Using native plants in landscaping projects can have a huge positive impact on the local ecosystem. That's why Meadow City Native Plant Nursery recently opened in Cleveland's Waterloo neighborhood: to create more access to the plants that help local butterfly, bee and bird populations thrive.
Looking to incorporate native flowers into your lawn? There are plenty of plants that can keep pops of colorful flowers going all summer long.
“I think when you’re planing your garden, it’s always good to have things blooming early, blooming in the middle of the season and then blooming late in the season," says Meadow City's Dave Tomashefski.
Tomashefski shares a few recommendations, all available at the nursery:
Early summer bloom: Smooth Penstemon
“The smooth penstemon is a really cool plant. The flowers, they’re white and puffy, they almost look like popcorn. They’re hollow in the center, and the bees crawl right inside. It is a bumblebee favorite.”
Mid-summer bloom: Swamp Milkweed
“You don’t have to have a swamp in your yard in order to grow this, but the milkweeds are the only plants that monarch caterpillars can feed upon. They're super important for monarch conservation and the swamp milkweed, it doesn't tend to take over your garden the way, the common milkweed might. The flowers on swamp milkweed are this really striking pink-and-white combo, and they have this kind of wonderful aroma that is sort of like vanilla and cinnamon. That's a really stunning plant for midsummer.”
Late summer bloom: Hollow Jo Pye
“It’s a tall impressive plant, and at the top of its stem, it gets this big pink puffy flower cluster, almost like a pink cloud. Butterflies love Hollow Jo Pye. There’s nothing prettier than a swallowtail butterfly landing on this pink beauty of a Hollow Jo Pye.”
Late summer bloom: Prairie Dock
“Prairie dock is going to bloom around August. It gets these really big impressive leaves down at the base, and then very tall flowering stalks that are bare of leaves, so that when it flowers, with all of these large yellow flowerheads, from the distance it almost looks as though they’re floating in the air. It’s an effect you don’t get from any other native plant.”
