“Plants are not optional on this planet. With few exceptions neither we nor anything else can live without them.” — Bring Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants. Douglas W. Tallamy
I have long been a fan of Indiana native wildflowers in that they invite wildlife into an area by providing food, shelter and nesting places for a multitude of creatures.
Additionally, they help conserve water, reduce mowing costs, protect the soil and save money on fertilizer and pesticides. Unlike many non-native plants, when introduced into a landscape they are hardy, less susceptible to pests and diseases and unlikely to escape and become invasive.
Of course, we all have our best loved flowers but three of mine are:
• Compass Plant (Silphium lacinatum). A giant of a plant with triangular toothed leaves, this specimen can grow from 6 to 12 feet tall. It’s a real showoff in any prairie setting where the deeply divided basal leaves tend to point north and south.
Slow-growing and long-lived (up to 100 years) mature plants can have up to 100 yellow flowers that resemble sunflowers which are a favorite of many birds, including goldfinches. Its large, central taproot can extend up to 15 feet into the ground.
Sometimes referred to as Rosinweed, Native Americans chewed gum from an extract of the stem.
• Cupplant (Silphium perfoliatum) is another tall plant and often cited as the single best species for attracting birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds. This species has leaves which clasp its stems to form cups which retain water.
Each plant bears 18-40 rich 2 to 3 inch yellow florets which resemble sunflowers and are in bloom for one to one and a half months.
The root stock of this plant was commonly used in smoke treatment for head colds, neuralgia, and rheumatism by Native Americans living along the Missouri River. Additionally, early settlers of the Great Plains could make their way in the dark by feeling its leaves.
Capable of forming large colonies, cupplants prefer full or partial sunlight and are one of over 60 species growing in the Kile Oak Habitat Garden, 5939 Beechwood Avenue.
• Tall Ironweed (Vernonia altissima) acknowledged for its flat-headed panicle of 13 to 30 brilliant purple/magenta flowers which bloom in mid-summer.
Again a tall plant having a tough, rigid stem, ironweeds range from 5-8 feet tall.
Associations with the above three species include skipper, sulphur and occasionally monarch butterflies, moths, various bees, hummingbirds and various birds including goldfinches.
Ed Myers is an Advanced Master Gardener and a past president of both the Irvington Garden Club and the Garfield Park Master Gardener Association. He is also the steward of both the Kile Oak Habitat and Benton House Historic Gardens. He may be reached at EMyers3670@aol.com.
