Meadowlark Ranch Pollinator Garden

[Meadowlark]

A budding interest in butterflies and a growing concern about ensuring abundant pollinators for the veggie garden, led to starting the subject garden last fall and expanding it considerably this spring. The garden consists of three parts A, B, and C with Part A located in proximity to the veggie garden, Part B, a bed off the patio, and Part C, a garden specifically for encouraging butterflies.

In this thread, it's my intent to document the progress of this garden going forward.

At this point, I’m basically trying to find what works and doesn’t work in my climate. Hence, there are many varieties under evaluation, and these will be listed out in turn.



Part A: Veggie Garden Partner

Inventory:

Black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, garden phlox, lantana, marigold blue eyes, marigold happy days, marigold nema gone, marigold African crackerjack, sunflower Mexican, sunflower mammoth, sunflower teddy bear, zinnia cut and come again, zinnia elegans, zinnia luminosa, zinnia state fair.

The marigolds and zinnias are planted in proximity to the veggie garden in alternating rows of different varieties of marigolds and zinnias. They are just about ready to explode in blooms.







The black eyed susans are grouped into one container in which the seeds were direct sowed earlier this spring







The lantana and other perennials like garden phlox are scatted about the area and just now coming on strong.







Part B: Patio

This section is located off the patio.

Inventory: amaryllis, campanula orchid flower, celosia, cone flowers, daylilies, Ixia, French Marigolds, stingless nettle, and assorted mixed native flowers.







Part C: Butterflies

This part is dedicated specifically to attracting and assisting butterflies.

Inventory: amaranth, bee balm, butterfly bush, calendula, coreopsis, cosmos, dahlia, dianthus, English Daisy, English lavender, gomphrena, Joe Pye Weed, milkweed swamp, milkweed sandhill​

 

[Sheal]

I'll be following your progress on this thread Meadowlark. Some interesting choices of plants.

 

[Meadowlark]

Thanks for the encouragement. Everything I picked is perineal here and noted for being a pollinator attractor. I'm sure some will fail, but hopefully enough succeed to make a garden,

 

[Sheal]

What did amuse me was your choice of English daisies. Do you mean these below, Bellis 'Perennis'? What we know here as the common daisy and consider a weed.

 

[Meadowlark]

Yes, butterflies supposedly love them...and easy to care for.

I'm sure I've got some (many) mistakes in there...my first venture into flowers after decades of veggies and I have much to learn.

Never too old to learn is my philosophy. Thanks for your interest and I appreciate any tips you can share.

First Zinnia bloomed today


Also, first Marigold bloomed today.

 

[Sheal]

I can't say I've ever seen any form of insect on daisies. Clover flowers yes, bees are attracted to those.

I've read through again and the plants you've chosen for Part A of your garden could well be successful, so a good start.

Part B: I'm not sure that Campanula will survive the heat and I don't know anything about Amaryllis - not a plant I find attractive.

Part C: All looks good there.

I'm the opposite of you and not a veg grower. Flowers and shrubs are my forte even though I don't consider myself a gardener as such. I really enjoy growing from cuttings and seeds and seeing those plants develop.

Never too old to learn is my philosophy.

I totally agree with that, and your background of veg growing should stand you in good stead with your venture back into the flowery side of gardening. I hope it goes well for you.

 

[Meadowlark]

... I really enjoy growing from cuttings and seeds and seeing those plants develop.

I totally agree with that, and your background of veg growing should stand you in good stead with your venture back into the flowery side of gardening. I hope it goes well for you.

Starting flowers from seed has been a surprisingly difficult task for me. I'm accustomed to veggies which are relatively fast and reliable at germination...flowers have been different. More and more I'm stratifying my flower seeds first and that extra step takes time.

The ads say easy to start from seed but that just hasn't been the case for me. That has been a surprising development to me.

Coneflowers...very sparce germination
Lavender...zero seed germination
Dahlia...very sparce germination
Dianthus...very sparce
Milkweed...very sparce but enough to get a good stand
Joe Pye Weed....ongoing waiting.
Bee balm...zero

Bulbs on the other hand very reliable.

Fortunately, marigolds and zinnias and sunflowers I'm very familiar with and easy seed starting.

 

[Sheal]

There are so many hybrids when it comes to flowers and their seeds, which I suspect makes them more temperamental. There's also the problem of different types of growing media. Most flower seeds will start well in a bought multi purpose compost, but sadly it's not the case here in Britain now with peat gradually being banned from the mix. In fact in England peat is almost non existent now, although I can still buy it here in Scotland (different laws). Peat free composts have got a long way to go before producers come up with something that matches a compost that contains it. At the moment there are too many seeds and seedlings failing without it.

I don't know what I can suggest regarding germination. You can of course experiment trying some of the same seed in different soils, with or without stratification, heated propagation/or not etc. Then of course there are those that are just plain frustrating and will be difficult no matter what you try. Time and patience is an ingredient you will need a lot of.

 

[Meadowlark]

I make my own seed starting mix and it has served me well on starting veggies. Patience is usually in short supply

 

[Sheal]

Just an idea. If you've used your own mix for starting flower seeds, it may be that it's too strong a mix regarding nutrients/fertiliser. If patience is in short supply, perhaps your perseverance is better.

 

[Meadowlark]

Thank you for your comments @Sheal . I definitely come on here looking for your comments because I respect your knowledge of flowers so much.

The mix I use works great for starting veggies. Maybe I need to trim it back some for flowers.

I am finding some cone flowers that didn't germinate for three weeks now showing up...patience is indeed a virtue

 

[Sheal]

Thank you for the compliment. It's good to hear the cone flowers are showing, patience has indeed paid off.

I haven't grown flower seeds to any extent in recent years but those I have grown have been slow to germinate. Previous to that I used a base heated propagator indoors and germination rates were much better as well as faster. I was growing up to 300 plants a year and rotating trays of seeds in and out of it as soon as germination happened. The propagator was only about 3 x 2ft in size. We must also take into account that different seeds, particularly flower seeds, have different rates of germination. If you decide to invest in this type of propagator, seedlings must be removed as soon as they appear or they will grow tall very quickly and collapse.