Container plant suggestions - Wildlife Gardeners

Rebek56 · 10-30-2018, 07:55 AM

I have been talked into offering a container garden for pollinators as a service auction item for a local organization (Zone 6, Ohio). It will be either an 18-20-inch pot or two or three smaller containers, depending on the buyer's wishes.

My own containers are generally a mix of natives and non, but I would really like suggestions of native plants and nativars. The container will need to have something in bloom pretty much all season. My own most successful natives for containers have been dwarf panicum, rudbeckia hirta, various asters, hardy ageratum, and echinacea, but I need to up my game to make sure this container is something special.

Your ideas? I have not grown any of the milkweeds in containers but would love a monarch plant. I will probably cheat and include a dill or fennel plant for the swallowtails.

NEWisc · 10-31-2018, 01:07 PM

I haven't grown any of these in a pot, but if you are looking for something different/unusual then some of these might be interesting.

Pedicularis canadensis - yellow or red, early flowers, different foliage
https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=PECA

One of the phlox species would bring in hummingbird moths and butterflies, long blooming.

Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) has interesting foliage and a nice bright yellow flower
https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=CHFA2

Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) would be a possibility for a different grass
https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=BOGR2

I like Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans) as a small long blooming early flower attractive to pollinators
https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=PORE2

Old field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) is a shorter goldenrod that would add some nice fall color.
https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=SONE

Rebek56 · 10-31-2018, 06:38 PM

Thank you! I have not grown any of those in containers.

skip1909 · 11-12-2018, 01:41 PM

Early spring: Phlox subulata, silene caroliniana, silene virginica, claytonia virginica
Late spring: Penstemon hirsutus, penstemon digitalis, coreopsis lanceolata, zizea aurea
Summer: cultivars of rudbeckia, echinacea, heliopsis, salvia coccinea, and agastache foeniculum
Late summer and fall: october skies Aster, Solidago caesia, dwarf sunflower

Heucheras for foliage
Lespedeza violacea for a late summer blooming, sprawling but delicate legume from seed

I think you would want a short milkweed like A. tuberosa, viridis or viridiflora

10-30-2018, 07:55 AM	#1
Rebek56 Offical Silphium Abuser Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Southeast Ohio	Container plant suggestions I have been talked into offering a container garden for pollinators as a service auction item for a local organization (Zone 6, Ohio). It will be either an 18-20-inch pot or two or three smaller containers, depending on the buyer's wishes. My own containers are generally a mix of natives and non, but I would really like suggestions of native plants and nativars. The container will need to have something in bloom pretty much all season. My own most successful natives for containers have been dwarf panicum, rudbeckia hirta, various asters, hardy ageratum, and echinacea, but I need to up my game to make sure this container is something special. Your ideas? I have not grown any of the milkweeds in containers but would love a monarch plant. I will probably cheat and include a dill or fennel plant for the swallowtails. __________________ "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." --Cicero ~http://rebeccas-window.blogspot.com/~

10-31-2018, 01:07 PM	#2
NEWisc Fox Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Wisconsin	I haven't grown any of these in a pot, but if you are looking for something different/unusual then some of these might be interesting. Pedicularis canadensis - yellow or red, early flowers, different foliage https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=PECA One of the phlox species would bring in hummingbird moths and butterflies, long blooming. Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) has interesting foliage and a nice bright yellow flower https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=CHFA2 Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) would be a possibility for a different grass https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=BOGR2 I like Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans) as a small long blooming early flower attractive to pollinators https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=PORE2 Old field goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) is a shorter goldenrod that would add some nice fall color. https://www.wildflower.org/gallery/species.php?id_plant=SONE __________________ . Age is a biological fact. Old is a state of mind. I will age, but I refuse to get old.

10-31-2018, 06:38 PM	#3
Rebek56 Offical Silphium Abuser Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Southeast Ohio	Thank you! I have not grown any of those in containers. __________________ "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." --Cicero ~http://rebeccas-window.blogspot.com/~

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11-12-2018, 01:41 PM	#4
skip1909 Lungwort Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: NJ	Early spring: Phlox subulata, silene caroliniana, silene virginica, claytonia virginica Late spring: Penstemon hirsutus, penstemon digitalis, coreopsis lanceolata, zizea aurea Summer: cultivars of rudbeckia, echinacea, heliopsis, salvia coccinea, and agastache foeniculum Late summer and fall: october skies Aster, Solidago caesia, dwarf sunflower Heucheras for foliage Lespedeza violacea for a late summer blooming, sprawling but delicate legume from seed I think you would want a short milkweed like A. tuberosa, viridis or viridiflora