Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Butterfly Garden: Helianthus Microcephalus



... Small-headed Sunflower, a native. I planted three small plants last fall. WOW! From 5-6 inches to 5-6 feet in one year! This is THE star of the border in late summer/fall. I wanted to try a perennial sunflower and will be planting more! Oh, and it is a bee-stopper, too. The bees climb over each other to land on a flower - sometimes two, three at a time. A fair amount of butterflies - Whites, Sulfurs. (Not a great butterfly year here overall for Brush-footed, Swallowtails perhaps due to the unusual rain and cooler temperatures?) Also now that the blooms have faded, the gold finches are moving in for the seeds. If you want a big and bold attraction for the fall border, I would recommend this.

Mentioning bees, have you heard of the Great Sunflower Project? Check it out and receive free Lemon Queen sunflower seeds for your garden while helping bee research: the Great Sunflower Project

2 comments:

  1. What a fast growing plant! I love it when you don't have to wait too long for a plant to grow. Beautiful flowers too.

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  2. What neat flowers, I've been seeing some similar to these blooming around here. Your post on your butterfly garden was amazing. Everything grew so fast. I found a Verbascum in my garden this year that looks just like the one you have. I think it was a gift from the birds since I didn't plant it.

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Thank you for joining me in my garden in the making!

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