Pollinator Plants for Late-Summer

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It's August and our gardens are struggling to keep up with the heat. There are still several plants that we can add to the garden to benefit pollinators in late-summer and fall.

Flowering now for pollinators: milkweed, purple prairie clover, rattlesnake master, zinnias, coneflowers, sedum, goldenrod, Joe-Pye weed, compass plant, mints and others. Asters will be blooming soon, bringing dozens of pollinators at a time!

The Kerr Center's chart of wildflower blooming times helps identify plants we can add to the beds and hedge rows to keep food available for pollinators. Here's a link to the chart.

They include Maximillion sunflower in their list but it's a less likely garden plant than one for an open field or hedge row.

Keep your plants thriving by watering them in the early morning hours. Don't fertilize at this time of year since most plants are slowing down for dormancy and fertilizing pushes them to grow.








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