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| This tender bulb is called Elephant Ears, for some reason. Woud grandson Alex be happy to pose under it? |
Bee, Bird, Butterfly, and Beneficial Bug Plants
- Borage is rather ugly as a plant but has delicate flowers that are edible. Called Bee Bread, bees are crazy about it. It is a constant source of food and drops seed easily.
- Dill family. Anything in this family is great for beneficial bugs, and dill will seed itself forever. Tiny flowers are good for tiny insects. I put Queen Ann's Lace in the wild garden last year, and it grew well.
- Milkweed and Butterfly Weed are both for Monarchs and other butterflies.
- Garlic Chives grow through the roots and spread in the rose beds.
- Fever Few drops seed like crazy and some consider it invasive. Beneficial bugs say, "Bring it on."
- Pokeberry is a weed because birds plant it by perching on trees, fences, and bushes. I am trying to be delicate. However, it is also a great berry plant for birds and grows anywhere, including sidewalk cracks. I need not plant it so I will let it grow in places as a productive snack bar for birds.
- Wild Strawberries are already blooming. They will produce little red jewels in our toxin free lawn all summer. They like sun but they fill shady places too.
- Elderberry plants look great. I got them from Almost Eden last year.
- Beautyberry is photogenic and good for birds.
- Chaste Tree is a bee plant that makes a small tree.
- Cone Flowers, Rudbeckia - another beneficial insect plant group.
- Sunflowers, in various sizes, will feed lots of creatures and beneficial bugs, too.
- Bee Balm is an exotic looking bee, butterfly, hummingbird, and beneficial bug plant. It is a mint, but a clumping plant, not invasive.
