Short and Sunny 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 Short and Sunny Pollinator Garden Kit is a perfect combination of plants for front yard pollinator gardens. We designed this garden with our favorite short, sunny prairie plants (see list below). It’s a tidy garden—most of the plants stay in short clumps and don’t spread very much. The season-long blooms and a summer flush of pinks and oranges get many compliments. This is our favorite garden template to use on both small and large scales—from small house foundation gardens to big boulevard plantings.
This garden also packs a serious pollinator punch with the Pussytoes, Milkweed, and grasses being host plants for butterfly and skipper caterpillars and the many flowers attracting bees, butterflies, and other insects. Since all of the plants are short you don’t have to worry about bigger natives taking over. The grasses are very short and provide a seamless connection from grass lawns to the prairie garden, while also providing “annual mulch” between flowers and knitting the garden together.
Details
Perennials
Sun: Full Sun, Part Shade
Moisture: Medium, Dry
Height: 10 inches - 2.5 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) or Prairie Onion (Allium stellatum)
3 Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)
6 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
1 Aromatic Aster (Aster oblongifolius) - plant this flower 2ft away from other plants for room to spread
2 Cream Wild Indigo (Baptisia bracteata)
6 Narrow-leaved Coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia)
3 Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)
6 Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
3 Dotted Blazing Star (Liatris punctata)
3 Bradbury's Monarda (Monarda bradburiana)
6 Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa)
3 Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
3 Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Grasses and Sedges:
15 Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis)
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).
