Grey Gallery & Grey Gallery Garden, Grey County Master Gardeners, and Willow Farm Grasses & Native Plants came together to build two pollinating gardens with native plant life to show how beautiful and straightforward a pollinator garden could be for anyone who wishes to make one of their own. Watch as the plants take root, grow and blossom throughout the season.
Location: 883 2nd Avenue East, Owen Sound - Just south of the gallery
The foundation native plants included in this project are below:
Bee Balm (Monarda didyma)
Also called wild bergamot, is known for its attractive scarlet flowers that bloom in the summertime and its fragrant foliage. In June and July, slender, tubular flowers are produced in 5cm to 8cm wide flower heads. Flower colors include white, pink, red, lavender, and purple. its most frequent visitors are hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies.
Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea)
An easy to care for perennial that thrives in hot, sunny spots – particularly disturbed sites. It produces slender green foliage and papery white flowers with yellow centres that bloom from early summer to fall. Appearance is quite variable depending on the site – this plant can be anywhere from 20 – 90 cm tall with leaves ranging in length from 2- 15 cm long and 0.5 – 2 cm wide.
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)
A short-lived perennial with branching, erect, reddish stems. The lower leaves are divided into threes twice while the upper leaves are divided once. The yellow flowers less than .3 cm long. Each tiny flower has 5 sepals, 5 petals, and 5 stamens. Separate clusters of tiny, yellow flowers gather into a large, flat-topped flower head, the middle flower of each umbel being stalkless.
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
A perennial with dense, terminal spikes of small, tubular, bright blue flowers. Leaves are opposite, oval, toothed and whitish beneath give off the scent of anise when bruised. The sturdy, erect blue giant-hyssop is of the most ornamental native mints. The genus Agastache describes the flower clusters and is derived from two Greek words : agan - meaning “much” and stachys - meaning “ear of grain”
Little Blue Stem (Schizachyrium scoparium)
A very ornamental bunchgrass with fine-textured foliage that forms very dense mounds 53 to 61 cm tall. Slender blue-green stems often reach 1.52 m, or more, by September, and become radiant mahogany-red with white, shining seed tufts in the fall. Color remains nearly all winter. Perennial clumps grow up to 30 cm in diameter.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
Depending on growing conditions, this species may act as an annual, biennial or as a short-lived perennial. Bright-yellow, 2-3 in. wide, daisy-like flowers with dark centers are its claim-to-fame. They occur singly atop 1-2+ ft. stems. The stems and scattered, oval leaves are covered with bristly hairs.
Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus)
Erect, hairy stems, usually several from the same rhizome, are 16-32 in. tall. Leaves are oblong. A woolly-stemmed plant with open, stalked clusters of lavender to violet, trumpet-shaped flowers with whitish lips. The tubular, lipped flowers are very slender and about an inch long. The mouth is nearly closed by the arched base of the lower lip.
Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
Dense gayfeather or marsh blazing star is an erect, slender perennial reaching a height of 2-6 ft. The linear, grass-like leaves are clumped toward the base of the plant, but extend up the stem to the showy flower cluster. A tall spike of rayless, rose-purple (sometimes white), closely set flower heads. The purple, tufted flower heads are arranged in a long, dense spike blooming from the top down.
The species name describes the elongated inflorescence, with its crowded, stalkless flower heads. The protruding styles give the flower an overall feathery appearance, hence its alternate name, Dense Gayfeather.
