Succession Planting

 

Planting Native Perennials - Striving For a Constant Food Supply

Wingstem

  Nourishment for Bees & Insects

Twice in one week, the topic of succession planting was brought up. The first was a phone conversation with my brother Craig; who is concentrating on providing food for his bees and other pollinators year round. This is pretty important to someone who makes the best tasting wine in the state of Pennsylvania. No pollinators.. no fruit ... no wine.


Although he does cross pollinate some of his plants (like pumpkins) with a tiny paint brush; tackling his entire acre may not be a wise use of his time. Learning to plant flowers and plants that bloom year round is certainly advantageous to the success of his hobby.



 Nourishment For Birds

Joe-pye-weed

 The second conversation originated from Dave's comment posted on my Attracting Hummingbirds page. His goal is to plant native species that supply four seasons worth of  food for birds that he has attracted to his property.

Now I was curious. I am raising native plants that provide a constant supply of food for the bees and insects that I am attempting to attract? Are there seasons of the year that insects are forced to forge elsewhere? I needed to find out.

Since, I am taking several free computer classes at our local library; I thought I would put my new skills to work by creating a fancy Excel table.

                                                              Charts Don't Lie

It was interesting to learn that yes, Nodding Onion Gardens offers a significant supply of nourishing pollen and nectar July through September, but the choices and selections are a bit slim in early spring and late fall.  One thing that stood out from my chart was the fact that some of the more common plants had the longest work schedule. As you can see, Wingstem and Boneset which are absolute work horses; both are very common in our Metro Parks but due to their size are not popular for small backyards. Giant Hyssop is a gang buster!

I used blooming dates stated in  Prairie Moon Nurseries' catalog, Winnoa MN. This was my attempt to  keep dates consistent. In some case my plants experienced bit of a variance from Prairie Moon's  dates.

Nodding Onion Gardens - Native Plants - 2012

Scientific Name	Common Name	A	M	J	J	A	S	O
Agastache scrophulariaefolia	Purple Giant Hyssop
Allium cernuum	Nodding Onion
Aquilegia canadensis	Wild Columbine
Arisaema triphyllum	Jack in the Pulpit
Asarum canadense	Wild Ginger
Asclepias exaltata	Poke Milkweed
Asclelpias incarnata	Swamp milkweed
Asclepias purpurascens	Purple Milkweed
Asclepias sullivantii	Prairie Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca	Common Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa	Butterflyweed
Aster laevis	Smooth Blue Aster
Baptisia australis	Wild Blue Indigo
Chelone glabra	Turtlehead
Coreopsis tinctoria	Plains Coreopsis
Dicentra cucullaria	Dutchman's Breeches
Echinacea purpurea	Purple Coneflower
Erynguim yuccifolium	Rattlesnake Master
Eupatorium altissimum	Tall Boneset
Eupatorium maculatum	Joe- Pye- Weed
Filipendula rubra	Queen-of the Prairie
Gaillardia pulchella	Indian Blanket
Geranium maculatum	Wild Geranium
Helenium flexusum	Purple - headed Sneezeweed
Helianthus mollis	Downy Sunflower
Helianthus stromosus	Pale-leaved Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides	Oxeye Sunflower
Hydrastis canadensis	Golden Seal
Lobelia alba	White Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis	Cardinal Flower
Lobelia siphilitica	Great Blue Lobelia
Lupinus perennis	Wild Lupine
Mertensia virginica	Virginia Bluebells
Monarda fistulosa	Wild Bergmot
Penstemon digitalis	Foxglove Beardtongue
Phlox pilosa	Prairie Phlox
Physostegia virginiana	Obedient Plant
Podophyllum peltatum	May - Apple
Poloygonatum canaliculatum	Solomon's Seal			`
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium	Narrow- leaved Mnt. Mint
Ratibida- pinnata	Yellow -Coneflower
Rudbeckia laciniata	Green Headed Coneflower
Rudbeckia triloba	Thin leaved Coneflower
Silphium integrifolium	Cup Plant
Tradescantia ohiensis	Ohio Spiderwort
Verbesina alternifolia	Wingstem
Vernonia noveboracensis	New York Ironweed
Viola peditifida	Prairie Violets