It’s been a dry one the past month – we’ve only had about 2.5 inches of rain. So, lots of supplemental watering for my newly planted plants. Luckily I still have a lot of June blooms around the garden!
One of my favorite new flowers in my garden is this butterfly weed I started from seed last year. It didn’t flower last year, and I transplanted them to the garden in early fall. I wasn’t sure if they would come back up at all having never grown butterfly weed before, much less from seed, but they came back and have even popped up in new places.
If you care about pollinators and could only plant one plant, this would be it. While it is known for attracting butterflies (hence the name), there are literally always bees on it. It is a very popular plant! There are quite a few other flowers to choose from, but this is the crowd favorite. And of course, I was so excited to see this monarch! There have been a few other butterfly visitors, but I haven’t been able to get a picture yet. Probably because every time I see a butterfly I yell BUTTERFLY! and scare it off. 😂 Luckily this monarch was pretty accepting of my over-the-top excitement.
I’ve tried to include more native plants in my garden, as well as pollinator friendly plants. Nothing seems to beat the butterfly weed in the back border, but the bees have also visited the salvias, penstemons, and veronicas I have planted. Here are some of those as well as others in my backyard garden.
Veronica ‘First Love’ Helenium ‘Mardi Gras’ Lacecap hydrangea Salvia ‘Heatwave Blaze’ The bees love salvia! Classic orange daylilies Dianthus ‘Kahori Scarlet’ has continued to bloom Redhot Popsicle Dwarf Poker Ruby Rock Candy Penstemon
Glad to see so many are bee favorites! I’ve been working hard to make this back garden a vibrant home to pollinators, and I’ve been fairly successful with that so far. While a lot of those plants are listed as bee-friendly, based on my observations, the bees’ favorite plant in my whole garden is lamb’s ear!
Most people grow lamb’s ear for the foliage, but I let it flower, and the bees are very happy about that. It’s almost impossible to garden around the lamb’s ear because of how many bees are on it. It’s funny how I planted all these plants because they are “pollinator friendly” and the one bees actually choose is one that isn’t really known for that. Go figure.
If you want to make bees happy, add lamb’s ear to your list as well. It’s evergreen in milder climates, providing beautiful foliage to your garden, and the bees will thank you for it! Just make sure you get a flowering variety – Helen von Stein does not produce many (if any) flowers.
Bees’ favorite flower!
I have to say, I wouldn’t choose astilbe if I had to do it over again. They’re fine, but they’re very delicate and need to be coddled a bit too much for my taste. Those pictures I see of astilbes with full foliage and flowers just don’t seem to be the reality with mine. These are the only flowers they’ve had so far, and as you can see it’s pretty sparse. I don’t know if they need more water than they’re getting, or if it is just too hot for them. Add onto that the fact that the squirrels are always trying to dig them up, they just aren’t really worth it for me.
Astilbe Milk and Honey Astilbe Vision in White These pink ones do okay
Luckily the other June blooms in my front garden, which has a white/yellow color scheme, are delivering:
Coreopsis ‘Polaris’ The lamb’s ear is popular! Alaska Shasta Daisy with margined leatherwing beetle Coneflowers with the allium seedheads hanging in there Luna daisy and Alaska daisy Veronica ‘White Wands’ New Vintage White Yarrow Joan Senior Daylily Aster ‘Bonningdale White’ Magnolia Gladiolus Incrediball Hydrangea
What is June blooms do you have in your garden? What flowers are pollinator favorites where you are? Any surprises? Let me know in the comments below!
My goodness, those lamb’s ear flowers are stunning. Your plant photography continues to impress me. BRB while I go pick up a butterfly weed!
Thank you so much! Butterfly weed is one of my favorites!