Gardening for Pollinators - Plant List

I hadn't posted for a couple months, so I am writing several posts today to make up for it!

I put together a presentation for garden club - and other groups - about gardening to support pollinators. Part of the presentation included a handout with plants that I have grown that are good for bees, hummingbirds, and/or butterflies.

Here is the content from the Pollinator Plant List.

Trees and large shrubs – mostly native - for background plants on North or East side of sunny pollinator bed.

Remember that you can ‘borrow’ from adjacent properties, which is useful for large shrubs and trees.

Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas Fir

Thuja plicata – Western Red Cedar

Acer circinatum – Vine Maple

Acer palmatum - Japanese Maple

Malus spp. –Crabapple

Omeleria cerasiformis - Indian Plum

Crataegus douglasii – Black Hawthorn

Rhamnus purshiana - Cascara

Lonicera involucrate – Twinberry

Sambucus spp.– Elderberry

Syringa spp. –Lilac

Philadelphus lewisii – Mock Orange

Cornus stolinifera – Red Osier Dogwood

Cornus sericea – Red-twig Dogwood

Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ -Variegated red-twig
        dogwood

Ribes sanguineum – Red Flowering Currant

Viburnum tinus ‘Spring Bouquet’

Viburnum plicatum tomentosum ‘Mariesii’

Viburnum trilobum – American Cranberry Bush

Holodiscus discolor – Ocean Spray

Symphoricarpos albus – Snowberry

Ceonothus spp.

Hibiscus syriacus – Rose of Sharon

Lavatera – Rose Mallow

Vines

Lonicera spp. - Honeysuckle

Clematis ssp.

Smaller shrubs

Hebe spp.

Spiraea spp.

Rosa spp.

Rhododendron spp.

Weigela florida ‘Red Prince’& ‘Midnight Wine’

Vaccinium ovatum – Evergreen Huckleberry

Vaccinium - Blueberries

Mahonia spp. – Oregon Grape

Sarcococca ruscifolia (in a shaded area)

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – Kinnikinnick

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – Kinnikinnick

Cornus Canadensis – Bunchberry

Heuchera

Iberis spp. - Candytuft

Perennials

Agapanthus africanus

Agastache

Alcea – Hollyhock

Allium

Alstroemeria

Aster spp.

Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’

Delphinium

Dianthus

Echinacea purpurea – Coneflower

Fuchsia spp.

Gaillardia  spp.

Liatris spp.

Lobelia ‘Queen Victoria’ – Cardinal flower

Lupinus  spp.

Malva – Mallow

Monarda didyma – Bee-balm

Potentilla

Penstemon spp.

Rudbekia – Black-eyed Susan

Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips'

Sedum telephium 'Autumn Joy'

Annuals

Antirrhinum - Snapdragon

Begonia

Callibrachoa spp.

Canna (red)

Clarkia spp.

Heliotrope

Lantana

Lobularia maritime – Alyssum

Pelargonium – Geranium

Petunia spp.

 Trapaeolum majus – Nasturtium

Zinnia spp.

Pollinator-friendly Landscaping Tips:

·         Select plants with simple flowers (single instead of double).

·         Practice Integrated Pest Management (strive for no pesticide use).

·         Plant in drifts (many of a few varieties is better than many of a few varieties).

·         Emphasize native plants.

·         Include several plant species that flower each season.

·         If you want butterflies, place bird feeders in different areas of your yard.

·         Provide a sunny, sheltered area for butterflies.

References:

http://www.xerces.org/

http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabaws/links.htm

http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/attracting/

http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/butterflies/

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/ec/ec1549.pdf

http://www.pollinator.org/PDFs/PacificLowlandrx8.pdf

 

Hardy Fuchsias still blooming in December

I just took these photos of some of the many hardy fuchsias still blooming in the garden. The hummingbirds are still happily feeding on them. I enjoyed watching some this weekend, and I could hear lots of their chirps this morning. The upper photo shows Army Nurse, a strong performer in the garden. This is three bushes in a row, forming a nice clump or drift to attract the near-sighted hummingbirds. The fuchsia in the middle photo is either a Fuchsia magellanica macrostemma or "Versicolor'. The bottom photo shows Fuchsia 'Santa Claus' and 'Aztec', plus a Hot Lips Salvia. The next photo shows an Anna's Hummingbird feeding on the salvia.
What a treat to enjoy flowers and hummingbirds in the garden this late!

my gardening room

I'm lucky to have a nice big room for potting, storing tools, and overwintering plants. Here is a photo showing it today.

I have my red banana plant and several Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansia). In October, I repotted them before bringing them in. I root-pruned and cut back the brugmansia, and I will prune it again in the spring. I have several Elephant's Ears (Colocasia) that do very well in this room all winter. I also have two inside the house for the winter. I'm also overwintering Abutilons, a few geraniums, cannas, and some hardy fuchsia starts.

We changed out the fluorescent bulbs for full-spectrum lights, and the pool equipment keeps the room fairly warm - so far staying at 60 (never less than 50). So the room has ended up being a good overwintering spot. I 'm hoping Santa will bring me a new potting bench.

Dragonfly

I usually have lots of dragonflies flying around, but they never seem to land on anything for me to get a photo. This morning, I got one as he rested on a branch.

Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia)

All of my Angel's Trumpet plants are finally blooming! They need regular fertilizing and watering. I give them at least one gallon per plant every day.

FarWest Show - new plants

I went to the FarWest Show in Portland last week. I loved visiting the booths for the growers and especially liked seeing the new plant introductions. This link is to the  FarWest Show New Varieties Showcase. My favorites are the Amber Jubilee Ninebark, Black Pantha Agapanthus, Chocoholic Bugbane, Tuscan Flame Compact Heavenly Bamboo, Peach Sorbet Brazelberries Blueberry, and Handsome Devil Viburnum.

I remember that last year all the buzz was about the Pink Lemonade Blueberry. Unfortunately mine died from lack of water (my fault for planting where no irrigation). I also like all the new colors of coneflowers out now. I picked up several last year, but since I wasn't at the last day of the show I wasn't able to get any this year.

I planted the Tuscan Flame Compact Heavenly Bamboo in my garden last September, and it is looking great.

Scarlet Runner Beans, Alstroemeria, and Hummingbirds

The Scarlet Runner Beans are showy now and attracting hummingbirds. I picked the first beans yesterday, just enough for two servings.

The hummingbirds hardly know where to go, as they have so many choices right now! In addition to the scarlet runner bean flowers, they really like the agapanthus, hardy fuchsias, and alstroemeria.

Speaking of alstroemeria, you 'deadhead' them by taking hold of the stem low enough so that you can pull out the entire stem. This leaves room for new stems to come up, and it stimulates the plant to keep producing. Pull out the weak stems (usually pale color and thin) and those that are not going to produce flowers as well.

Grooming Daylilies

Last week I groomed my daylilies. Most daylily tidying can be done by just pulling out the dried leaves and the stems that have finished blooming. Occasionally I couldn't get all of a finished stem, so just left it for now. Easy - and the plants look much nicer. They continue to produce more blooms when  regularly dead-headed. This photo shows one of my Stella d'Oro daylilies and the area above where I dug out several siberian iris.

I dug out two daylily plants from my perennial bed that were too hard to get to for clean-up, and they were not producing many blooms. They had gotten big and needed dividing, but I decided they were not strong enough performers for my limited-space bed. Then I had room for new plants! I put in a dwarf white bellflower, two dwarf variegated agapanthus, and three small hardy fuchsias.

Close up photos of flowers

I had fun today taking close-ups of a lot of flowers. I will create a photo album on my Facebook page. Here are a few:

Oriental Lily

Tigridia

Double Delight Tea Rose

White coneflower

Liatris visited by a bee

Clematis Jackmanii

Agapanthus

Alstroemeria

Right plant in the right place

I scouted around my yard for plants in the wrong places, a I found a couple that were not getting covered by irrigation system, who were not going to survive without supplemental watering. I'd like to reduce my maintenance activities, so I am limiting my hand watering to pots. So I moved the plants to irrigated areas.

I had too many liatris in my perennial beds, so I dug a few plants out. Now I need to find new homes for them.

What else? Well, there continues to be lots of deadheading to do. And I need to get back on the hillside, berms, and streamside to hoe weeds.

Weeds!

The weeds grow so fast this time of year. We really have to be diligent in going through the garden to pull weeds. I hosted my Master Gardener group last night for our monthly potluck meeting. The Burien group is the best! We made flower arrangements with flowers and greenery everyone brought. What a fun evening. The weather was nice enough for us to be outside until after sunset.

We started the evening by touring my garden. I was teased by a couple members when they found a giant weed in the middle of my perennial bed!

The Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour is tomorrow. I am one of the featured gardens, so I need to do some last minute weeding and trimming. but it is raining. I'm glad I've been working on getting ready for the last few weeks.

Flower arrangements from the garden

You can't get much fresher than from the garden! I've found my arrangements last at least a week when I pick the flowers in the morning and put right in water. Then I trim the stems and strip any leaves that would be below water in the vase. I like to start with greenery to establish the framework for the arrangement, then add the flowers. These arrangements were for a baby shower.

Updated garden photos

Here are some pictures of some garden areas taken over the weekend. Lately I've been focusing on tidying up garden beds -  trimming, deadheading, staking, and weeding. One day last week, I did a lot of hoeing to remove tiny trees and other weeds from the entire hillside and berm areas.

Today I am going to deadhead my rose bushes, which needs to be done every couple days. And I remove all diseased leaves (black spot) and any branches with powdery mildew.

Later this week, I will pull horsetail and other weeds around the stream. I'm getting ready for a baby shower this weekend and the Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour on the 21st.

Flower arrangment from the garden

I wish I had taken a better picture of this arrangement I made, but I only have a partial cropped from a photo taken at a rehearsal dinner hosted at our house. The framework for the arrangement was branches of viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet' and of mock orange. Flowers included hydrangea, hardy fuchsia 'Pat's Dream', liatrus, zinnia, white astilbe,and alstroemeria.