Native Pollinator Garden

Fall is almost here! 

     Much of the garden is finished blooming.  Right now you will see the stiff goldenrod blooming and the New England Asters are just starting.   These are 2 late blooming things that provide a late source of food for the bees before they hibernate for the winter.  You may notice that we have left many of the "past bloom" seed heads in place.  While this may seem "messy", part of our purpose here is to provide a biodiverse habitat.  See below the picture of the gold finches that are seen regularly down there, who just love the seeds of the coneflowers.   

     While discussing our plant choices with a neighbor, she asked, "isn't milkweed a weed?"  Well, interesting question!  It certainly isn't a very showy flower but I'm pretty sure most people LOVE to see the Monarch butterflies.  While you may see monarchs in your garden, they NEED milkweed to lay their eggs on.  Just this morning a milkweed caterpillar was seen in our community garden.   I'm calling that a success!

      We gardeners like to call plants that spring up (without being planted) volunteers.   In our garden, we have plenty of black eyed susan, new england aster, ashy sunflower and medusa allium that we would love to share with interested neighbors.   We are happy to share.   Right now is a great time to plant perennials if you can keep them watered until they get established.  They can spend the next month or two getting their roots going and be ready to produce next year.   Many times perennials don't flower the first year you plant them as they need to get their roots going.  Email me - Laura Groenke - llgroenke@gmail.com if you are interested.

Click on the websites below to learn all about Mt Lookout's pollinator garden, and much more exciting information.

Gold finch eating coneflower seeds

Overwintering Bees:

Should I wait to clean up the garden in order to help conserve insects?

​Stop: Don't cut those plant stalks

From our garden 9/9/23

Pollinator/Host Plant Relationships:

Selecting Plants for Butterfly Eggs

Butterfly Host Plants