Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Wintersowing for Hummingbirds & Butterflies??, 1 by tabasco

tabasco wrote:

Meredith--Yes, you MUST have verbena bonariensis in your buttlerfly garden (at least for us folks up north). The seeds are a snap to start and will often self sow to a tidy gardener's dismay but to my joy! When they are about a foot tall or so, pinch some of them out a bit so you get nice bushy plants and staggered bloom times.

About the coreopsis--I have several kinds in the garden which I pick up on dollar sales at the garden centers, and so forth. I suppose you can grow them from seed, but not the hybrids and 'brand names', though, that are 'plant patent protected' and the ones I buy.

But the yellow flower you may be eye-ing in the photo is my Rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun' that I love. I usually buy some nicely grown ones from the nursery early in the season to assure early bloom and I also grow some from seed for later on in the season. A few also come back from the year before but in our wet winters I can't be sure of that. I love these 'Prairie Suns' in our garden although I have to say they aren't so popular with the butterflies...

You can buy Rudbeckia hirta 'prairie sun' all over the place now, but WFF has a nice photo :http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/77672-product.html

I ordered many more seeds yesterday for the hummingbird and butterfly garden. And my wintersowing project is expanding to the back steps...