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Health & Fitness

Use Flowers to Create a Theme in your Yard

This is one of my favorite times of the year when I get to order my seeds for the upcoming growing season. It’s a great time to start thinking about planning your yard and garden. There is snow on the ground (and on the driveway, sidewalks, and highways), the temperatures are in the minus-minus chilly range, the wind chill rips your lips and burns your skin, and the squirrels are banging on your window looking for you to feed them.

But before you go off and order a bunch of stuff, why not plan what you want to grow and where you want to grow it. Create your plan. Then order seeds and plants for your plan. When you don’t plan, you tend to go off and buy a bunch of stuff then wonder where you will plant those babies. So, maybe think about a theme (or two). Plan your theme.

This year, as every year, I create a theme that will attract beneficial insects, butterflies, and hummingbirds. So why not create plants that will attract and feed those insects and birds?

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Annual flowers last one season and will only grow during our summer. They will not survive the cold. Perennials will survive and bloom year after year. Biennials will typically last for two years, then done and gone. Here are some annual, perennial, and biennial plants to consider for a couple of themes.

Theme: Create a Butterfly Garden. Add some color and texture to your yard with these varieties as a starting point. Achillea, Asters, Bachelor’s Button, Beard Tongue, Calendula, Cardinal Flowers (Lobelia), Catnip, Cosmos (‘White Sensation’ and others), Daisies, Dianthus, Dandelion (yes, the ones on your lawn can be eaten and attract butterflies—stop spraying!), English Marigold, Echinacea (Purple Coneflower), Hollyhock, Lantana, Lupine, Milkweed (Monarch butterflies), Pansies, Rubeckia (Black Eyed Susan), Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower, fantastic!), Verbena, Violets, Yarrow, and Zinnia.

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Theme: Create a Beneficial Insect Garden. Community gardeners read on! Plant your vegetables and herbs and interplant or add a border with these flowers to attract bees to your garden plot. Bees, such as honeybees, will increase your yield as they pollinate. Wasps and hornets are carnivores and will kill and eat the caterpillars that are eating your veggies. Beneficial they are! Here is a short list that will attract beneficial insects in general. Some will also attract hummers. For example, consider planting Alyssum, Angelica, Butterfly Weed, Caraway, Coriander (Cilantro), Fennel, Fern-leaf Yarrow, Dill, Cosmos (‘White Sensation’), Lemon Balm (makes a nice summer drink for people), Parsley (Italian flat-leaf), Salvia, and Tithonia (plant ‘Fiesta’ which is smaller than ‘Torch’).   

Theme: Edible Flowers. And while you are at it, consider planting some flowers that you can eat while you enjoy their color and texture. You can eat a wide range of flowers (but save some for the pollinators!). All plants in the Allium botanical family (for example, leeks, chives, garlic, shallots) are edible. In fact you can eat the entire plant. Also consider Chicory, Clover, Johnny Jump Ups, Lilac (yep!), Nasturtiums (yummy!), roses (really), squash and pumpkin flowers, and violets to get you started.

Themes can help you organize what you purchase and where you plant what you purchase. And they can tap into your creative juices. Get planning before it gets too warm (June?).

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