.”

  • Silphium laciniatum Compass plant Z 4-9

    Tall, sunflower-like plant with big, deeply lobed, hairy leaves, that move north and south to follow mid-day sun. Two to five inch wide, sunny-yellow daisies grow at intervals along the top half of the stiff, square, sticky stem from mid-summer into fall.  

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    Tall, sunflower-like plant with big, deeply lobed, hairy leaves, that move north and south to follow mid-day sun. Two to five inch wide, sunny-yellow daisies grow at intervals along the top half of the stiff, square, sticky stem from mid-summer into fall.

     

    Size: sun to part shade in moist to well-drained soil with its deep taproot
    Care: 6- 12’ x 24”
    Native: East and central U.S. as far west as the Great Plains, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: pollinated by bumblebees, Miner bees, large leaf Cutting and solitary bees, Goldfinches feast on the seeds in fall.
    Awards: Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit

    Natives chewed the plant’s sap like chewing gum.  Lakota Sioux made an infusion of the plant is used to deworm horses and humans of and to break up congestion in the lungs.  Grew in Bartram’s colonial nursery by 1770’s.  Grown at America’s 1st botanic garden, Elgin Botanic Garden 1811.

    Named “Compass plant” for its leaves move, facing north and south.

  • Silphium perfoliatum Cup plant Z 3-9

    Golden daisies waive at the sun from July to September, its cup shaped leaves hold water where butterflies drink & bathe

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    $12.95/bareroot

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    Golden daisies waive at the sun from July to September, its cup shaped leaves hold water where butterflies drink & bathe

    Can not ship to: Connecticut and New York

    Size: 7’ x 3’
    Care: full sun to part shade in moist soil
    Native: Central North America, native to Wisconsin.
    Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit

    Sap used by Native Americans to chew and freshen breath.  Also used to cure colds, neuralgia, fever, and liver disorders.  The Chippewa used to stop lung hemorrhaging, menstrual bleeding and cure chest pain.  The Winnebago drank a potion from the plant to purify themselves before a buffalo hunt. For the Iroquois it cured paralysis, prevented children from seeing ghosts and illness caused by the dead.  Lakota Sioux: “Children sometimes use the resin as chewing gum. An infusion of the whole plant is used to rid horses and humans of intestinal worms. An infusion of the leaves is used to loosen phlegm in the lungs. Described and classified in 1753.

  • Solidago caesia syn. Solidago axillaris Blue-stemmed goldenrod, Wreath goldenrod Z 4-9

    Graceful, arching wands of clustered gold, with contrasting blue-green stems in September-October. One of the last perennials to bloom. Clump forming, noninvasive perennial.

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Graceful, arching wands of clustered gold, with contrasting blue-green stems, in September-October. Clump forming, noninvasive perennial.

    Size: 18-24” x 16-20”
    Care: part shade to shade in well-drained soil, drought tolerant
    Native: Nova Scotia to WI, south to FL and west to TX, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: With both nectar and pollen this attracts, bees, wasps and flies. It is host to caterpillars of some moths.

    The Latin name is a combination of solidus and ago, meaning “I make whole”, referring to its historic medicinal uses. According to William Cullina it has antioxidant, diuretic, astringent and antifungal properties and was used to treat urinary tract and yeast infections, sore throats and diarrhea. (W. Cullina, NEWFS, p. 197) Named by Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1753.

  • Solidago cutleri Cutler’s alpine goldenrod Z 3-9

    Golden tufts of flowers on this mounding, compact, bone-hardy goldenrod July-September

    $10.25/bareroot

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    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 butterflies

    Named for New England plant explorer Manasseh Cutler , Rhodora 10(113): 87. 1908 by M.L. Fernald

  • 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.

    $12.95/bareroot

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    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 who named it riddellii in honor of John Riddell who had collected it in Ohio before 1835.

  • Solidago speciosa Showy goldenrod Z 3-8

    Broad spikes of erect panicles of mustard yellow welcome late summer into autumn

    $12.95/bareroot

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    Broad spikes of erect panicles of mustard yellow welcome late summer into autumn

    Size: 3-5’ x 12-18”
    Care: Sun, any soil, stands up to wind, no staking needed
    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.