Free Native Plants

5/1/2021 9:58 pm

Planting a garden is one of the best things we can do for our health. It's good both mentally and physically to be outside, in nature, cultivating and growing things. But did you know sometimes we do harm by what we grow? Certain plant and flower species have been introduced, or brought in, to the USA over many years and some even take over the plants and ecosystems that was here first. These plants are called invasive. 

So what can we do? PLANT NATIVE! The Missouri Botanical Garden and many other local initiatives have grown up to help us understand what plants are both good for our area and belong here. If you'd like to help with this initiative, learn more at GrowNative! and from the Missouri Botanical Garden.

In the meantime, we have lots of native plants growing in the OB pollinator garden that would love to live in your yard! Look for us at the garden and by the pop-up shop on May 24 & 25 , right after school until all the plants are gone. Come by and pick your favorites to start attracting pollinators to your own yard.

Here's what's available 

(plant info and images provided by GrowNative!)

Packera aurea, commonly called golden ragwort, golden groundsel or squaw weed, is a somewhat weedy perennial which is valued for its ability to thrive in moist shady locations, naturalize rapidly and produce a long and profuse spring bloom with rich, evergreen foliage.

Blooms March-May

Rudbeckia hirta, cheerful, widespread wildflower, called Black Eyed Susan, is considered an annual to a short-lived perennial across its range. Bright-yellow, 2-3 in. wide, daisy-like flowers with dark centers are its claim-to-fame. They occur singly atop 1-2 ft. stems. Coarse, rough-stemmed plant with daisy-like flower heads made up of showy golden-yellow ray flowers, with disk flowers forming a brown central cone.

Fragaria virginiana, commonly called wild strawberry, is a ground-hugging herbaceous perennial that typically grows to 4-7” tall but spreads indefinitely by runners (stolons) which root to form new plants as they sprawl along the ground, often forming large colonies over time.

Blooms April to May

 

*This is not the tiny red berry you find in your yard.

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Monarda didyma, known by a number of different common names including bee balm, Oswego tea and bergamot, is native to eastern North America where it typically occurs in bottomlands, thickets, moist woods and along stream banks from Maine to Minnesota south to Missouri and Georgia. Plant in the perennial border, native garden, butterfly garden, edge of woodland or prairie.