NATIVE PLANT POLLINATOR MAGNETS

&Build Bloom NATIVE PLANT POLLINATOR MAGNETS

By Paula Stone

The Texas Hill Country is known for its rugged beauty. It draws people from far and wide to visit and, if they’re lucky, live here.

We must be careful, though, that our cosmopolitan mix of people doesn’t translate into a cosmopolitan landscape. When people bring the plants that they “grew back home,” it dilutes our native flora which also impacts our native fauna.

Knowledge of what to plant and where to plant it prevents costly mistakes, unnecessary maintenance and the creeping homogenization of our landscape.

Our local Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) was founded to help us learn about and enjoy the NATIVE landscape around us. And as Maya Angelou said, “When we know better, we can do better.”

NPSOT-WHITE MIST FLOWER – The White Mist Flower is a rounded shrub that adapts well to our climate. This one survived the February freeze with no problem. – Photo by Paula Stone

NPSOT-GREGG’S BLUE MIST – A Queen’s Butterfly makes a stop on Gregg’s Blue Mist, a great attractor of butterflies and other pollinators.

– Photo by Paula Stone

Fredericksburg is lucky to have an active NPSOT chapter that offers many educational opportunities. We invite you to join us as we learn together about the fascinating plants that belong right here in Gillespie County, because nature, like most things, is so much more fun when we know something about it. Contact us at https://npsot.org/wp/

fredericksburg.

Below are Texas native plants that are guaranteed to bring pollinators to your gardens and a smile to your face.

All native flowers will attract butterflies or moths or bees, but some just seem to be magnets. Some of the biggest pollinator magnets for our area are:

Ageratina havanensis. (Aka White Mistflower, Boneset, Shrubby Boneset) which grows into a rounded shrub that under the right circumstances, can reach six feet tall and wide. It is native to the Edwards Plateau where it is found on rocky hillsides and bluffs in the southern half of the Hill Country.

It is adapted for our limestone soils and yearly rainfall. It will grow in full sun or part shade and should be cut back severely each year.

Mine came through the February ice storm (Valentine’s Day Plant Massacre) with no problems. They start to bloom in April and can bloom on into December.

They can be so covered with bees that you can hear the buzz from 10 feet away. All of the honeybee and native bee activity doesn’t keep the butterflies away though, they just join right in.

Salvia farinacea. (Aka Mealy Blue Sage, Blue sage) which grows to three feet tall and spreads slowly &Build Bloom by seed. It is native to Texas and likes full sun and low water. The grayish tint to the leaves is a nice contrast in a flower border.

The blue and sometimes white flowers start in April and bloom until the first hard frost. As a perennial, they will come back for many years and require very little care other than removing the dead branches in very early spring.

Again, the ice storm in February had no effect on my mealy blue sage. Besides butterflies, this plant attracts the very large, gentle, fuzzy native bumblebees. They are so fat and furry that they look more like pets than insects.

Conoclinium greggii (Aka Gregg’s Blue Mist) grows to about two feet tall and spreads (not fast enough for me) by runners. It isn’t really blue, but a lavender color. It is native to the Texas Hill Country and used to our climate and soil.

When it first appears in the spring, the leaves are a lovely chartreuse color. They will darken slightly as they mature but still form a nice contrast with other greens in a border.

Blooming from April thru the first hard frost, these flowers will deliver more butterflies per square foot of planting than any other flower that I know of. And of all the butterflies they attract, the vast majority with be Queen butterflies. I’ve never seen a patch of Gregg’s Blue Mist that didn’t have Queen butterflies on it.

Queen butterflies look very much like Monarch butterflies and are easily confused with them. Monarchs are larger and only have white spots in their black edgings, while Queens will also have white spots on the orange parts of their wings.

Ray flowers in general — this is not the name of a plant or plant family, but rather the name of the flower structure used by many plants. They are physically appealing to insects because they offer an easier landing pad. Their simple structure also facilitates a fast getaway when needed.

Ray flowers include many species such as: sunflowers, asters, coreopsis, daisies and coneflowers.

We are lucky to have several native varieties in each of those flower families.

When you are considering the plants for your garden, if you want butterflies and all the other fun pollinators, the plants listed above will be your best bets for attracting them.

Paula Stone is the president of the Fredericksburg Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas.

NPSOT-MEALY BLUE SAGE 2 – Mealy blue sage (purple flowers above white rocks) spreads slowly by seed and bees love it. – Photo by Paula Stone