Fall in Love with Native Plants

Episode Introduction

In today's episode, Fall in Love with Native Plants, we go over why not to neglect the three season garden and the many native perennials and grasses you can incorporate for fall interest.

We've dug into our archives and given new life to an old episode. Come for a refresh on some great native fall-blooming plants in case you need some ideas for some last-ditch fall projects.

Host Stephanie Barelman

Stephanie Barelman is the founder of the Bellevue Native Plant Society, a midwest motivational speaker surrounding the native plants dialog, and host of the Plant Native Nebraska Podcast.

Episode Sponsors

Today's episode is sponsored by:

Lauritzen Gardens

laurtizengardens.org

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Episode Content

I've gleaned a lot of today's fun insect info from Heather Holm's book Pollinators of Native Plants: https://amzn.to/3ZyEK85

Go find her podcast episode from last October for more seasonally-relevant info!

Fall Plant Families

• Asters 

New England aster

• Come one come all bees, butterflies, and moths!
• Host plant for pearl crescent butterfly
• Caters to specialist Andrea mining bee
• Nectar source for small carpenter bees, leaf cutter bees, bumblebees, green sweat bees
• Nectar source for arcigera flower moth
• Nectar source for buckeye and crescent butterflies 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies, soldier beetles
• Beautiful color, nice tall aster for a moist area of your garden

Also:

heath aster

Looks like a snowy blanket in bloom ('snow flurry') or if using the straight native species, like snow covered branches reaching up

Growth habit from 1 foot to 3 feet, two completely different habits depending on if you use 'snow flurry cultivar' or the straight native species

Other utility: long lived aster, suited for dry, tough areas

silky aster

Looks very delicate, grows around things, very wispy and ethereal 

Growth habit up to 1 foot and a half 

heartleaf aster

Looks heart shaped leaves periwinkle flowers

Growth habit up to 3 feet, likes to show up everywhere and you will let it

smooth blue aster

Looks bluish purple with blue green leaves 

Growth habit shrubby but open 

Late season nectar forage YES!

Host plant status crescent butterflies 

sky blue aster

Looks another pale purple aster, very similar to smooth aster

Growth habit up to 3 feet 

aromatic aster

True to its name another pale purple aster up to 2 feet, popular one the rabbits don’t seem to eat. 

• bonesets

tall boneset

Looks tall with tight clustered fireworks of white, stout, doesn’t need much support, dense 

Growth habit up to 5 feet 

• sunflowers

Maximilian sunflower

• Larval host for the silvery checkerspot butterfly
• Late seasonal forage Nectar source for monarchs
• Nectar for bumblebees, sweat bees, and long horned bees
• Bee paradise 
• Whip out your whiskey barrels people!

Also:

sawtooth sunflower

Looks tall majestic yellow sunflowers with large green leaves

Growth habit colony forming up to about 6 feet

We saw a great example of this at Little Salt Fork Marsh Preserve near Lincoln in Raymond, NE. Indian grass, little bluestem, and sawtooth sunflower: heaven.

western sunflower

Looks similar to false sunflower, delicate yellow daisy shaped blooms

Growth habit up to 3 feet

Blooms from July to September 

Jerusalem artichoke

Native sunflower with edible tubers, aggressive but we talk about its usefulness and how to grow it in our native edible plant series, specifically our episode on vegetables, greens, and alliums

• Petunias

wild petunia

• Larval host plant for common buckeye butterfly
• Pollen for green sweat bee, syrphid flies 
• Nectar and pollen for leaf cutter bees
• Nectar sweat bees and small carpenter bees 
• This one is very delicate and blooms off and on in my front garden, works perfect as an understory plant underneath all your taller garden plants
• Ironweed

common ironweed

• Larval host plant for parthenice tiger moth
• Caters to specialist long horned bees (melissodes denticulate and melissodes vernoniae)
• Nectar for green sweat bees, bumble bees, leaf cutter bees
• Nectar for syrphid flies and soldier beetles
• Nectar for pecks skipper and eastern tiger swallowtail 
• Beautiful vibrant purple blooms great for a moister area of the garden like the bottom of a hill or other depression
• Goldenrods

stiff goldenrod

• buffet for our diverse insect friends 
• Larval host plant for the dart moth
• Plant that caters to the specialist insect Andrena mining bees
• Nectar for long horned bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, leaf cutter bees, carpenter bees
• Nectar for paper wasp, golden digger wasp
• Nectar for monarchs 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies
• Pollen for locust borer beetle

zig zag goldenrod

• Feed your hordes of varied bugs
• Larval host for brown hooded owlet moth and twirler moth, yes there is a moth called a twirler moth and I want it to be my friend
• Caters to specialist Andrena mining bees
• Nectar for sweat bees, yellow faced bees, green sweat bees, bumblebees 
• Nectar for carrot wasps, mason wasps, paper wasps 
• Nectar and pollen for syrphid flies
• Pollen for Andrena mining bees
• Great goldenrod for dappled light areas, will tolerate light shade

Also:

canada goldenrod

Looks like goldenrod!

Growth habit stout goldenrod, aggressive spreader perfect for wild spaces or in an area you can let it grow into a nice patch

Late season nectar forage YES!

Can be a good rain garden addition, especially with obedient plant and swamp milkweed

Missouri goldenrod

Looks like goldenrod!

Growth habit 3 feet or so, a little floppy

Early blooming!

showy goldenrod

Looks a nice gorgeous specimen true to its name, not too bad on flopping

Growth habit up to 5 feet

Late season nectar forage YES!

Also: look into goldenrod if you're interested in native plant dyes

Disclaimer: I've introduced you to a rabbit hole...

• Sneezeweeds

Helenium autumnale

cheerful yellow flowers

looks great in a rain garden

• Milkweeds

butterfly milkweed

• Diverse pollinator parfait
• That rare bright orange that looks amazing next to our purple, yellow,  and light pink flowers 
• Host plant for monarch, queen butterfly, and the milkweed tussock moth
• Provides nectar for great spangled fritillary, sulphur butterflies 
• Nectar for paper wasps 
• Nectar for ants and soldier beetles, so set your picnic up right next to some blooming butterfly weed and they’ll leave your sandwiches alone
• Nectar for leaf cutter bees, carpenter bees, and sweat bees 

Also:

whorled milkweed

Looks delicate white orchid shaped flowers, leaves turn yellow in fall

Growth habit an opportunist, will cheerfully spread itself around your other plants but only grows to about a foot tall

Other utility wasps dig it 

• Heliopsis

false sunflower

• Larval host for rigid sunflower borer 
• Nectar source for ground beetles and soldier beetles
• Nectar for male leaf cutter bees, long horned bees, bumble bees
• Nectar for clearwing moths 
• Pollen for green sweat bees and carpenter bees
• Plant material for female leaf cutter bees
• Fall interest, lots of pollinator benefit, and fantastic prolifically blooming cheerful yellow 
• Verbenas

Verbena stricta 

• Bestow favor on your butterflies and bees 
• Larval host for verbena moth and fine lined sallow moth
• Caters to specialist bee calliopsis nebraskensis 
• Nectar for pecks skipper, silver spotted skipper, painted ladies, and monarchs 
• Nectar for bee flies and syrphid flies
• Verbena for drier places, just be careful where you place it. Don’t place it next to a path, let it be where it can go freely to seed and create a nice patch

Verbena hastata

• Host plant for verbena moth and feeds a variety of insects 
• Caters to specialist bee calliopsis nebraskensis nebraska vervain calliopsis bee 
• Nectar for syrphid flies, bee flies, thick headed flies 
• Nectar for silver spotted skipper
• Nectar for green sweat bees, carpenter bees, bumble bees, long horned bees, leaf cutter bees
• Great plant for the rain garden or near a downspout, the verbena for wetter areas, more delicate flowers than verbena stricta, so small and precious 

• Eryngiums

Rattlesnake master

• Unique plant, looks striking next to florals
• Host plant for stem borer moth and flower feeding moth
• Nectar for soldier beetles, red shouldered pine beetles
• Nectar for yellow faced bees
• Pollen for bumblebees
• Wasp paradise

• Salvias

pitcher sage

Looks pale bluish purple 

Growth habit: tall so place accordingly, this thing is gonna flop you really got to place other tall and or shrubby stuff around it

Host plant status hermit sphinx moth 

Other utility drought tolerant, aromatic, lovely paired with yellow, a bee favorite

• Mints

1. anise hyssop ( some people argue whether to pronounce a-neice or ah-nis but I'm gonna do what I want)

• Late season nectar source
• nectar for leaf cutter bees, bumble bees
• Nectar for silver spotted skipper and great spangled fritillary 
• nectar for soldier beetles
• Great plant that smells like licorice and has a stately structured appearance in the late summer and early fall garden

2. Virginia mountain mint

• Great plant for your rain garden or wetter spots on your property, perhaps where a downspout comes down or where your weird patio dumps all of its water
• A wasp favorite, you can make a sea shanty album called wasp’s friend 
• Nectar for long horned bees, green sweat bees, yellow faced bees, bumblebees
• Nectar for banded hairstreak butterfly
• Nectar for paper wasps, great golden digger wasps, great black wasps, and… beewolves. Did you know that beewolves are a thing. Google a picture of one of them carrying a bee in their arms and awaken the stuff of nightmares. contribute to scary, amazing, and wonderful biodiversity. Maybe give your sinister daughter a reason to haunt the garden. Oh wait, that’s my daughter.
• Nectar for syrphid flies, wedge shaped beetles, and ants! Because we love our ants! 

3. wild bergamot

• Host plant for hermit sphinx moth
• Plant that caters to the specialist black sweat bee 
• Nectar for bumble bees. This is like a fine wine for your bumble bees. They love the stuff. 
• Nectar for eastern tiger swallowtail, monarch, silver spotted skipper
• Nectar for hummingbird clearwing moth
• Nectar for soldier beetles
• Wild bergamot was featured on our episode about wildflower teas so go back and listen to that one. Fantastic in bloom. Not much better out there. 

4. spotted bee balm

• A wasp’s paradise
• Host plant for gray marvel moth 
• Plant that caters to the specialist black sweat bee 
• Nectar for great black and gold digger wasps 
• Nectar for long horned bees and bumblebees 
• Pollen for sweat bees
• This plant surprised my friend who has been gardening for many years and has a gorgeous cottage style garden. If she loves it, I promise you will too.

• Grasses 

purple love grass

Looks like beautiful purple smoke, or golden smoke

Growth habit short, wispy

Other utility great for hellstrips or other stubborn dry areas 

prairie dropseed 

Looks big friendly green tuft of grass 

Growth habit bunch forming, 2-3 feet

Other utility birds like eating the seeds, good source of fall color as cold sets in 

Versatile grass that will grow in a variety of areas

side oats grama 

Looks like rolled oats on a blade of grass, teeny tiny red flowers, see if you can spot them

Growth habit open up to 2 or so feet tall

Host plant status larval host for skippers 

Other utility another great grass for dry spaces 

blue grama 

Up to 2 foot range 

Easy to start from seed

Great for erosion

little bluestem

Looks kaleidoscope of blues and purples and reds and copper tones

Growth habit 3 feet and sometimes a scowtch taller if its really happy

Host plant status larval host for skippers 

Other utility birds will eat the seeds, our official state grass

big bluestem

Looks amazing purplish red tips, looks like heaven paired with Indian grass

Growth habit tall these babies get up to about 8 feet tall

Other utility a very important part of tallgrass prairie ecosystems 

switchgrass

4 to 5 foot range

Looks amazing with little bluestem and other wildflowers

Has trendy named cultivars

indian grass

Looks bronze and gold colored seedheads, majestic en masse

Growth habit tall 6 feet or more

Other utility: food for birds 

In conclusion

Be open-minded, fall exists outside of exotic chrysanthemums and ornamental kale. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Additional content related to this episode:

What makes a plant native?

http://bonap.net/fieldmaps Biota of North America North American Plant Atlas database-select Nebraska

https://bellevuenativeplants.org Bellevue Native Plant Society

native (wild type) vs. nativar/native cultivar (cultivated by humans for desirable characteristics)

On the Web

BONAP aforementioned

BNPS aforementioned

http://www.facebook.com/groups/bellevuenativeplantsociety- BNPS on Facebook

Books & Authors

Rick Darke- The Living Landscape

Douglas Tallamy- Professor and Chair of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Entomology at the University of Delaware, author of The Living Landscape, Nature's Best Hope, naturalist, and curator of "Homegrown National Park".

Enrique Salmon- Iwigara

Daniel Moerman -Native American Ethnobotany

Heather Holm- https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

Native Plants of the Midwest

Planting in a Post-Wild World

Jon Farrar's Field Guide to Wildflowers of Nebraska

Additional Resources

• NSA at https://www.plantnebraska.org great articles and downloads
•  Xerxes Society- champions of pollinator health
•  Native Plant Finder- https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/

Other Local Organizations

• Green Bellevue
• PATH
• Nebraska Native Plant Society

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

Get some merch! https://plant-native-nebraska.myspreadshop.com/

Find us on Facebook

Visit our homepage https://plant-native-nebraska.captivate.fm

Give us a review...