Attract Birds, Bees And Butterflies With 21 New Pollinator-Friendly Varieties
Pollinator plants draw birds, bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects to the garden by providing them with both food and shelter. Try out these new varieties the next time you are in the market for pollinator-friendly plants.
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Agastache 'Arizona Sandstone' from Takii
The agastache Arizona series is a first-year flowering perennial, hardy to Zone 6. Uniform in flowering time and habit, Arizona is great for quarts and gallons. It requires little care once established and attracts humming birds and other pollinators. Arizona is 8 to 10 inches in height and width. It comes in three colors: sandstone, sun and sunset.
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ColorMax Viola Mix from Sakata
ColorMax Viola is a giant-flowered viola that is heat tolerant and fills pots easily, even under heat stress where standard violas suffer. This economical alternative to trailing pansies comes in a number of eye-catching and unique colors that are extremely versatile — perfect for pots, packs, baskets and mixed containers.
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Petunia 'Blue Star' from Sakata
Petunia 'Blue Star' features a dense, bushy habit. It is loaded with eye-catching, blue-starred flowers that are sure to generate high retail-shelf appeal. 'Blue Star' is also great for quart pot and basket production.
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Coreopsis 'Firefly' from Terra Nova Nurseries
Coreopsis ‘Firefly’ has dense thread-like foliage that is blanketed with yellow and red bicolor flowers. This perennial is the most compact of the verticillata hybrids and is a favorite among butterflies. A perennial with a 10-inch height, 15-inch width and 12-inch flower height, coreopsis ‘Firefly’ grows best in Zones 5 to 10.
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Penstemon 'Cha Cha Pink' from Terra Nova Nurseries
Penstemon ‘Cha Cha Pink,’ part of the Cha Cha series, has numerous spikes of bright pink flowers. The dense foliage is blue-green in color and a favorite among humming birds. A perennial with a 20-inch height, 20-inch width and 20-inch flower height, penstemon ‘Cha Cha Pink’ grows best in Zones 6 to 9.
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Freesia 'Tweety' from Flamingo Holland
Dwarf freesia 'Tweety' is a new addition to the genetic short line of Flamingo Holland that holds four other colors. It is compact with a bright yellow color. Growing time is fast as well, and it will finish in 9 to 11 weeks. No PGRs are needed with this item, and preferred planting time is from January through April.
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Helenium 'Mariachi Salsa' from Plants Nouveau
Helenium 'Mariachi Salsa' is bred by Arie Blom of AB-Cultivars in The Netherlands. It is part of the Mariachi series, which includes compact, bushy sneezeweed selections that are sure to brighten any summer garden. In addition to Salsa, new colors for 2014 include Fuego (orange with a bright gold halo) and Siesta (true red with ruffled edges). These plants come from the lab POTY-virus-free, so please replace your stock each year. Salsa is the brightest red helenium. Not many plants bloom red in the summer, so this is a welcome addition to an otherwise orange and yellow palette.
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Lobelia 'Black Truffle' from Plants Nouveau
'Black Truffle' is a native, humming bird magnet with nearly black new foliage that fades to a deep, iridescent maroon as the plant matures. It is a healthy, bushy, upright selection with bright cardinal-red flowers and deep, dark foliage.
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Tiarella 'Diva-rella Stephanie Cohen' from Plants Nouveau
Tiarella 'Diva-rella Stephanie Cohen' comes from a new line of clumping, heat tolerant, humidity tolerant native tiarellas (foamflowers). Foamflowers are food for honey bees. They preserve water because they are drought tolerant, especially if they are bred with only East Coast native species. They also control erosion on hard to landscape areas. Named after The Perennial Diva, Stephanie Cohen, this new clumping foam flower certainly is a diva. It speaks loudly in the spring landscape, announcing its presence with hundreds of deep pink buds and glossy, deep grass-green foliage. This plant takes extreme heat and drought.
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Lantana 'Landscape Bandana Red' from Syngenta Flowers
The new lantana Landscape Bandana series features a beautiful habit and robust growth pattern that allows it to spread up to 36 inches. It comes in four vibrant colors — Pink, Red, Yellow and Gold Improved — that brighten the hot summer months and make this plant perfect for attracting bees and butterflies to the garden.
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Kwik Kombos Blue Lightning vegetative mix from Syngenta Flowers
Kwik Kombos Blue Lightning vegetative mix is a new addition to the expanding series. The ease of its plant-and-go process eliminates transplanting errors and takes the guesswork out of combinations. Bringing together 'Landscape Bandana Gold Improved' lantana and 'Bombay Dark Blue' scaevola, the Blue Lightning mix is great for attracting pollinating insects and is proven to flourish through the summer months.
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Phlox 'Jeana' from North Creek Nurseries
Found by and named after Jeana Prewitt of Nashville, Tenn., phlox 'Jeana' possesses outstanding mildew resistance with varying shades of sweetly scented, lavender-pink flowers that bloom midsummer through early autumn. Foliage remains clean green while flower clusters create a tiered effect along upright, multi-stemmed branches. You can expect a flurry of pollinator activity!
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Viola 'Silver Gem' from North Creek Nurseries
This native groundcover is easily identified by trailing stems and delicate lavender flowers. 'Silver Gem' forms a dense, tidy mat of attractive silver foliage. Its flowers appear in March and persist into autumn. 'Silver Gem' is drought tolerant and grows well in part to full shade. Available in trays of 32 and 72. Pot in quarts or gallons for early spring sales.
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Clethra 'Einstein Novacleein' from Star Roses and Plants
This new clethra has some of the longest racemes of blooms ever seen on a Summersweet shrub. The buds begin to form in early July and dot the almost 12-inch long racemes. The blooming stems are often twisted and curled from the weight of the blossoms, which gives the plant an interesting textural quality. When in full bloom, the long wands of blooms almost resemble the blooms of a butterfly bush. The flowers are sweetly fragrant, which attracts pollinators and humans alike. Clethra is a native shrub and will naturalize well in the landscape.
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Salvia 'Cathedral Shining Sea' from Green Fuse Botanicals
Salvia 'Shining Sea' is the first bicolor Cathedral. This salvia will attract pollinating insects, as well as humming birds with its striking blue and white flower petals. The Cathedral series is compact and early to flower, making it ideal for production in containers or for the landscape. Garden height is 10 to 14 inches.
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Hypericum 'Blues Festival' from Proven Winners
The blue foliage of this deer resistant, native shrub contrasts beautifully with bright yellow flowers from July to August. At 2- to 3-feet tall and wide, 'Blues Festival' is tightly branched with a compact habit that presents well in both the landscape and a container. It is non-invasive, drought tolerant, grows in full sun and is hardy to Zone 4.
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Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' from Proven Winners
Vermillionaire cuphea is an interspecific cross between Cuphea igmea and C. micropetala hybrids, and the result is a variety that displays the best attributes of both parents. 'Vermillionaire' has better branching with a more mounded habit and is more floriferous. It has strong heat and humidity tolerance, as well as little need for water once established. It was also a humming bird magnet during the Proven Winners trialing process.
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Digitalis 'Foxlight Ruby Glow' from Darwin Perennials
'Foxlight Ruby Glow' blooms all summer with flowers that face out for a better view. It is a great focal point in gardens and containers.
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Monarda 'BalmyPurple' from Darwin Perennials
'Balmy Purple' is a compact, early-flowering purple monarda. The dwarf variety is deer and rabbit resistant, as well as mildew resistant. Plant in a sunny location with well-drained soils. Trim spent blooms after blooming is completed.
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Echinacea 'Sombrero Flamenco Orange' from Darwin Perennials
Echinacea 'Sombrero Flamenco Orange' is a sturdy, well-branched compact plant with good drought resistance and hardiness to Zone 4. It is floriferous, producing blooms with bright orange-red petals. Dead-heading will prolong the flowering period. ‘Flamenco Orange’ grows 24 to 26 inches tall and 18 to 20 inches wide.
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Vernonia 'White Lightning' from Jelitto
‘White Lightning’ is a distinct ironweed with showy clusters of fluffy, pure-white blossoms that bloom from late summer to early fall. It can consistently be grown from seed. Native in the United States from New Hampshire to Alabama, this insect and disease resistant species is a great source of bee nectar and is widely adaptable, even in moist soils. The tan to rusty colored seed heads in mid autumn are an extra bonus. ‘White Lightning' is available in easy-to-germinate Jelitto Gold Nugget Seed.
View all
Agastache 'Arizona Sandstone' from Takii
ColorMax Viola Mix from Sakata
Petunia 'Blue Star' from Sakata
Coreopsis 'Firefly' from Terra Nova Nurseries
Penstemon 'Cha Cha Pink' from Terra Nova Nurseries
Freesia 'Tweety' from Flamingo Holland
Helenium 'Mariachi Salsa' from Plants Nouveau
Lobelia 'Black Truffle' from Plants Nouveau
Tiarella 'Diva-rella Stephanie Cohen' from Plants Nouveau
Lantana 'Landscape Bandana Red' from Syngenta Flowers
Kwik Kombos Blue Lightning vegetative mix from Syngenta Flowers
Phlox 'Jeana' from North Creek Nurseries
Viola 'Silver Gem' from North Creek Nurseries
Clethra 'Einstein Novacleein' from Star Roses and Plants
Salvia 'Cathedral Shining Sea' from Green Fuse Botanicals
Hypericum 'Blues Festival' from Proven Winners
Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' from Proven Winners
Digitalis 'Foxlight Ruby Glow' from Darwin Perennials
Monarda 'BalmyPurple' from Darwin Perennials
Echinacea 'Sombrero Flamenco Orange' from Darwin Perennials
Vernonia 'White Lightning' from Jelitto
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Janeen Wright is former Editor for Greenhouse Grower. . See all author stories here.