Jessica Walliser
Every summer , I ’m amazed at the diversity of pollinators that use certain plants in my landscape painting . The midget aboriginal bee hump the minuscule flowers of dill weed and finocchio , while the chunky bumblebees savour the bigger , bell - shaped salad days of my blueberry George H.W. Bush and campanula . It ’s coolheaded to discover which flora are cross-pollinate by which insects , but there ’s one finical works that seems to attract the greatest diversity of large pollinator in my garden : Mexican sunflower .
A Pollinator’s Best Friend
experience as the Mexican helianthus , Tithonia rotundifoliais turn over down the most “ active ” industrial plant I spring up in my garden . I grow a cultivar called Torch , and its 3 - inch - across-the-board , orange - red prime are pollinator attractor . The butterflies in my garden far prefer this flora to the butterfly stroke bush only a few foot away . This year alone , we ’ve seen easterly black morning coat , Panthera tigris swallowtails , monarchs , fritillaries , cabbage Elwyn Brooks White , pipevine swallowtails , spicebush swallowtails , red patched purples , reddened admirals , painted ladies , question gull and skippers on our Mexican sunflower plants . And that ’s just the butterflies ! There ’s an adequate variety ofbee speciesthat enjoy sourcing ambrosia from this plant . Oh , and then there are thehummingbirds — they regularly chaffer our tithonia , too !
Caring For Tithonia
Tithonia is native to Mexico and Central America . Here in Pennsylvania , it ’s grown as a warm - season annual . I set out the germ indoors under grow lights in late March and implant the seedlings out into the garden in mid - May . It take aim a few weeks for them to aline , but once they take off , there ’s no stopping them . ripe plant are 6 to 8 feet tall with wide , sturdy branches that bear flowers from early July until the first frost . instead , you could seed the seeds directly into the garden after the peril of frost has passed , but it will detain their bloom metre by a few week . As an added incentive , tithonia is unbothered by heat . In fact , it always seems to do best during hot , juiceless summers . This year has been a especially glorious year for them : Each of my plants is presently sporting at least 50 blooms . I ascertain that regulardeadheadingleads to increased efflorescence production , but other than that , there ’s nothing else required of the nurseryman . Despite their marvelous stature , the plant never ask to be stake as long as they are located in full sunlight .
Planning For Next Year’s Garden
Every gloaming , I allow a few flowers to go to seed so I can replant them next year . I snip off the spent flowers presently after they turn brown and lay them on a paper towel on the kitchen counter to dry . A week or so by and by , I draw in the flowers open and brush the seeds out with my fingerbreadth . I allow the seeds dry on a plate for two weeks before packing them into envelopes and lay in them in the electric refrigerator until the following give .
One last turn of good news about Mexican sunflower : The works remain untasted by the deer and rabbit that regularly peruse my garden , and they seem to be unbothered by any leaf - munching dirt ball pestilence . Tithonia is a winner if there ever was one .
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