Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Showing 65–72 of 208 results
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Diervilla lonicera Northern bush honeysuckle Z 3-7
Lemon yellow flowers on this short shrub June to August. In fall its foliage turns dark red for the final fireworks’ display. Great shrub for tough, dry shady areas.
Lemon yellow flowers on this short shrub June to August. In fall its foliage turns dark red for the final fireworks’ display.
Size: 3’ x 3’ spreading
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil, drought tolerant
Native: Eastern half of US & Canada, Wisconsin native.
Wildlife Value: nectar source for Bumblebees. Birds make nests from the branches and eat the fruitsUsed medicinally by numerous Native Americans – Algonquin, Chippewa, Cree, Iroquois, Menominee, Meskwaki, Ojibwa and Potawatomi. Used as remedy for sore eyes, diuretic, “old men who cannot retain urine,” constipation, stomach pain, increase breast milk, to “spoiled babies with adulterous mother,” STD’s and vertigo. Dr. N. Dierville, a surgeon, carried this to France from Canada (then Acadia) in 1699. Botanist to France’s king, Louis XIV, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708) named this to honor Dierville
**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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Digitalis ferruguina Rusty foxglove Z 4-7
Mottled rusty bells with brown speckled throats & hairy lips clothe the spikes in mid-summer. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)
Mottled rusty bells with brown speckled throats & hairy lips clothe the spikes in mid-summer. One of internationally known garden designer Piet Oudolf’s 100 “MUST HAVE” plants, Gardens Illustrated 94 (2013)
Size: 4-5' x 18"
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil.
Native: Southern Europe and Balkans
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit. Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Pick.The word ‘fox’ is said to be a corruption of ‘folk,’ meaning the ‘little folk’ or fairies. Foxgloves reputedly had the power to ward off witches and return children kidnapped by fairies Ferruginea means rust-colored from ferric describing metal containing iron. This species in garden cultivation since at least the 1590’s.
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Digitalis parviflora Chocolate foxglove Z 3-9
Spikes densely encircled with small, red-brown bells for weeks in summer, prune back after flowering to encourage reflowering.
Spikes densely encircled with small, red-brown bells for weeks in summer, prune back after flowering to encourage reflowering.
Size: 24- 60” x 12”
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
Native: Picos de Europa Mountains of Northern Spain
Wildlife Value: attracts bees and butterflies for its pollen and nectar, deer and rabbit resistant.
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden MeritGrown by Tradescant the Elder, 1634.
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Dracocephalum botryoides Dragonhead Z 4-7
Fuzzy, grey, deeply divided foliage with baby pink blossoms in May-June
OUT OF STOCK
Fuzzy, grey, deeply divided foliage with baby pink blossoms in May-June
Size: 5” x 18”
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained soil
Native: Caucasus on rocky, stony slopes, and screes where it is now endangered.
Wildlife Value: provides nectar and pollen for bees1st described in 1812. Dracocephalum means “dragonhead,” referring the shape of the flower.
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Dracocephalum grandiflorum Bigflower dragonhead Z 3-8
Intense blue hood-shaped flowers in summer
OUT OF STOCK
Intense blue hood-shaped flowers in summer
Size: 6”x 8”
Care: full sun in moist, well-drained soil
Native: SiberiaDracocephalum is Greek meaning “dragonhead” referring to the shape of the flower. Introduced to gardens by 1759. Grown in American gardens since 1850’s. William Robinson, father of the mixed perennial border, described this as “very dwarf” having “large clusters of intensely blue flowers.” Sanders considered it an “excellent plant for a sunny rockery.” 1913.
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Dracocephalum rupestre in China mao jian cao Z 4-8
True deep blue, hooded flowers rise above heart-shaped, crinkled foliage in the heat of mid-summer
True deep blue, hooded flowers rise above heart-shaped, crinkled foliage in the heat of mid-summer
Size: 12’ X 12”
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: Western China in alpine meadows and grassy slopesChinese made a tea from this. First named in the West in Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, 1867 Vol7 p. 166. Dracocephalum means “dragonhead” in Greek.
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Echinacea pallida Pale purple coneflower Z 4-8
Narrow, weeping pink rays in early summer surround hedgehog-like cone.
Narrow, weeping pink rays in early summer surround hedgehog-like cone.
Size: 2' x 14"
Care: Full sun in well-drained soil.
Native: much of continental US east of Colorado
Wildlife Value: attracts bees including bumblebees and caterpillars of some Skippers and a few moths. In fall finches eat the seeds. Deer resistant
Awards: Great Plants for Great PlainsEchinacea is Greek meaning hedgehog referring to the bristly conehead. Used to cure many ailments – arthritis, rheumatism, burns, colds, boils, fever, sore mouths, throats & gums, toothaches, snakebites, headaches, stings and distemper in horses – by several tribes – Cheyenne, Crow, Dakota and Sioux. 1st collected by Englishman Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) who searched much of No. America finding thousands of new plants.
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Echinacea paradoxa Bush’s coneflower Z 3-9
Sulfur yellow petals droop down below the bristly, brown central cone- Blooms in early summer
Sulfur yellow petals droop down below the bristly, brown central cone- Blooms in early summer
Size: 2-4' x 14"
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and Missouri
Wildlife Value: attracts bees and butterflies. In fall finches eat the seeds. Deer resistantEchinacea is Greek meaning hedgehog referring to the bristly conehead. Paradoxa because yellow petals on a Purple coneflower is a paradox. The first description of this is based on plants collected by B.F. Bush in Swan, Nichols Junction and Eagle Rock Missouri in 1878 and 1898 as well as one collected by German planthunter “Father of Texas Botany” Ferdinand Lindheimer in Texas in 1843. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol XII January to December, “Notes on Some Plants of the Southwestern United States” J.B.S. Norton 1902, p. 40.
