The pollinator garden has been a work-in-progress the past couple years. I love my perennials for the pollinators, but for 2 summers, it has lacked all-summer color since things like bearded irises, lavender, obedient plant, bluebeard, bee balm, and penstemon (to name a few) only bloom for a short time, and then it’s just foliage the rest of the summer.
I thinned out my bearded irises a LOT late last fall and earlier this spring because, while I’ve read they can attract pollinators, I usually don’t see any bees on them while they are blooming. So I’ve downsized to a smaller clump for now so I can use the space around them for coneflowers I started from seed last fall.
This past week, I finally got everything planted out – ahead of the forecasted rain we are about to have all week next week. It will be nice not having to water newly transplanted things for a little while. It doesn’t look like much now, but I hope to see it full of color in the next few weeks! This bed is roughly 200 square feet with more than 188 plants for this season (NOT counting the 50+ seedlings of dill that have sprouted).
The fence you see to the right of the bed was put up so the wild passionflower vine has something to climb. That is a food source for the gulf fritillary caterpillars, so it’s fitting that it be right beside my pollinator garden. Well, it’s actually trying to take over the pollinator garden. I can’t be too mad about that. Right now it has some “High Scent” sweet peas growing on it.
Here’s the list of plants growing in my pollinator garden for this season. I am going to add parsley and fern-leaf dill along the fence line in a week or two, but that’s not really IN the pollinator garden. That is a source of food for swallowtail caterpillars.
Perennials (in my zone 8A)
- Agastache – Fragrant Delight (4 plants – from seed) / short-lived perennial
- Anise hyssop (1 plant)
- Bee Balm – Pink Frosting (planted 2 – in a galvanized tub to contain it) / this variety has reverted to a dark pink instead of the light pink it used to be
- Bluebeard – Empire Blue (1)
- Catmint – Walker’s Low (2)
- Chrysanthemum – Yellow Starlet (1)
- Coneflower – Cheyenne Spirit (2 – from seed)
- Coneflower – PowWow Wild Berry (2 – from seed)
- Coneflower – Primadona Deep Rose (5 – from seed)
- Coneflower – Purple (3 – from seed)
- Coreopsis – Golden Globe Compact (2 – from seed)
- Coreopsis – Nova Sunstone (1)
- Dahlia – Mystic Illusion (I leave it in the ground. – 1 plant)
- Dahlia – unnamed – seedling I grew last year – will leave tubers in ground (1)
- Fennel – Grosfruchtiger (3 – started from seed 2026) non-bulbing variety I’m growing as food for the Swallowtail caterpillars
- Fennel – Non-Bulbing (3 – started from seed 2023) – food for the Swallowtail caterpillars
- Guara – The Bride (2 – from seed)
- Iris – Concertina (planted 4 rhizomes)
- Iris – Full Tide (1) – will move this one to the perennial garden in the fall
- Joe Pye Weed – Baby Joe (1 – if I can keep it alive)
- Lavender – Phenomenal (1)
- Milkweed – Orange (Asclepias tuberosa – 3 from seed)
- Obedient Plant – Miss Manners Pink (1)
- Penstemon – Onyx and Pearls (1)
- Plumbago – Hardy (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides – 1)
- Sage – Pineapple (1)
- Salvia – Sallyfun Bicolor Blue
- Salvia – Big Blue (2 – from seed)
- Salvia – Bumbleblue (4)
- Salvia – Mirage Salmon (Salvia greggii – 2)
- Shasta Daisy – Alaska (4 – from seed)
- Sunflower – Happy Days (1)
- Texas Primrose – Ladybird Lemonade (1)
- Verbascum – Southern Charm (4)
- Verbena – Lollipop (3)
- Veronica – First Love (2)
- Veronica – Sunny Border Blue (4)
- Veronica – White (exact variety unknown – 1)
- Yarrow – Love Parade (2 – from seed)
- Yarrow – Summer Pastels (1 – from seed)
Annuals (all from seed unless noted)
- Ageratum – Dwarf Aloha Blue (3 plants)
- Angelonia – Senorita Pink (1 – snagged this on clearance at Lowe’s)
- Celosia – Dragon’s Breath (5)
- Celosia – Shimmer (5)
- Chinese Forget-Me-Not – Blue Showers (4)
- Cosmo – Sonata White (4)
- Dill – Mammoth (LOTS – sprinkled seeds in a large area in back for Swallowtail caterpillars to eat)
- Lantana – Samantha (purchased plant years ago & overwintered it in the greenhouse & garage in a container until now)
- Marigold – Fireball (13)
- Salvia – Bonfire (13)
- Vinca – Tattoo Raspberry (14)
- Wishbone – Kauai Deep Blue (Torenia – 6)
- Zinnia – Holi Mix (19)
- Zinnia – Sun Gold (14)
- Zinnia – Zydeco White (5)
I have some Happy Hour Peppermint portulaca on standby to fill in any little spots here and there as things start to get bigger (or die 😂). I am really hoping for some all-season color when things take off, and the rain we are supposed to get next week will surely help.
