Flowers & Insects

Appalachian Sedge
Carex appalachica→

This sedge is a host plant for Skipper and Satyr caterpillars. Turtles are said to eat the seeds. It’s ideal for dry, shaded, or otherwise difficult sites. The leaves are uncommonly fine, creating a lovely “weeping” appearance that readily undulates with the slightest breeze. It grows in dense mounded tufts about 6 inches high. In early spring, tiny flowering stalks shoot beyond the foliage with little starbursts of light green blooms.

Bee Balm or Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa→

Wild bergamot is treasured for its herbal properties and for its pretty lavender blooms. Supporting a variety of bees and butterflies, this readily spreading, aromatic plant blooms pink in summer, favoring average, well-drained soils.

Bee Balm- Spotted;
Monarda punctata→

Spotted bee-balm stands out with its unique flowers, tiers of tan, dark-spotted petals surrounded by green and pink bracts. This species supports a variety of native bees and butterflies, and thrives in dry, rocky soils where it will self-sow readily.

Black-Eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta→

Black-eyed Susan is one of the larval host plants of the Silvery Checkerspot. Its bright yellow flowers attract many different butterflies, moths, and bees. This plant is of high value to pollinators.

Butterfly Weed
Asclepias tuberosa→

Like all species in the Asclepias genus, Asclepias tuberosa is one of the larval host plants for the monarch butterfly. This is a great Milkweed for a sunny location in a dry area. Mature plants in ideal locations can make as many as 20 stems at an average height of 2’. The vivid orange color, low mounded profile, and ability to attract and sustain butterflies make this plant a well-known landscape favorite for all types of gardens.

Columbine-Wild
Aquilegia canadensis→

Also called Red or American Columbine, it’s one of the first plants to provide nectar in the spring for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Columbine is the larval host plant of the Columbine Duskywing. The colorful flowers are red flowing into yellow.

Goldenrod-Anise Scented
Solidago odora→

All goldenrods are a crucial late season nectar source for bees and other insects. It also provides one of the final pops of fall color. Its shorter stature, graceful arching stems, shade tolerance, and less aggressive tendencies set it apart from other goldenrods in the landscape. You can make a tea of the leaves which have a sweet anise scent when crushed. It supports migrating monarch butterflies who need the late-summer and fall blossoms for vital energy during their southern migration. It also attracts unique visitors like the polka-dot wasp moth (Syntomeida epilais) and serves as a caterpillar host plant for moths such as the wavy-lined emerald (Synchlora aerata).

This goldenrod will also attract beneficial insect predators like the goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), which feeds on nectar as an adult and helps control garden pests like aphids, as well as solitary and beneficial wasps that assist with natural pest management

Moss Phlox
Phlox subulata→

Because it blooms in early spring, it is a crucial nectar source for early-season pollinators, including bumble and solitary bees, Swallowtail and Common Buckeye butterflies, the Snowberry Clearwing moth and hummingbirds.

Purple Love Grass
Eragrostis spectabilis→

This grass supports a variety of pollinators and insects. Its late-summer blooming, airy pink-purple flowers attract native bees, beetles, and butterflies. Additionally, it serves as a critical larval host plant for skipper butterflies, most notably the Zabulon Skipper.

Sundial Lupin
Lupinus perrenis→

Supplies pollen to many of our native Bumble Bees, Bombus spp.; Mason Bees, Osmia spp.; Leaf-cutter Bees, Megachile spp.; Mining Bees, Andrenidae family; and Eastern Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa virginica. The foliage is the primary food source for the caterpillars of several rare and endangered Butterflies and Moths, Lepidoptera.

Violet-Common Blue
Viola sororia→

Native violets are critical early-spring food sources and host plants for a variety of specialized insects. They uniquely support the Violet Miner Bee (Andrena violae), a specialist pollinator that relies entirely on violets, as well as bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, syrphid flies, and the caterpillars of fritillary butterflies. We plant them along challenging areas of the pollinator path as an almost indestructible form of erosion and weed control.

Wild Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana→

Supports 75 different species of butterflies and moths (Lepidopterans) throughout their life cycles, supplying food for caterpillars and nectar for adult insects. It also supports numerous [other types of insects], and the fruits attract chipmunks, squirrels, and birds. Its flowers are accessible to short-tongued bees. This is an excellent ground cover in almost all situations, dry, wet, sun and shade.