Lawns to Legumes Pollinator Garden Kit - 72 plants
Can be shipped.
This Garden Kit includes 72 plants, a garden design, and instructions for planting and maintenance. The design and instructions are available here. We recommend reading the instructions page before purchasing.
The Lawns to Legumes Pollinator Garden Kit was specifically created for Minnesota residents who are participating in the Lawns to Legumes grant program! While all of our garden kits are good choices for the Lawns to Legumes program, this sun-loving garden was created with our favorite combination of short, sunny prairie plants (see list below). That’s why it’s perfect for front-yard areas which need a lower profile and for beginner gardeners who often get swamped by taller, spreading native plants. Instead, it has shorter plants that spread very slowly by seed, and when they do, you won’t mind them spreading.
It has a tailored variety of Minnesota native plants that will bloom from spring to fall, providing nectar and habitat for pollinators throughout the year. It has Butterfly Milkweed—a short orange-flowered milkweed that doesn’t spread aggressively like common milkweed. The showstopper, however, is the Meadow Blazing Star that blooms in August and attracts Monarchs by the dozens. You have to see it to believe it! It’s the only “tall” plant in the garden but it stands up straight like a stick and doesn’t bush out or create a dense jungle.
Many of the garden kits you’ll find at nurseries only have a handful of species and have long gaps without blooms, but this kit has 10 flower species which means there will be things blooming from April to October. It also has 3 species of fine-leaved clump-grasses—grasses that stay in clumps and don’t spread—which give a short, tranquil backdrop to the flowers.
Details
Perennials
Sun: Full Sun, Part Shade
Moisture: Medium, Dry
Height: 10 inches - 5 feet
Blooms: April - October
Spacing: Plant each plant about 12″ apart
Zones: 3-8
Benefits: Butterflies, Pollinators, Birds
Great native garden choice for the Minnesota Lawns to Legumes grant program!
Size: One tray of 72 plants
Plants are 1.6” wide x 3.2” deep “plugs”. These 72 plugs come in a single tray that’s 11” x 21” long.
They are small but grow surprisingly big the 1st year and are mostly large, flowering plants the 2nd year.
We use these plugs for our own projects because they are budget friendly and very easy to plant.
Plants included:
Flowers:
6 Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)
3 Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta)
6 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
3 Silky Aster (Aster sericeum)
3 Cream Wild Indigo (Baptisia bracteata)
6 Narrow-leaved Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)
9 Meadow Blazing Star (Liatris ligulistylis)
6 Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa)
6 Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
6 Grey Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)
Grasses and Sedges:
6 Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis)
6 Star Sedge (Carex radiata)
6 Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Note on Species: Depending on germination and greenhouse success we may have to substitute a species or two, but usually this list is spot on.
Installation Tips:
This Garden Kit will plant an area from 10ft x 10ft up to 10ft x 15ft, depending on how you like to space the plants.
It’s important to remove any grass or weed roots before planting. If you remove grass with a shovel, it can take a few hours. If you want to smother it with paper or cardboard, it can take 2-3 months. Plan ahead of time.
We recommend adding 3” of wood mulch (not included). Wood mulch reduces weeds, reduces watering to just 3-5 times the first year, and nearly doubles plant growth—well worth the extra work and cost (about $50 for a 10ft x 10ft area).
We recommend adding edging to prevent grass or weeds from creeping into the garden (not included).
