19 of the Best Sunflowers for Pollinators
21.06.2024 - 15:07 / balconygardenweb.com / Editorial Team
Want a gorgeous front yard that practically takes care of itself? Dream no more! Our guide reveals the best flowers for the front of the house that will quickly boost your curb appeal and turn your home entrance into a floral carpet fit for the gods!
Botanical Name: Pelargonium
USDA Zones: 8-12
Geraniums come in reds, pinks, purples, and even shades of white. You can mix and match to create a stunning display. They don’t need constant babying! Just water them when the soil feels dry to the touch, and maybe feed a weak-strength fertilizer every now and then. Deadheading spent flowers will also ensure recurring blooms.
Thriving in full to partial sun, place them in pots, window boxes, or hanging baskets in a south or west-facing position. They also make great border plants along pathways for a welcoming display.
Botanical Name: Verbena
USDA Zones: 4-11
Verbenas are butterfly magnets! They also come in little clusters in vibrant pinks, purples, blues, and white with a trailing, flowing habit. Just like Geraniums, Verbenas love sunshine, so plant them in pots or let them hang in baskets along a sunny spot on your front porch. They also make excellent ground cover along the front path.
Plus, they’re pretty good at handling drier conditions, so you won’t need to water them constantly. If you live in a hot climate, grow perennial verbena for year-round flowers.
Botanical Name: Echinacea
USDA Zones: 3-9
Coneflowers are the ultimate low-key plants. They don’t need constant watering. These guys come in varying heights, but most hold up their stunning daisy-like flowers high above strong stems. They’ll die back in winter but return stronger in spring.
With minimal upkeep, basic watering, and full sun, these low-maintenance flowers for your
19 of the Best Sunflowers for Pollinators
Companion planting is the centuries-old practice of pairing plants in the garden that benefit one another. Our gardens function as interconnected communities, with different plants providing unique services. Some plants attract beneficial insects, others ward off pests, while some enhance soil health. Anyone who’s grown tomatoes knows they are heavy feeders, and often plagued by foliar diseases and a diversity of insect pests. They certainly stand to benefit from tomato companion plants that promote healthier plants and increased yields.
Image: Hampton Court Flower Festival. Credit: RHS
Happy Friday GPODers!
Want your backyard to be a personalized fruit market? Then, prune your favorite established fruit plant, gather its cuttings, and start multiplying.
The jade plant is more commonly known for its fleshy, ovate leaves, but did you know that it can produce blooms, too? If you want a flowering jade plant, then these hacks will help you get more flowers! Don’t miss reading it till the end as we have kept the best one for last.
This year Chelsea Flower Show was full of interesting trees and shrubs with lots of dreamy woodland-edge planting in dappled light underneath leafy canopies. Native trees such as hawthorns, hazels and silver birch were the favoured choices in many of the show gardens, with a mixture of native and non-native ornamental plants selected for resilience and sustainability. In Ula Maria’s Forest Bathing Garden, white foxgloves, cow parsley and other umbellifers like Baltic parsley (Cenolophium denudatum) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis) were mixed with the simple shade-loving grass Melica altissima ‘Alba’ while Tom Stuart-Smith showcased intricate tapestries of interesting foliage in different shapes and textures. In other gardens, orange was a popular colour in many shades, from deep rusty orange irises to pale orange geums, especially in Ann Marie-Powell’s exuberant Octavia Hill Garden. As always, the Grand Pavilion is the ideal place to discover new and interesting plants showcased by some of the country’s leading nurseries.
Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) is one of the easiest plants to find in the wild, since its strong, sweet scent hangs on the air. Native to most of Europe, it is a common sight and smell in our woodlands and hedgerows in summer, twining itself around trees and scrub and luring a wide variety of wildlife. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oberon describes Titania's sleeping place as 'quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine'. It is certainly a plant fit for a queen, since each of the flowerheads resembles a crown of cream and gold, formed of a ring of tubular blooms.
What happens to cactus needles after they prick you? And how long does it take for these pricks to dissolve?
About 70 miles south of Jackson Hole, 2150 Robinson Lane is a sprawling property with a castle, fully outfitted with tunnels and towers—and it can be yours for the cool price of $14 million. It hit the market in April, and since then, all eyes have been on this extraordinary real estate opportunity.
We’ve all been there. A fern that flopped, a salvia in sad soil, and even a mighty monstera with too petite of a pot. While keeping a close eye on your houseplant and its day-to-day health is part of being a good plant parent, we’re all guilty of being a bit accident-prone or neglectful. Fret not friends! There’s usually time to step in when the green girls are screaming SOS—we’re going to help you build the ultimate houseplant emergency kit to tackle any ailments that come your way. From being ready to pot-up at a moment’s notice to making sure those pesky fungus gnats stay at bay, here are the skills we keep sharp and the tools we’re packing in our at-home horticultural kit.
Hannah Rose Rivers Muller is essentially a farmer-florist by birth. She was born at Full Belly Farm, located in the rural, charming Capay Valley of Northern California, and works there to this day. She gained her expertise similarly to how plants absorb water, through osmosis—her skills and knowledge a result of the very soil she was raised on. Here she learned the inner workings of the flower fields, small hands exploring the ground, taking naps in harvest baskets between colorful rows, watching seasons change in vibrancy and texture, and admiring her mother who skillfully nurtured and expanded the flower fields over the decades with care.