|
1) Diversity attracts diversity; to attract a wide range of wildlife, offer a wide range of the following: - Bloom times (aim for May through October)
- Plant heights (maximize vertical space by using short, medium & tall species – build up by using very tall plants, like sky-scrapers utilize space in crowded cities)
- Flower colors (different animals are attracted to different colors – butterflies prefer blue, pink and purple, bees, wasps & beetles like white and yellow and hummingbirds look for red, orange and pink)
- Most native wildflowers are perennials, but there are a few native annuals you can use for 1st year color & cover: Partridge Pea, Annual Sunflower, Annual Gaillardia & Jewel Weed
- Diverse plant groups (move beyond black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers – mix it up with milkweeds, mints, legumes, goldenrods, violets, wild geranium, cup plant, etc.)
2) Use native grasses/sedges; a healthy meadow should be 30%-70% native grasses. They provide shelter, vertical structure, caterpillar food and an important seed source for birds and mammals. 3) Provide plant species eaten by caterpillars; a great way to bring moths and butterflies into your meadow is to provide food for their larval stage 4) To install a native meadow by seed, check out tips here. Suggested plant list for a native meadow Include at least one species from each of these nine important meadow plant groups:
- Goldenrods (Solidago sp.) – deer resistant
- Asters (Aster sp.) – deer resistant
- Milkweeds (Ascelpias sp.) – deer resistant
- Mints (Penstemon sp. – spring bloomer, Monarda sp., Scultellaria sp., Salvia sp., Pycnanthemum sp., Blephilia sp., Agastache sp.) – deer resistant
- Eupatoriums (Eupatorium sp.)
- Ray-flower Composites, Sunflowers, Susans, Sneezeweeds and Coneflowers (Helianthus sp.,Heliopsis sp. Rudbeckia sp., Helenium sp., Echinacea sp., Ratibida sp.)
- Blazing Stars (Liatris sp.)
- Evening Primroses and Sundrops (Oenothera sp.)
- Legumes/Pea Family (Cassia /Senna sp., Desmodium sp., Chamaecrista sp., Baptisia sp.)
If possible, adding a few of the following unique species will greatly increase your meadow’s wildlife value and variety of bloom times: - Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)
- Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)
- New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)
- Pasture Rose (Rosa carolina) & Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana)
- Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
- Downy Phlox (Phlox pilosa) & Wild Sweet William (Phlox maculata)
- Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
- Common Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum)
- Nodding Onion (Allium cernum) or Meadow Garlic (Allium canadense) – spring bloomer
- Wild Columbine (Aquilega canadensis) – spring bloomer
- Violets (Viola sp.) – spring bloomer
- Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) – spring bloomer
- Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea & aptera) – spring bloomer
- Golden Ragwort/Golden Groundsel (Senecio aureus) – spring bloomer
Use at least 4 species of the following native grasses; select several from each season group to ensure the essential structure , shelter & food grasses provide on a year-round basis: Warm-season species - Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
- Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii & furcatus)
- Side-oats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
- Indian Grass ( Sorghastrum nutans)
- Purple Top Grass (Tridens flavus)
Cool-season species - Deer Tongue (Panicum/Dichanthelium clandestinum)
- Bottle Brush Grass (Hystrix patula)
- River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolia)
- Wild Ryes (Elymus sp.)
- Sedges (Carex sp.)
SEED AND PLANT SOURCES Local Native Plant Nurseries: NATURE BY DESIGN – container plants 300 Calvert Avenue Alexandria, VA 22301 (703) 683-GROW (4769) www.nature-by-design.com EARTH SANGHA – container plants 10123 Commonwealth Blvd. Fairfax, VA 22032 (703) 764-4830 www.earthsangha.org CHESAPEAKE NATIVES – seeds, plugs, containers Takoma Park, MD (301) 270-4534 www.chesapeakenatives.org Mail-order Nurseries: ERNST CONSERVATION SEEDS – seeds and plugs 9006 Mercer Pike Meadville, PA 16335 1 (800) 873-3321 FAX (814) 336-5191 www.ernstseed.com PRAIRIE MOON NURSERY, Winona, MN – seeds 1 (866) 417-8156, www.prairiemoon.com NORTH CREEK NURSERIES - plugs 388 North Creek Road Landenberg, PA 19350 (610) 255-0100 FAX (610) 255-4762 Email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.northcreeknurseries.com
|
