Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators
Showing 177–184 of 220 results
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Scutellaria incana syn. Scutellaria canescens, Scutellaria villosa Downy skullcap Z 5-8
Showy, open spikes of two-lipped Blue-violet florets from June-Sept
Flowers of spikes of purple-blue tubes ending in two open lips, the lower lip having a white blotch, blooming for months from July to September, if deadheaded
Size: 2-3’ x 12-18"
Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil. Reblooms if deadhead after 1st flush of flowers
Native: NY to WI, Georgia to TX, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Its nectar feeds small butterflies, Bumblebees and Hummingbirds.The name Scutellaria is from Latin scutella meaning a small dish or saucer referring to the shape of the persistent calyx, a covering at the flower’s base. Incana means grey referring to the tiny hairs on stems and undersides of leaves giving a greyish color. Named by Johann Friedrich Theodor Biehler, German botanist from the plant specimens in Christian Sprengel’s (1750-1816) herbarium in 1807. How did German botanist Sprengel, who never set foot in America, come to have a pressed specimen of this native American plant? Sprengel and German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow (1765-1812) were close collaborators. Another German botanist Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg (1753-1815), living in Lancaster Pennsylvania, sent many American plants specimens to Willedenow. Scutellaria incana is native to and grows in what is now called Muhlenberg Meadow in Lancaster County PA. These connections make it likely that the specimen Biehler saw came from Henry Muhlenberg.
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Scutellaria resinosa syn. Scutellaria wrightii Prairie skullcap Z 4-9
Two-lipped, deep violet-blue tubes bloom from spring to fall
Two-lipped, deep violet-blue tubes bloom from spring to fall
Size: 10” x 10”
Care: sun to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil, drought tolerant
Native: Colorado, NM, KS, Oklahoma, TX, collected on the Canadian River, tributary of Arkansas River
Wildlife Value: deer & rabbit resistant. Nectar and pollen attract butterflies and bees.Described by botanist John Torrey in Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of NY 2: 232 (1828)
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Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ syn ‘Herbstfreude’ syn Hylotelephium ‘Autumn Joy’ Z 4-9
Classic, large flat flower heads turn from green to rose
Classic, large flat flower heads turn from green to rose blooming in September and October. A staple for autumn in the garden.
Size: 30” x 12”
Care: full sun in well-drained soil
Awards: England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.Sedum means “plant that sits.” “Live forever” is an ancient Greek name for sedums. The Roman Pliny claimed that sedum’s juice treated wounds. In the 1500’s English herbalist Gerard called sedums “very full of life,” referring to succulent’s quality of being very easy to grow. Autumn Joy introduced to gardens before 1920 by the George Arends Nursery in Ronsdorf, Germany.
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Senna hebecarpa syn. Cassia hebecarpa Wild senna Z 4-8
6” long taxicab yellow racemes in July – August
6 inch long taxicab yellow racemes in July – August
Size: 4’ x 2-6’
Care: full sun in moist well-drained soil
Native: all North America east of Mississippi River from Hudson Bay south to Georgia and Tennessee, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: attracts bees, butterflies, birds & hummingbirdsCollected by 1753. Very similar to Senna marilandica except a bit taller, flowers prettier and a slightly bulbous gland as the base of the petiole.
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Seseli gummiferum Moon carrot Z 5-9 self-seeding biennial or short-lived perennial.
Five-inch diameter mound of many circles of pale pink to white flowers atop silvery, frilly, fern-like foliage flowering in mid-summer into early fall.
Five-inch diameter mound of many circles of pale pink to white flowers atop silvery, frilly, fern-like foliage flowering in mid-summer into early fall.
Size: 2-3’ x 12-18”
Care: Sun to part-shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
Native: Crimea, Turkey and South Aegean
Wildlife Value: Deer resistant. Butterfly magnet; host for caterpillar of Eastern swallowtail butterfly.Seseli is an ancient Greek name of an umbelliferous plant. This species first described by Linnaeus in 1735. In Re classified and renamed in 1830 in Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis, sive, Enumeratio contracta ordinum generum specierumque plantarum huc usque cognitarium, juxta methodi naturalis, normas digesta.
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Sidalcea malvaeflora Checker bloom Z 5-9
Bright pink mallow type blooms looking like a miniature hollyhock.
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.
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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.
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 BlueFlos 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.”
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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.
OUT OF STOCK
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 MeritNatives 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.
