Lavatera trimestris 'Loveliness'
Lavatera trimestris is an upright annual that grows in a shrubby tall form. It is planted as an annual in Maine, and it has large, saucer shaped white to pink flowers in midsummer. Rounded medium green leaves have heart-shaped bases and 3-7 shallow lobes. It is a good cut flower.
Hemerocallis 'Stella D'Oro'
Rabbit tolerant. 'Stella de Oro' features profuse 2.75-inch diameter yellow flowers with ruffled edges and deeper yellow throats. Individual flowers open for one day on a compact plant. This multiple AHS award winner has become perhaps the most popular daylily in cultivation in large part because of its compact size, vigorous growth, profuse bloom and extremely long bloom period. For best performance, daylilies should be divided every 3-4 years in either fall or spring. It is rabbit tolerant, but, use deer repellent!
Heliotrope arborescens 'Fragrant Delight'
Fragrant Delight is a traditional favorite annual that bears loose, flat heads of intensely fragrant lavender blooms. It attracts pollinators including Monarchs and Swallowtails.
Geranium ‘Gerwat Rozanne’
Cranesbill geranium Rozanne is a hybrid clump forming geranium that typically grows in a mound shape, often as a groundcover. It is noted for its non-stop flowering habit and has exceptional heat tolerance. Side stems may be removed or trimmed at any time to control spread. Rozanne is an exceptional, unique, and unsurpassed geranium selection for any garden and is rabbit and deer tolerant.
Gaillardia pulchella
Also known as Indian Blanket and Firewheel, this New England native perennial plant is easy to establish in a sunny well drained location. Bee and Butterflies including Red Admirals, Monarchs, Great Spangled Friillaries and Silver Spotted Skippers will use it as a nectar source.
Gaillardia grandiflora 'Arizona Sun'
Blanket Flower is one of the easiest perennial wildflowers to establish. Blooms provide nectar for many butterflies and native bees. 'Arizona Sun' has large, 3 to 4 in. wide, fiery orange red blossoms with yellow-tipped petals and is very drought and salt tolerant.
Echinops ritro 'Taplow Blue'
Taplow Blue has silver leaves and a metallic blue globular flowerhead 1-2 inches in diameter. This is an important pollinator plant to butterflies and bees. It is the host larval plant for the Painted Lady butterfly. Cut flower stems can be used fresh or dried for arrangements.
Echinops bannaticus 'The Giant'
Giant Globe Thistle is an old-fashioned tall garden perennial for the back of the border. It has numerous tennis ball-sized spikey globular flower heads that are loved by bees and butterflies. Flower color slowly changes from silver to pale blue. The blooms can be used fresh or in dried arrangements. Easily grown from seed.
Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
Showy daisy-like white coneflowers (to 5" diameter) bloom throughout summer atop stiff stems clad with coarse, dark green leaves. Good fresh cut or dried flower. Dead flower stems will remain erect well into the winter, and if flower heads are not removed, the blackened cones may be visited by goldfinches or other birds that feed on the seeds. Deer tolerant.
Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'
‘Cheyenne Spirit’ was introduced in 2012 and has won top awards for garden performance. It comes in a mix of colors including gold, scarlet, orange, rose-red, cream, purple and yellow and all colors attracts birds and butterflies. Dead flower stems will remain erect well into the winter, and if flower heads are not removed, the blackened cones may be visited by goldfinches or other birds that feed on the seeds. Deer tolerant.
Echinacea 'Bravado'
Echinacea is a beautiful and tough native plant grown that is grown medicinally to boost the immune system. 'Bravado' is a cultivar that has 4 to 5 in. wide flowers that have light to rose-pink, horizontal petals and an orange cone. It is highly attractive to butterflies and other insect pollinators. If the flower heads are not removed, the blackened cones may be visited by goldfinches or other birds that feed on the seeds. Deer tolerant.
Digitalis 'Pink Panther'
Pink panther is a first-year flowering plant that really puts on a show. Uniform and upright, this foxglove produces multiple spikes of vibrant, bell-shaped, magenta flowers with speckled rose-pink throats rising above a compact mound of dense green foliage on sturdy stems. The sterile flowers are long lasting and make
Digitalis lutea
: Yellow Foxglove is a short-lived herbaceous perennial or biennial. All parts of the plant are poisonous; however, the plant is less toxic than the common foxglove (D. purpurea). The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is cross-pollinated by long tongued bumblebees. It can naturalize or persist at a site for many years. Deer and rabbit resistant.
Cosmos bipinnatus 'Sonata Pink' or ‘Sonata White’
The Sonata series of Cosmos are dwarf plants about half the size of the regular species. Each plant has multitudes of blossoms and will keep going strong with continuous deadheading and repeat light applications of fertilizer.
Cosmos bipinnatus 'Double Click'
This tall variety of Cosmos in colors of white and shades of pink blooms best when the day length is 14 hours or less, which means that is a colorful nectaring plant for bees and butterflies into the fall.
Coreopsis verticillata
Coreopsis verticillata is a native airy yellow perennial from the daisy family that grows in dense bushy clumps. The plants can be sheared in mid to late summer to promote fall re-bloom. It has been a popular garden flower since the 19th century.
Coreopsis grandiflora 'SunKiss'
Sunkiss coreopsis has huge, nearly 3" wide yellow flowers with burgundy centers. It is a cottage garden plant that has excellent heat-tolerance and is easy to grow.
Centaurea scabiosa
Centaurea scabiosa is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Bees, flies, Moths & Butterflies. The plant is self-fertile. The flowers have been used to treat digestive disorders and it has been known to be used to treat scabies (hence its Latin name scabiosa) and other skin complaints. The thistle like flowers have attractive light purple heads.
Centaurea montana
Centaurea montana is a clump-forming perennial which features solitary, fringed, rich blue cornflowers. This plant from the Asteraceae family is easy to grow in poor soils but can spread somewhat rapidly by stolons to form colonies in optimum growing conditions, particularly in rich fertile soils. The plant is robust in our cooler Maine climate.
Centaurea dealbata
A pretty summer perennial that has lavender to rosy pink blooms. Attracts bees and butterflies as a nectaring plant.