Prime Plants for Producing a Pollinator Paradise - New for 2020
We've already added more than 50 new plants to our lineup for spring of 2020 and there will be more to come! Shown at left or above on mobile platforms, clockwise from top right: Fashionably Early Princess Phlox, Starship™ Scarlet Lobelia, Dalmatian Purple Foxglove, Peachie Keen Hummingbird Mint, Rosie Posie Hummingbird Mint, Lobelia aguana, Blackbeard Penstemon, Starship™ Deep Rose Lobelia. Here are a few of our most exciting new pollinator plants to get your garden primed for the nearly here hummingbird season:
Fashionably Early Princess Phlox: We have been totally impressed by this new series of hybrid Phlox from Walter's Gardens! In 2019 we offered Fashionably Early Crystal, a white flowering form with a lavender eye, and we have had flowers on them basically since last spring, throughout summer and into fall, and even a few flowers through winter. And our new crop of Fashionably Early Princess Phlox, a rich medium pink selection, are already showing buds! There are not a lot of perennials that are reliably early spring flowering and are just for butterflies, but these two hybrids fit the bill. They are intermediate in height between the tall Garden Phlox and Woodland Phlox reaching about 24" high, have excellent disease resistance, and will slowly spread and develop into a mass of rich green glossy foliage and flowering stems. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved.
Starship™ Scarlet Lobelia and Starship™ Deep Rose Lobelia: the Starship™ Lobelia series are breakthrough hybrids of our native Red Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis, that produce 24" high burgundy spikes of 2-lipped widely flaring tubular flowers in summer held above the deep green bronze tinged foliage. The Starship™ Lobelias have improved branching which means more spikes of flowers over a longer period and denser fuller plants. These are sure to draw in hummingbirds from near and far as well provide a brilliant spot of color in the garden. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved.
Dalmatian Purple Foxglove: this Foxglove was selected not only for its spikes of large showy purple bee pollinated flowers in summer but also for the fact that the plants flower their first year, have improved branching and therefore more flowering spikes per plant, and the plants have excellent vigor. What's not to love! Dalmatian Purple Foxglove should make a great addition to the Purple & Gold themed garden. Geaux LSU Tigers! Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved.
Peachie Keen Hummingbird Mint and Rosie Posie Hummingbird Mint: these new introductions produce a seemingly non-stop wave of dense flowering spikes throughout the growing season and are sure to draw the hummingbirds in close. The flowering spikes are 1" long nectar-rich tubular flowers emerge from colorful calyxes that continue to provide color even when the flowers of that spike have finished. These new Agastache are dense and compact enough for containers but are sure to spice up a sunny garden or landscape as well. The Hummingbird Mints are heat and sun-loving perennials that tend to do best in well-drained soils. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved.
Lobelia aguana: this unusual Lobelia hails from the MesoAmerican Cloud Forests of Central America and your local hummingbirds are sure to recognize its potential. Small clusters of nearly 2" long red tubular flowers with orange-yellow throats may be produced nearly throughout the year where winters are mild with the heaviest flowering typically occurring in summer and fall. Lobelia aguana is a vigorous heat and sun-loving shrub-like perennial that can quickly develop into a 5'x5' mass of foliage and flowers. Considered hardy to zone 9.
Blackbeard Penstemon: named after the infamous pirate, this exciting new Penstemon, or Beardtongue, sports a cloak of dark burgundy to near black foliage that is topped by loose spikes of sweetly contrasting purple to lilac flowers in mid to late spring. Did you know Penstemon are found nowhere else but North America! Penstemon flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds and the seeds attract songbirds. Provide an average moist well-drained soil in a full to mostly sunny location for optimum vigor and flowering and the deepest foliage color. Blackbeard Penstemon is colorful and compact enough for containers but is sure to bring a dark mysterious air to the garden and landscape. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved.
