Native Plants

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Monday - July 05, 2010

From: Longview, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Pollinators, Meadow Gardens
Title: Early, middle and late blooming flowers for pollinators in East Texas
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

On our farm in northeast Texas we are participating in a Conservation Program through the NRCS. We have to plant 4 acres for pollinators--early blooming, middle blooming, and late blooming. I need to know your suggestions about what to plant for each blooming period, and where to purchase them. Thank you.

ANSWER:

Here is how to pick out plants that bloom in early spring (let's say February through April), late spring/early summer (May through July) and late summer/early fall (August through October). Open our Texas-East Recommended page and use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option to limit the bloom times for your plants. When you open each species page, you can check the entire bloom period under BLOOM INFORMATION. You will find that some plants are going to have overlapping bloom times and will fit into one or all three of your categories. You can also check the BENEFITS area of the species page to see that the plant does attract pollinators.

Here are a few I picked out for each period, but you can find others:

Early Spring:

Aesculus pavia (red buckeye) blooms March through May

Prunus caroliniana (Carolina laurelcherry) blooms February through April

Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet) blooms March through May

Gelsemium sempervirens (evening trumpetflower) blooms December throughMay

Late Spring/Early Summer:

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed) blooms May through September

Coreopsis tinctoria (golden tickseed) blooms April through June

Lonicera sempervirens (trumpet honeysuckle) blooms March through June

Monarda citriodora (lemon beebalm) blooms May through July

Late Summer/Early Fall: