Pollinator pathway flowers

Folks, meet Asclepias tuberosa, better known by its common name “butterfly weed.”

Asclepias tuberosa hosts hundreds of different species of insects and birds during the year.

Who cares?

More and more people do! Pollinator pathway folks are encouraging homeowners to carve out a plot on their property so our pollinating friends can survive an increasingly hostile and unforgiving environment caused by mankind’s degradation of the environments.

Because of all of us humans, 75% of all American insects have gone extinct since 1970, and 33% of birds.

What are we gonna do about it??? Plant pollinator flowers, and do not use any chemicals on your property. It matters. There’s no time left to dilly-dally, it’s a race against the clock to save hundreds if not thousands of species that took Mother Nature thousands of not millions of years to evolve, and humans fifty years to eradicate.

Asclepias tuberosa lays out the welcome mat for everyone.

Stunning echinacea glows on July 4th in the mid-day sun.

Native liatris flower spikes delight both humans and insects. The seeds from this plant drop to the ground and populate your gardens the next year and every year afterwards until eternity. Deer proof.

Heliopsis, with its summer colors exemplifies heat, sunshine, and vacations. It’s a roadside wonder, noticeable from afar.

Native daisies are home to mini-bees. It must be alotta work getting a meal out of such small flowers.

An obvious summer favorite of humans and insects both. Yet another mini-bee doing its job for the hive by collecting pollen and nectar. Everyone loves black eyed Susans.

It’s one day old, this garden by the highway. Give it a year and it’ll look good. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Rudbeckia “Indian summer” has 4” wide flowers that chug along with insane happiness all the way until late September/early October. Seeds fall then you have ‘em next year. And the year after. And the year after...

The beautiful rose behind is always gorgeous all the time.

These signs are painted by the President of the class of 2020 at Trumbull High School. Talented young lady!

We have the most obscenely full and beautiful butterfly bushes on the market in many colors. Come see! Ps- TODAY WE SAW THE FIRST MONARCH BUTTERFLY returnee from Mexico. WELCOME BACK!!!

Crape myrtle, a summer flowering southern plant with northern cousins hardy up here. Lush foliage and cool bark. Deer proof, and available in many flower colors.

Crocosmia Lucifer about to flower. What an interesting flower bud shape. One wonders why Mother Nature designs flowers this way, yet another mystery we will never know the answer to.

Joe pye weed, a monarch butterfly favorite and native wetlandy plant. Deer proof with handsome foliage. This variant has maroon foliage, and the original Plant is all green. Flowers attract EVERYONE in the insect world.

Joe pye weed sure ain’t no weed!

Reaching for a ripe raspberry my keen eyes saw a preying mantis egg sack still unhatched attached to the stem. I relocated the stem to the nursery perennial section. Since I do not spray any chemical any more (except roundup daily), these insects can control infestations for me. Unfortunately, preying mantis eat EVERYTHING, good and bad, including hummingbirds. That’s Mother Nature for you.

(Ok, so they spelled “customer” wrong. You get the point)

This is the smallest native yarrow I have ever seen. It looks like babies breath, but it’s very hardy.

Another example of the bushy nature of joe pye weed.

Asclepias incarnata ‘Cinderella.’ Swamp milkweed.

Now, folks, THIS is the plant you need to get if you want to see all forms of the monarch butterfly go from one stage of life to another. This plant beckons monarchs from the heavens and the butterfly answers the call by feeding on the flowers and laying it’s eggs on the foliage. I won’t say any more.

Stunning bee balm. Where can you get flower colors like this?

Hollyhocks with double petals, double colors on a stunning 6’ tall plant!

Ruby falls weeping redbud backlit by the clear blue sky today. Notice the zig-zaggy stem structure. This small focal point tree shines most in the winter with no leaves and no flowers.

Our brand new chemical-free clover lawn sustains the nursery with a green carpet out front. I can say it takes some getting used to, but once one overcomes the look of the clover with the turf, it’s hard to understand why everyone doesn’t have a lawn like this. Chemical companies just want to sell us their toxic shit, wanting us to think it’s ok to spew poison into our yards with nary a thought of what those toxins do to our environments.

I was pissed off enough when I saw this to get out and snap a picture. This is a milkweed dying from being sprayed with a weed killer by some person who knew how to spray roundup but not smart enough to know that what he was spraying supports the life cycle of monarch butterflies. Seeing this sickened me at first then angered me. This streamside of “weeds” went on for a hundred feet or so and was pretty much all life-giving milkweed.

Our perennial section doubled in size this year- come visit!