Garden Guide: Native flowers are easy to grow and have benefits for our environment
If you love flowers that are easy to grow, native plants are a great choice.
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If you love flowers that are easy to grow, native plants are a great choice. Not only are the blooms beautiful, but they’re useful too. Native flowers are specially designed to support our local wildlife and have huge benefits for our environment.
Here are a few flowers in full bloom right now that are a great alternative to the typical manicured landscape.
Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum)
This giant plant has large leaves and even larger bloom heads! The plants can get up to 8 feet tall! Although the plant has “weed” in the name, it is easy to keep in control & a major asset in a native garden. Blooms arrive mid to late summer.
Cone flowers (Echinacea)
This common landscape choice is fantastic addition to a native or low maintenance garden! Pollinators love the flowers which reach peak color in July and August. Make sure to keep the flower heads on the plant through the winter. Birds love the seeds and some pollinators seek shelter during the colder months in the stems. The seeds are a favorite for gold finches in late summer. These bright colored birds are shy so it’s a real treat to see them!
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
It’s a hard name to say, but an easy one to grow! Anise hyssop has fragrant leaves and beautiful flowers that pollinators can’t get enough of. The plants would do best in a garden that is meadow-like because the plants self-sow from seed year after year.
As summer comes to an end, you might want to include some autumn blooming natives to your garden. Here are a few of my favorites.
