My first priority after planting the garden plants and seeds focused on surrounding the beds in pollinator plants. We have twelve marigolds inside the beds, however, wanted to be intentional about adding a few more plants. So, this weekend, we took a trip to our local nursery, Lukas Nursery, to select a few plants.
After talking with one of the gardeners, and perusing the plants, we decided on the following list of plants for the garden. We were amazed at how the bees and butterflies were surrounding the plants at the nursery. I’m not sure if the bees and butterflies are always around those plants, or if I just now noticed it because I was there on a mission to find exactly that.
- Echinacea Sombrero Hot Coral – the ‘coneflower’ is a native Florida pollinator plant, and from what I can tell, echinacea is a coneflower, however I don’t believe this one is a native FL pollinator
- Salvia ‘Misty’ – longispicta x farinacea – this one is a native FL pollinator
- Lantana camara ‘Anne Marie’ – non native, but great pollinator. After researching on the University of Florida IFAS Extension page, they discourage use in the ground because of how this spreads and can overtake the garden.
- Cuphea Dwarf ‘Flori Glory’ (also known as Mexican Heather) – the amount of bees surrounding this plant was amazing!
- African Blue Basil – ocimum killmandscharicum – great pollinator, can be used for cooking too, but has a distinct flavor separate from traditional basil.
I am anxious to see how well the plants do and if they serve their purpose. In hindsight, I wish I would have done a bit more leg work to focus more on the native plants, however that is the point of this entire project, to learn and improve!
We made a trip to Home Depot to pick up a few pots. I love the look of the wine barrels in the garden as the whole area reminds me of an old Tuscan garden. We decided to pot the Echinacea together with the African Blue Basil on the left side of the garden. The ‘Mexican Heather’ is in its own pot in front of the newly acquired ‘Honey Fig’ tree, and finally we grouped the Lantana and the Salvia together.
Now, we will wait to see if they do their job!
Central Florida Family Gardening 