Pocket meadow in mid-August

Eupatorium perfoliatum (Common Boneset), Eutrochium purpureum (Joe-Pye), various Liatris species, Heliopolis, Parthenium integrefolium (Wild Quinine), and three different Vernonia species are welcoming pollinators of all sorts in the pocket meadow in mid-August. 

Not to mention the Brazilian sage and Rudbeckia triloba to the other side of the driveway, which are frequented by bees and hummingbirds.

Squash, tomatillo, and bean flowers attract a variety of bees, including the specialist squash bees.

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Native perennials at my local hardware store

A great selection of perennials

I was delighted to find a wonderful selection of native perennials at my local Ace Hardware (on Merrimon Ave.) in Asheville today.

I guess I'd missed them before -

Lawrence, the staff member in charge, doesn't have a lot of space, but as he told me, in our nice conversation about gardening with perennials, he tries to turn over plants every couple of weeks, so clearly I'd just missed these late-summer flowering plants before, as I'd have headed down the hill by now in past years, for the beginning of the
academic year.

He had a who's who of my favorite 'fall' perennials for pollinators, mostly native.

I snagged a couple of Liatris squarrosa and two small Husker's Red Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis).

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Pocket meadow: pollinators welcome

The pocket meadow in front of the house continues to transform, but is especially lively now, as (normally) fall-flowering plants like Joe-Pye, Vernonia spp., and Solidago are in flower or starting to flower.

Pocket meadow - pollinator-friendly!

On the other side of the driveway, Salvia guaranitica continues to welcome hummingbirds and bees of all sorts, accompanied by a tall Rudbeckia triloba.

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Planting pollinator gardens

There's an excellent new initiative, from a consortium of groups, from non-profits to garden groups, in association with the recent federal initiative around promoting pollinator plantings.

It's called the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge.

It's a good thing.

I "registered" my small landscape yesterday, which includes a pocket meadow and an informal perennial bed full of natives below the house (not to mention all of the native plants planted elsewhere).

It doesn't take much to transform a "traditional" perennial bed into a pollinator-friendly one.  But I'm feeling that we definitely need to encourage folks to do that, as well as transform lawns into life-supporting plantings.

I'm getting weary of seeing nothing but plants that just sit there, and don't "work for a living" in residential and commercial landscapes.

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Pollinators

pocket meadow -mid-August 2014

The pocket meadow in front is being visited by all sorts of bees and butterflies.  What fun!  The Joe-Pye, Boneset, Phlox, and Ironweed are all in play, not to mention the South American Salvia guaranitica, which our native ruby-throated hummingbirds love.

Bumblebee on boneset

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Gardens, nurseries and pollinators

As a gardener who favors native plants, pollinator-friendly plants, and generally "plants that work for a living," I always enjoy visiting gardens that support flower visitors, whether they're cottage gardens full of nectar- and pollen- rich plants from wherever, or native meadow gardens.

I loved visiting Chickadee Gardens, Scott's garden, and Joy Creek Nursery, especially because of the abundance of flower visitors.  I took lots of photos in each of these places - here are just a few.

bumblebee on Dahlia

bee on Eryngium of some kind

Joy Creek nursery view

honeybee on Agastache

bumblebee visiting a Penstemon cultivar

bumblebee and Monarda cultivar

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