Native Annuals revisited

The ubiquitous black-eyed Susan, Rubeckia hirta,
can bloom in its first season from seed
but may persist for up to 3 years.

A little over 10 years ago I kicked off this blog with an introduction to the idea of using native annuals in the home landscape.  I thought it was time to revisit this theme and add a little more detail with a focus on native annuals and biennials that can be used in the Mid-Atlantic garden.

While there is a growing interest in native trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials there are very few native annuals promoted for landscape use in native landscape designs.  This lack of focus is due in large part because the longer-lived species can be counted on year after year to uphold the integrity of the design.  When included in a design, conventional annuals are often used as temporary accent pieces, just to add interest or fill a gap in the permanent landscape. 

In general, many of the annuals used in designed landscapes and home gardening are of exotic origin and have been further improved horticulturally for maximum visual affect.  These plants and methods are not bad or evil; they are just a several steps away from what would be considered natural to a given area.  While beautiful, these plants lack local character, certainly on a regional, if not continental scale.  To the extent that they are different from the local flora, they may not provide the same ecological value, such as food and shelter for wildlife in the area, as native species do. 

In contrast, native annuals may function more as perennials.  Those that are adapted to the local environment will die back after a season or two, but they will maintain a presence in the garden, by reseeding, though not necessarily in the same location.   For some people, this may be a problem since the plants will move around, disrupting the design.  Others would consider this as a natural phenomenon and appreciate how plants are able to find their proper niche.  The ideal native annual could be considered as a plant that develops quickly with more flowers, a longer flowering cycle than perennials, and that reseeds but is not invasive.

Plant Selection for the Mid-Atlantic

To generate my initial list of Mid-Atlantic annuals and biennials I used the USDA Plants database.  This database contains a listing of all plants identified as growing wild in the United States.  It does not, however, distinguish whether the plants in a location are indigenous or have escaped cultivation. Using the 'Advanced Search' function I first selected North American native species. Then I selected NJ, PA, MD, WV and VA as my Mid-Atlantic States.  For duration I selected annual and biennial and I selected 'forb' for plant type.  This resulted in a list of over 700 taxa.  This list of plant names included some duplication since varieties and sub-species are listed in addition to the species.  This database has since been revised but you can get similar results for your region using its new “Characteristics Search” feature.  Alternatively you can use the Wildflower Center’s combination plant search function on their database, but there you would be doing one state at a time.

Here are three short-lived Mid-Atlantic natives,
spotted beebalm over growing a patch of
American pennyroyal and
 backed up with black-eyed Susans.

Next, I scanned the list for species that I was familiar with that, in my opinion, had some garden value.  The attributes I considered included form, appearance of foliage or flower, scent of flower or foliage, or value to wildlife.  I came up with a list of over 40 species that I have or would like to have in my gardens.  These criteria are of course arbitrary in the sense that I am looking at features from a human perspective.  In reality each of these species has evolved to fill an ecological niche and, as such, has a real value in their natural home.  Most gardens, however, are created and curated by humans, and are not complete, natural ecosystems.  This is especially the case in urban and suburban settings where soils, water courses and wildlife corridors have been disrupted; although, we can aspire to create naturalistic areas where some semblance of a natural ecosystem can catch hold, particularly with the use of native plant species.

The Plants

Here’s a partial listing of the native annuals and biennials grouped according to their garden function.

Big Plants

Bearded beggarticks can grow from seed to about
5' tall in a season.  Bloom time is in late summer.

Despite their short life times some native annuals and particularly biennials can grow quite large, 4-6 feet tall.  These plants are best located in the background or in a larger format setting.

Bearded beggarticks (Bidens aristosa), American bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum), tall thistle (Cirsium altissimum), biennial gaura (Oenothera gaura, formerly Gaura biennis), jewelweed (Impatiens capensis), and evening primrose (Oenothera biennis).

Showy Plants

These species are of more manageable size and have good sized and/or showy flowers.

Climbing fumitory (Adlumia fungosa), partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata and C. nictitans), plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria), Corydalis sempervirens, fleabanes (Erigeron annuus and E. philadelphicus), firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella), annual sunflower (Helianthus annus), cucmberleaf sunflower (Helianthus debilis), sneezeweed (Helenium amarum), standing cypress (Ipomosis rubra), spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata), sweet everlasting (Pseudognaphalium obtussifolium), black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), clasping Venus looking glass (Triodanis perfoliata), and blue vervain (Verbena hastata).

Partridge pea returns reliably from seed
each year if open soil is available

Philadelphia fleabane is a prolific reseeder and
can grow anywhere there is an opening, such as a thin
 lawn.  Commonly grows as a biennial in my yard.

 Fillers

These plants will fill in space and while each has some interesting features, will not steal the show.

Hog peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata), yellow corydalis (Corydalis flavula), American pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides), Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata), clearweed (Pilea pumila), red-whisker clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra), Pennsylvania smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum), field pansy (Viola bicolor), and common blue violet (V. sororia).

American pennyroyal has very small flowers
but produces a strong minty scent when disturbed. 
Its tiny seeds can find their way into the smallest cracks.

Special Requirements.  

Most native annuals owe their long-term success to being adapted to some form of disturbance which makes it difficult for long-lived plants to get established.  Some species are adapted to very special conditions.  One common example is jewelweed (Impatens capensis).  This annual can grow quite large and sports distinctive orange flowers but it needs very wet soils to survive. 

Some interesting native annuals are hemiparasitic, their roots tap into nearby plants to help them develop fully.  Two examples are the False foxgloves, such as fernleaf false foxglove (Aureolaria pedicularia), which are parasitic on oaks, and Scarlet Indian paintbrush, (Castilleja coccinea), which grows with assistance from the roots of grasses. 

Winter annuals are a group of plants that have adapted their life cycles to avoid the heat and dryness of summer, or competition for sun light in a wooded setting, by doing most of their growth from fall into springtime, when light and moisture are more plentiful.

Spring blue-eyed Mary germinates in the fall and
blooms in early spring.  It is often found growing
under deciduous trees.

Some winter annuals found in the Mid-Atlantic include: Spring blue-eyed Mary, (Collinsia verna), Yellow fumewort (Corydalis flavula), Old field Toadflax (Nuttallanthus canadensis), Fernleaf phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida), Miami mist (Phacelia purshii), and Field pansy (Viola bicolor).

One trick with growing winter annuals is that you need to avoid pulling them out while you are cleaning up flower beds in the early spring. 

This clasping Venus looking glass came up on its
 own and bloomed in early June.  To encourage its
 return I avoided mowing the area so that it could
 set seed, but it will need open soil the following
 year so that it can grow.

A few of these species are commercially available as potted plants right now.  Others may be had by getting seed from native plant suppliers.  For others, these plants may occur naturally on your site and one just needs to be observant when they show up and then to take care that they are able to develop and set seed to create a new generation.

 

Native Annuals Wrap Up for 2014

For the past 6 or 7 years I have been interested in using native annuals in my landscapes.  By working with species that are adapted to local climate and growing conditions they can behave essentially as highly mobile perennials, moving around the garden by reseeding to find their optimal spots.  In some gardens this could be a problem with too many randomized plants.  Personally, I like the spontaneity of getting something growing unexpectedly.  (If they do get out of hand I can just pull them up or transplant them to a more desirable location.)

This Partridge Pea reached about 3' in height.  They can look gangly
in a manicured garden, but fit well into a naturalistic setting.

This year I started a number of new native annuals from seed.  In addition, I had some reseed from last year.  Here's a rundown on their performance in 2014.  I'll start with the best.

In early to mid summer the best performers were actually plants that had reseeded themselves from 2013:  Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) and American Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides).  Also the biennial, American Bellflower (Campanulastrum americanum) put on a big show.

The Partridge Pea has spread a little from it original planting.  This is an early transitional species, looking for gaps in the in the ground layer to germinate.  It can be pushed out of a densely planted area if there are no gaps.  

The seedpods of Partridge Pea curl up when they release the seeds.  These could look nice in a flower arrangement.

The American Pennyroyal forms dense low border 9-12" tall.
There is a little Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris) mixed in.

The Pennyroyal grew from a mixture of seed originally planted in spring 2013 and reseeding from plants in that fall.  The main feature of this plant is the strong minty scent that persists in the dried leaves and stems.  The blue flowers are tiny and grow from the leaf axils in late summer.  

These Amercan Bellflowers are at the back of a garden, an appropriate location.
They can get 5-6' tall in a sunny site.

In full sun the American Bellflower can get quite tall and unwieldy.  It grows well in shady spots reaching a more manageable height of only about 3'.  The blue flowers are very attractive to bees. Unfortunately deer seem to like it as well.  Although they left it alone after applying a repellent.  Pruned plants will produce a second flush of flowers.  

The narrow foliage of Plains Coreopsis allows to mix well
with other plantings without blocking the view.

In mid-summer and still continuing was Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria).  I transplanted some spindly seedlings in late June and by mid July they were taking off and blooming.  There was a little deer browsing early on, but this seemed to taper off after a treatment with Bobbex.  The native range of this Coreopsis includes Maryland so I am hoping that these will successfully reseed in the garden.

The two annuals that are still going strong into mid-fall are Yellow Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum) and Scarlet a.k.a. Hummingbird Sage (Salvia coccinea).  

I only got a couple of the sneezeweed to germinate, but once in the ground it took hold and has been blooming strongly since mid-August.  One trick with these is that the tiny seeds that I brought come massed together in few 1/16" spheres.  These need to be broken up and spread over the soil surface to germinate.  I mistakenly treated most of these spheres as seeds and planted them too deep resulting in no germination.  

The bright yellow flowers of this Yellow Sneezeweed do not need to be deadheaded.
Just as well, I hope to get some reseeding from these.

The Salvia germinated easily and after growing in trays for a few weeks were transferred to the garden or into pots.  These plants spent 6-8 weeks growing before they were ready to bloom.  Despite the wait, the blooming has been strong since early August.  This species also does well in pots. but it is kind of tall and you may want some other plants to fill in around the lower leaves.

The tubular flowers of this Salvia did attract our hummingbirds earlier in the season.
At 24-30" it shows up well among other garden plants.

Some other annuals I tried that grew but did not excel this season were Sulfur Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus), Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis 'Pan') and Spanish Flag (Ipomoea lobata). The Cosmos suffered from too much competition from other plants and from being nibbled on by the local fauna.  I expect it would have done better in a more protected location.  The Sunflower germinated well in the garden but was overshadowed by the Annual Sunflower I paired it with.  The Spanish flag matured very late in the season with significant blooming starting in September.  It's blooming well now in late October, but all the supporting plants are fading away.  Spanish Flag is native to Mexico (part of North America); I don't expect to see this one reseed.

The fact that we have not had a real frost yet in our area has really extended the blooming season for these plants.  Some I expect to survive a light frost, while others will be killed immediately.  

I did plant a couple of winter annuals, Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) and Miami Mist (Phacelia purshii), out in the garden in late summer.  I'm keeping an eye on them, but have not seen any definitive germination yet.

New Seedlings and Sprouts

While a few established plants did not make it through this past winter most did and are performing quite well now.   A number of plants that I put in last fall which I had written off as lost 'suddenly' reappeared in the middle of May.  These include a Passion Vine,  some New York fern and False Goatsbeard (Astilbe biternata).  It was very fortunate that I left the plant tags in the ground otherwise I may have totally missed these late arrivals and possibly removed them as weeds or planted something else on top of them.   The False Goatsbeard is an excellent example.  This was a new plant for me so I did not know when it would resprout or what it would look like.  As the photo shows the new shoot could easily be mistaken for a dead twig.  Now that it has leafed out it looks like what I would expect for and Astilbe.

The new shoot comes up reddish-brown with tightly curled leaves.

Astilbe biternata is the only North American species of Astilbe.  It grows to over 3' tall.

The intensity of the red markings on the leaves is variable in the wild type plants

I have mentioned many times before that we are on a mission to remove the Garlic Mustard from our property.  In addition to improving the biodiversity it is giving us the opportunity to closely observe the other plants that were growing under the mustard canopy.  The other day after pulling some garlic mustard I found a patch of Jumpseed, Persicaria virginiana, (formerly Polygonum virginiana) that was growing in an unmanaged area.  I wanted to compare this to some red-flowered Jumpseed that I got from a nearby nursery.  

These Jumpseed from a nursery have a similar number of leaf veins,
but the shapes of its leaves is variable.

 Because most Jumpseed blooms with whitish flowers I was uncertain whether the red flowered plants were North American (var. virginiana f. rubra) or from an Asian species (var. filiformis) which normally has red flowers.  These varieties have different leaf shapes and number of veins on the leaf.  See this link for the original publication.  The characteristic leaf shape for the Asian species is obovate with an attenuate or cunnate base.  The nursery-grown plants have similar number of veins as the wild type (5-9 pairs), but the leaf shape is variable with a single plant having leaf shapes that match either species description.  Bottom line... I'm just not sure.

No garlic mustard in these Mayapples, but there
was woodland phlox and some galium species mixed in.

Another thing we noticed was that there was a large patch of Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) that was nearly devoid of garlic mustard.  I don't know if the Mayapples are actively defending against garlic mustard invasion or if this area has just not been invaded yet.  It does support the practice of having a good dense ground cover to shade out/exclude invasive species.  

Seedlings

I am seeing seedlings returning from 2 native annuals that I set out last year.  I am finding large masses of American Pennyroyal, Hedoma pulegioides,  near where I had planted them last year.  The seed that I sowed last spring did not germinate well last year (only 1 or 2  plants).  But seeds that had over-wintered are germinating like gang busters.  So despite what the seed packet says, some cold, moist stratification or fall planting of this species gives much better results.  I am encouraging these in my vegetable garden because they are reported to repel crawling insects due to the strong aromatic scent.  I am hope that it will have a similar effect on mammals as well.

 

These seedlings look similar to those of some Salvia species;
however, they can be distinguished by their strong aromatic scent even at this age.

The other annual that is coming back is Partridge Pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata.  Last year I started most of these indoors after  2 weeks cold, moist stratification and pretreatment with an rhizobactrium innoculant.   These germinated quite well both indoors and out.  This spring I am seeing many new seedlings near to their parent plants. 

The leaflets of Partridge Pea will fold up at night and when briskly jostled.

These blooms have just opened, the white petals
doubled in length a couple of days later.

As I was coming back from pulling more garlic mustard I stumbled upon another plant that I did not see last year.  I believed that it was Robin's Plantain, Erigeron pulchellus, because of the larger flowers and the spatulate basal leaves.  On digging a little deeper I realized that this was Common Fleabane, E. philadelphicus.  This species is indicated by the clasping leaves on the flower stalk. While not a beautiful garden plant is a pleasant surprise in the woods.  Most of my plants are actually growing on the path on the more compacted soil.  Perhaps I didn't see them last year because they had gotten trampled before they could bloom.

Just a note on the invasives front:  The garlic mustard is starting to go to seed now (late May), so we are trying to bag it up right away; also Mile-a-minute vine is starting to grow and the stilt grass is about an inch tall now.  It is really best to pull the mile-a-minute now before the thorns develop later in the season.

Late Summer's Larger Blooms

Now that summer is nearly over I thought I would do a run down of some of the showier native plants that I have around the property.  Most of these are found naturally in Maryland.  A few are true wild flowers that have arrived on their own, though most of these have been introduced to this site.

The most common wildflower to this area is Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia.  It is tall (4-6 ft) in full sun, though shorter in shadier locations.  The bright yellow compound blooms have been evident since the beginning of August.  In this area it is currently the dominant roadside wild flower.

This wildflower was just fading out at the beginning of October last year and I could not figure out what it was.  The northern edge of it range is in New York state, so it would be uncommon in the Boston area.  The form of the plant is similar to Sneezeweed (Helenium) but the shape and quantity of the petals are different.  Sneezeweed has wedge-shaped petals tightly arrayed around the center disk.

The arrows point out the winglike appendages
on the stems, hence the common name.  

Before the Wingstem was in full bloom, Common Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, was dominating the roadsides.  This is a true biennial.  It spends the first year as a low growing leafy rosette.  The second year the flower stalk shoots up to 6 ft or more with spikes of yellow blooms.  Each flower opens in the evening and only lasts a day (maybe a little longer if it is cloudy).  I have a bunch of these growing around our patio, while the flowers are nice and bright, they have unsightly lower stems.  For this reason I would banish them to the background.  The biennial lifecycle is well adapted to highly disturbed environments.  The seeds need an open sunny area to germinate and for the low-growing rosette to get plenty of sunlight.  So this is a good plant for open roadsides that get cleared once or twice a year.  But not so good for an area with an established dense undergrowth.

Evening Primrose gets way too leggy
to use near the front of a border.

I noticed that the Japanese beetles were eating a lot of the Evening Primrose leaves.  I collected quite a few in my soapy water jug (aka, Jug of Death).  Could these plants be used as a magnet to draw the beetles away from more desirable garden crops?




This next group of wildflowers are native to Maryland, although I am pretty sure they are not indigenous to our little valley.  New York Ironweed, Veronia noveboracensis, is scattered around our house, but I have not seen it growing in the woods or along the roadside.  The deep purple flowers are long lasting and provide a wonderful contrast to all of the yellow flowers that are dominating the gardens at this time.  In protected areas these wildflowers can get quite tall, more than 6 ft.  In open areas the deer have pruned them back to 2-3 ft tall, but they have still managed to bloom.  At this smaller size they actually fit in better to the garden scale.

This Ironweed was not eaten back by deer and
grew to about 5 ft in partial shade.

Speaking of yellow flowers, there are lot of Yellow Cone Flowers, Rudbeckia fulgida, growing in the neighborhood.  Probably most are the 'Goldstrum' cultivar.  They all grow to the same height and bloom at the same time, making a definite statement in the garden.  As a advocate for native annuals and biennials (i.e. short lived, freely seeding plants) I have been using more of the Black-eyed Susans, Rudbeckia hirta.  These have a more relaxed habit and a longer blooming cycle than the more common cone flower cultivars.  (note some variation to the flower shape).

These Black-eyed Susans were raised from seed this year.
They are not all identical, note the double-side blossom on the right.

In the shadier areas of the garden I have added them more demure Brown-eyed Susan, R. triloba, and the shade tolerant Elm-leaved Goldenrod, Solidago ulmifolia.  This is the first year that this goldenrod has bloomed.  It is an early bloomer and really brightened up the shady area, but the color only lasted a couple of weeks.  I just planted in some Bluestemmed Goldenrod, S. caesia, to beef up the appearance.  I just read that these two species can hybridize - so I guess that the bloom times will be similar.

This plant was eaten back once.  If unpruned
it would reach 304 ft tall.

This is an early blooming species of Goldenrod
that does well in shadier locations.

I found that I had problems with the deer and possibly rabbits eating back both the Rudbekia and Solidago.  I gave these plants a little assistance with some hot pepper spray (cayenne pepper) and some scent-based deterrents like 'Repels-All.'  I need to get on a regular application schedule with products because waiting for the plants to be eaten is usually too late.  I have also gone too far with over application on new plants resulting in killing much of the tender foliage with the liquid sprays.  For these plants I am favoring the pelleted products.

Partridge pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata, is a true native annual that I planted this spring.  I had better results with plants started indoors than outdoors, but much of this was due to grazing by unwelcome animals.  After a little hot pepper spray I was rewarded with stems full of loose yellow blooms.  These open blossoms were visited primarily by larger bees.  These peas need a specific symbiotic bacterium to assist with nitrogen fixation.  This was supplied with the seeds I bought.

The leaves of the Partridge Pea will fold up when it is dark or particularly windy.

In the vegetable garden I'm growing the 'Stampede' cultivar of Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus.  Now that they have reached 10-12 ft they are just starting to bloom.  I selected this cultivar for its more easily harvested tubers.  I've seen Jerusalem artichokes recommended for use in edible landscaping; however, to be effective a shorter earlier maturing selection would be more appropriate.  Before I put up the deer fence around the garden these plants were being grazed down to the ground on a regular basis.

These towering blooms are supposed to have a chocolaty scent.
I will need to pull some down to find out.

The color of the bracts ranges from pale green to pink.
On close examination  you can see the black dots
on the yellow flowers between the leafy bracts.

Among the deer resistant plants I put in around the garden were two native species of Bee Balm.  The Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa, has been growing larger but has not bloomed this year.  However, the Spotted Bee Balm, M. punctata, has grown and flowered in the first year from seed.  These two plants have been untouched by the deer while the nearby Rudbeckia have been routinely munched.


While not native to the east coast the midwestern Blue Giant Hyssop, Agastache foeniculum, has been an excellent garden plant.  It is long blooming, attractive to pollinators, nicely textured and untouched by deer.  The biggest concern with this plant is its tendency to set a lot a seed.  We'll see what happens over the next couple of years.

There were lots of bluish spikes at the end of July.
These have faded to a mauve color in September,
but have maintained their shape.

In addition to these plants I have observed a number of truly wild flowers including Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris), Maryland Hawkweed (Heiracium marianum), Spanish Needles (Bidens bipinnata) and several goldenrods that I still need to ID.

As we transition into Fall there are a number of asters coming into bloom as well as a variety of goldenrods.  As I walk through the woods I will keep an eye on the ground for anything new

Native Plant Firsts....and Lasts

This past month I have celebrated several firsts!  After trying for a number of years I finally brought along several native plants from seed to maturity.

American Lady butterfly may be laying eggs on its host plant?

The American Lady is distinguished from
the similar Painted Lady butterfly by the
colored swath on the outside of its wings 

The first plant is Pearly Everlasting, Anaphalis margaritacea.  I have been able to get these to germinate well, but they languished after transplanting into the garden.  I had success last year by planting them into the bark mulch surrounding the raised vegetable beds.  I think the rather sterile conditions there favored this plant that is common to 'old field' conditions.  (I have had similar disappointments with a related plant Sweet Everlasting, Pseudognaphalium obtussifolium).  The double bonus was that, not only did I get blossoms this year, the plant was visited by an American Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis).  Pearly Everlasting is a larval host for that species of butterfly.











The second first, as it were, was having the Woodland Sunflower, Helianthus divaricatus, come into bloom under my Norway Maple.  These plants were not particularly difficult to grow, it just took a long time to find a commercial seed source.  These did take a year in the ground to get established before sending up blooms this summer.

Brown-eyed Susan growing 3-4' tall in a sunny flower bed.

The Brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba, was easier to find as seed but they were more difficult to get to germinate.  Moist stratification in soil-less mix for 60 days gave better results than using damp sand for a similar time.  (Since two methods were tried in successive years, cold storage for a year may have helped as well.)  These Rudbeckia did take a year to get established before blooming.  I have them growing in both sun and shade (Norway Maple), and in a pot; they are all doing well.

The easiest plant to bring along was the Partridge Pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata.  This annual germinated well after moist stratification and treatment with a bacterial innoculum that gives this legume its nitrogen fixing capability.  I have these growing in dry sunny to partly sunny locations, and they are all doing well.  This plant may be a solution to a road-side bed that I have been working with.  They tolerate dry road-side conditions and as an annual, they should be resistant to the effects of snow plows!

The yellow Partridge Pea here is holding its own with the
crab grass and inhospitable conditions

While not a first, we were thrilled to see this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail drop by our deck plantings yesterday and I wanted to share this action shot.    This butterfly was the first native insect I've seen to go after the Lantana and totally ignore the Mealy-cup Sage.

The reason that all of these firsts are also 'Lasts' for me is that we are in the process of moving south, down to Maryland.  This is an exciting move for us.  We will be getting quite a bit more land.  There will be room for larger native plant gardens and hopefully the opportunity to do some limited production of underutilized native plants that I can used in my design business.  So as we go through this transition I will be blogging about my new environs, the native plant communities there and the new challenges to establishing new plantings in the woods.

Early Summer Blooms

Bees visit American Bellflower in both sunny
and shady locations

Now that we are getting into the hot days of summer, blooming of many native plants and the associated pollinator activity are picking up.  Here at home I saw my first Monarch Butterfly in many years.  You'll have to take my work for it, since it was gone by the time I got my camera.

One plant that has been blooming for awhile is the American Bellflower, Campanulastrum americanum.  This is particularly attractive to a medium sized black bee, probably a Miner Bee.  This plant blooms nearly as well in the shade as it does in the sun.

This Miner Bee is the primary visitor to the Bellflower

This Miner Bee draws nectar from the open face of the flower.  To do this it lands on the stamen and style of the flower.  Apparently the flower's stigma is situated to receive pollen from the bee as it makes its approach to the flower.








Nearby, on the sunny side of the driveway the Echinacea is in full bloom.  These attract a variety of pollinators, such as this Green Sweat Bee.  The Meadowsweet, Spiraea latifoia, has finished it's first round of blooms.  This year I cut some of the plants back significantly to keep the growth in check.  (I'm pretty sure it will put out a second growth.)  So for now the bees will be visiting other flowers for pollen and nectar.

It's interesting to note that with all the activity on the native flowers, I have seen very few insects visiting the flowers on my nearby shrub rose (other than a couple of Japanese Beetles).

Another early bloomer in the dry shade of my Norway Maple is Rosin Weed, Silphium integrifolium.  I chose this species of of Silphium because it does not get as big as the more familiar Cup Plant, S. perfoliatum.  This plant has slowly been expanding its mass, but I have not seen it show up in other parts of the garden.

A Hover Fly monitoring a cluster of Rosinweed blooms.

The flowers on this particular plant tend to form on the shady side.
This makes for a difficult photograph.

A new native annual that I'm trying out this year is Partridge Pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata.  This plant will grow in poor, dryish soils.  So far I'm favorably impressed.  One grouping that I planted near a highway is growing and blooming, despite receiving no additional moisture, other than the small amount of rain this summer.  Like its relative the Sensitive Plant, its leaves will fold up when the plant is handled roughly.  The leaves also fold up when it gets dark.  I wonder if this behavior helps it to survive under dry conditions (by limiting transpiration).

Some drifts are still intact, like the lavender-color Beebalm, Monarda fistulosa;
the orange Butterflyweed has blown over from another part of the
Wildflower Meadow at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

A Monarch Butterfly passing over
some Beebalm and Hoary Vervain

Over at Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, MA, there is a good sized native wildflower meadow installed about 5 years ago.  Here I have seen many more butterflies than in my urban backyard.  This meadow features a number of native grasses as well as many showy flowering plants.  The original planting had the plants arranged in drifts, but the management plan is to let the plants move around as they will, to create a dynamic garden with plants finding there best locations.

In another part of the cemetery I noticed this Bottlebrush Buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, in full bloom.  While native to the Southeastern US, this shrub is very attractive to the bees up in the Northeast.  I spent some time watching how the bees interacted with the flower.  It was more like a mugging than a gentle approach to sip some nectar.  The bee grabs onto to the outside of the flower and extracts nectar from between the petals and the calyx.  In the process the bee's abdomen rubs all over the anthers and the stigma, thus achieving pollination of the flower.  

This bee on the Buckeye flower is about 1.5" long.

Other flowers are about to open up here, like the Scarlet Sage, Woodland Sunflower and Prairie Coneflower, so the show has only just begun.