Plants for Butterflies and Other Pollinators

Showing 209–216 of 223 results

  • Uvularia grandiflora Largeflower bellwort, Fairybells Z 4-9

    Graceful, hanging pale yellow bells, like a gypsy’s skirt, in spring

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Graceful, hanging pale yellow bells, like a gypsy’s skirt, in spring

    Size: 10-20” x 6” spread slowly
    Care: part shade to shade in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Quebec to Ontario, NH to ND, Louisiana to Georgia, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Attracts bees
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit

    Menominee reduced swelling with this plant. Ojibwa cured stomach pains and Potawatomi mixed it with lard to cure sore muscles & backaches. Collected for gardens by 1802. Wm. Robinson considered this a “graceful perennial … the finest of the species.”

  • Verbena bonariensis Perennial Z 7-10, colder zones-reseeding annual

    Small purple flowers atop tall leafless stems from July to October. Great see-through blooms for growing in back, middle or front of the garden.

    $3.75/pot

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    Small purple flowers atop tall leafless stems from July to October.  Great see-through blooms for growing in back, middle or front of the garden.

    Size: 3-4’ x 8”
    Care: full sun in moist, well-drained, fertile soil - self-seeder
    Native: South America
    Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit & Missouri Botanic Garden Plant of Merit.

    Introduced to garden cultivation from its native Buenos Aires in 1726 by the Sherard brothers.

  • Verbena hastata Blue vervain, Simpler’s joy Z 3-9

    Bright purplish-blue candelabra-like spikes from July to September

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    $9.25/bareroot

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    Bright purplish-blue candelabra-like spikes from July to September

    Size: 2-4’ x 2’
    Care: sun to part shade in moist or moist well-drained soil
    Native: eastern 2/3rds of No. America, Wisconsin native
    Wildlife Value: Cardinals & Sparrows eat the seeds. Food for larvae of Buckeye butterfly.

    Native Americans used plant as remedy for coughs, colds and fever.  Mahuna Indians of So. California used the root to cure complicated stomach fevers.   Sioux fed the seeds to their horses to give them energy.  The Sioux also used it as an insect repellant.  Pressed specimen in Emily Dickinson’s herbarium.

  • Vernonia fasciculata Prairie Ironweed Z 3-7

    Dense clusters of true royal purple August-September

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Dense clusters of true royal purple August-September

    Size: 3-4’ x 2-3’
    Care: sun to part shade in moist to moist well drained soil
    Native: so central Canada to central & eastern US
    Wildlife Value: Attracts butterflies. Deer resistant

    Collected by André Michau (1746-1802) by 1803. Named to honor Wm. Vernon, an English botanist who collected plants in late 1600’s.  

  • Vernonia lettermannii Threadleaf ironweed Z 4-9

    Deep purple inch-wide flower heads top unbranched stems forming a dome in late summer-early fall

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Deep purple inch-wide flower heads top unbranched stems forming a dome in late summer-early fall

    Size: 24” x 36”
    Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil
    Native: Arkansas and OK
    Wildlife Value: attracts numerous butterflies and pollen source for bees, deer resistant

    Collected on “Cooper’s Creek by Dr. J.M. Bigelow and on the sandbars of the Washita,.” Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts xvi. (1881) 78. 78 1880. “Notes on Some Compositae”  The species named to honor George Lettermann (1840-1913) who was primarily interested in trees and, while working for the US Census he collected tree specimens in  forests of Missouri, Arkansas, western Louisiana and eastern Texas.  

  • Vernonia noveboracensis Ironweed Z 4-8

    numerous deep crimson- purple daisies

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Heads of numerous deep royal purple daisies, August to September

    Size: 5' x 2'
    Care: Sun in moist to moist well-drained soil
    Native: from Massachusetts to Florida
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies

    Named for English botanist William Vernon. Infusions of the plant used by Cherokee to relieve pain after childbirth, for loose teeth and for stomach ulcers.

  • Veronica gentianoides Gentian speedwell Z. 4-9

    Palest of true blue flowers

    $12.25/bareroot

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    Palest of true blue flowers bloom on 18″ spikes in early summer.

    Can not ship to: Illinois

    Size: 18" x 18"
    Care: full sun to part shade in moist well-drained soil
    Native: eastern Europe
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies
    Awards: England's Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.

    According to Christian tradition, as Jesus carried the cross to Calvary a woman wiped his face with her handkerchief, leaving the imprint of Christ’s features, the vera iconica, meaning “the true likeness.”  When the Catholic Church canonized the woman, the Church gave her the name Saint Veronica.  Medieval gardeners named the plant after her due to a perceived likeness of the flower to her handkerchief.  V. gentianoides was introduced to European garden cultivation in 1784. Grown in American gardens since 1850.

  • Veronica liwanensis Turkish speedwell Z 4-8

    Tiny true blue saucers smother the ground

    $8.25/pot

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    Tiny true blue saucers smother the ground in May & June – groundcover, front of border or rock garden plant.

    Size: 1” x 18” spreader over time
    Care: sun to part shade in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
    Native: NE Anatolia, Caucasus
    Wildlife Value: attracts butterflies
    Awards: 1997 Plant Select Winner.

    Collected before 1849.