Quick note for people interested in monarchs/milkweed…. Make sure you get a milkweed native to your area (there are tons of different milkweed species and if you don’t get native milkweed it can actually be counter productive for helping monarchs)

@hopeandwildflowers

2 ай бұрын

I was just about to comment about this and saw this. Yes, this is so important and glad someone else mentioned it and brought awareness to it. Thank you! Fantastic video!

@ten-hx2xi

2 ай бұрын

ty! i wouldnt have thought to look up its exact species ❤ id love to give butterflies a nice meal haha

@empressjillybe

Ай бұрын

Crown flower is native milkweed for Hawaii.

@lolledopke

26 күн бұрын

Also note that Milkweed is banned in the EU as it is an invasive species

Love the comparison between the "hottest restaurant" and a garden that has an equally great 'menu'!! Meg is really relatable!

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you ❤ glad you enjoyed it!

I love MEG! She is a great addition to your team. This was very helpful.

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the kind comment ❤️

@arcan762

Ай бұрын

I love meg too 😋

@midwestmasocist

Ай бұрын

Agreed!!

Meg is the best. She's such a natural at this. She clearly has a thorough knowledge of the inter-specie links in permaculture. True jedi

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

What a sweet comment 🥹 thank you so much!

@crankychef

3 ай бұрын

I agree!! I'd love more info on butterfly raising!

Hi Native Gardeners! There is an organization called Wild Ones with chapters across the US. They specialize in helping suburban/urban homeowners use region natives for landscaping. They’ll even come to your home and have experts come and talk about how to optimize everything! Super helpful for the beginner!!!

@triciac1019

3 ай бұрын

How cool is that!

I like to let my lettuces and brassicas bolt. Bees love their flowers

I have a certified pollinator garden. I've been attracting pollinators for years and I can't even tell you the different species that visit my "restaurant". I totally agree about the Tithonia . I see bees, hummingbirds, butterflies all visit the Mexican Sunflower. They also love Monarda or perennial"Bee Balm". I have hummingbird moths visit every year and native bees love bee balm.

My favorites are echinacea and chamomile. I’ll have to try that Mexican sunflower, it’s beautiful.

10000% percent agree on tithonia. I’ve never seen so many butterflies. Verbena bonariensis also draws them in, including the smaller skippers. For hummingbirds, grow every kind of salvia you can, they absolutely love them!

@eklectiktoni

3 ай бұрын

I just made a similar comment. Pollinators in my area love lantanas, verbenas, and salvia. :)

@barbaralong8665

3 ай бұрын

Also love Pineapple sage which you can use in tea. Beautiful red trumpet shaped flowers

@radeon8461

3 ай бұрын

Also Trumpet AKA coral honeysuckle for hummingbirds. Great native perennial vine.

@margolehman5482

3 ай бұрын

Thank you! Adding Salvia to my list this year!

@margolehman5482

3 ай бұрын

@@radeon8461 I can confirm this. Even with my poor little vine that hasn't been tended to in recent years, it keeps flowering and the Hummingbirds keep coming back. It's getting rejuvenated and a new trellis this year.

Meg, you have my official stamp of approval. This was very informative, relatable, and fun! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much ❤

I live in Norway, zone 4. I have kept Calendula seeds for over 18 years. I adore the pop of color and usefulness this flower brings to my garden. It is a wonderful "restaurant".

For anyone looking to raise mason bees and leafcutter bees, make sure the reeds come out of the bee house. If they don't, I highly recommend looking into houses where the reeds can be removed and opened for cleaning/harvesting the bees. Crown Bees has resources on why you should do this as well as a ton more info.

I use a flower pot saucer with marbles in it and fill with water for bees and butterflies

@KarenGranelle

2 ай бұрын

Very interesting I’ve never heard this - I’ll have to try it!

I'm just North of Atlanta and Anise Hyssop and Zinnias are the pollinators favorites in my garden. I am winter sowing mexican sunflower this year to add to my mix. I have raised monarchs in the past and you are right, it's an incredible experience!

I didn't see any butterflies like talking about this past year, but my Mexican sunflower was COVERED in bees (as was my oregano). They were so cute! Hoping the butterflies find my restaurant this year! Maybe the bees will give me a good review.

@Notturnoir

3 ай бұрын

Oregano is my bee magnet!

I can so relate to "chaos gardening". Monachs were indemic in NZ where i grew up. Their life cycles are amazing

What may not be mentioned. For monarchs: If you're in the U.S. Look up what species of milkweed is native in your area. Do NOT get the milkweed they sell in Home Depot or Lowes or most non-native nurseries. 1.) Most are sprayed with pesticides 2.) Most are likely selling Asclepias curassavica (Tropical or Scarlet Milkweed). It is native to Mexico and the Caribbean. It is the plant that Monarchs eat when they migrate way south. It does not die back in winter like native milkweed does, and it is highly invasive, and it can mess up the reproductive cycle of Monarchs and cause OE. It does more harm than good. There's a lot of misinformation on the web about this, but ask most ecologists and they will tell you the harm it can do for Monarch populations. When it comes to host plants, plant native. Here in the Southeast, Asclepias incarnata, perennis, and tuberosa are all good choices. If they aren't readily available, wait it out. Get seeds from someone who does have it in their yard. I'm always giving away free milkweed seeds to neighbors and friends. That's not to say you only have to plant native. In my area, pentas are a fantastic choice for pollinators. Just be sure to source your plants from a reputable nursery that does not use pesticides or fungicides. Milkweed will always be assaulted by aphids, but ladybugs will inevitably move in an wipe them out. They'll come back and the cycle continues.

@DefThrone

3 ай бұрын

Oh and don't forget bushes! In the southeast we have a bee called the blueberry digger bee. It specializes in (you guessed it) blueberry flowers. It will visit other flowers, but it has a special relationship with blueberry flowers. So look up what bushes can bloom in the spring and summer for specialist pollinators in your area. This isn't a post to shame anyone who planted Tropical milkweed. It's just a way to keep people from making the same mistakes I did and get into native plants. It's all about learning and having fun doing it.

@LouisianaGarden

3 ай бұрын

Great comment

@brettp_DO

3 ай бұрын

@@DefThrone excellent point!! I'm sure that most states' Dept. of Natural Resources websites have lists of native plants. I know Illinois' DNR has a lot of good information.

@DefThrone

3 ай бұрын

@@brettp_DO A lot of states have a native plant society too. Just search the state name + native plant society. I know California has a pretty active one from what I hear.

@acatinthegarden

3 ай бұрын

This is very misleading. Home Depot and Lowe’s have stopped spraying pesticides as of 2019. This is widely documented and only requires a quick google search. Their plants are perfectly safe for pollinators now and have been for years. Tropical milkweed is native to the southern US, is perfectly safe to grow for monarchs, and does die back in the winter. I live in Texas and as soon as we get a freeze it dies. It’s not even a perennial here and I end up having to rip it up every year and plant new seeds that I have saved or wait for volunteer plants to pop up. It is also the favorite plant of my monarchs. They understand that they need to continue to migrate, and if I feel like it hasn’t frozen in time, it’s pretty easy to just cut the flowers to encourage migration of the butterflies. Please do your proper research before fearmongering and spreading misinformation.

Love Meg! Super sweet and easy to follow all the info she shares. Awesome video especially w/ Spring around the corner.

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the sweet comment!

I really enjoyed this video. I bought Mexican sunflower seeds 4 years ago and haven't needed to buy any since! They reseed so easily. In the fall, I let my garden go wild so it's transformed into a sea of Mexican sunflowers and native plants until first frost. It's always a beautiful sight to see. Someone mentioned to me that Mexican sunflowers are considered the "comfrey of the South", so when our first frost came, I pulled a bunch of them and put them in a giant bucket and filled it with water. I plan to use the water to fertilize my plants this spring.

@lizlucey3812

2 ай бұрын

I heard that too! Great idea!

Yarrow (achillea) and catnip have been great pollinator ground covers for me in usda zone 9B/10A.

Zinnia flowers are my favorite for pollinators. I love them so much I named my daughter after them! I’m in the PNW, and they are happy in late spring, summer, early fall in full sun.

My wife and I live in NJ zone 6B/7. We love butterfly bushes, butterfly weed, bee balm (any color), wild indigo, and asters. Thanks for the tip about milkweed as it looks like we can add that to the mix!

Excellent, comprehensive instructions on why and how to start a pollinator garden! I love the restaurant analogy. Yes, we all need to plant Milkweed, Asters and Goldenrod! And if you have the space, an Oak tree! ❤🦋❤️

Give those bees the "VIP" experience! Roll out the red carpet for butterflies. Great video and like others said, Meg is a natural presenter

Love this video! Great job. Those pointing out differences of milkweeds. Your counties Master Gardeners group is probably gearing up for their plant sales (I know mine is) and they are sure to have native flowers great for pollinators.

@juliehorney995

2 ай бұрын

Indeed!

I put an inexpensive metal arbor over my front gate with Maypop planted on it-she's right! The butterflies loved it. There were butterflies swarming around my gate all summer last year. Can't wait to see them again this year. Going to try some of her other suggestions for spring

@francestaylor9156

3 ай бұрын

Nice! That’s what I want to do.

@margolehman5482

3 ай бұрын

I'm so excited to grow Maypop this year. I have an arbor guilt for it. Now I need to find some plants locally. My neighbor gets delicious fruit right up through November and we're in Zone 7B!

@awkwardtexasstranger5660

3 ай бұрын

Ask your neighbor for an old fruit. They grow very easily from seed. @@margolehman5482

I live in Australia. I don't know Mexican Sunflowers, but I will seek this out. Polinators are awsome

Just got a bunch of wildflower seeds specifically for bees and hummingbirds. Hoping they do well in the yard!

Thank you, I have gardens in the front back side of my home. I have wanted to start a pollination patch just wasn't sure how to get started...thank you for all of the info. I am so excited for spring😂

Bronze fennel is what I grow for my swallowtail butterflies 🦋 I absolutely love growing it. The pollen is delicious along with the fennel seeds of course.

Yay I just started my flower seeds for the first time ever I'm so excited! Also, I love Meg I could listen to her chat about gardening for hours.

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

So excited for you! ❤ year of the flowers 🌸

As always lots of great information and positive messages.

Love to know more about how to raise butterflies, I think you need to have Meg do another video!

I love Meg! What a great addition to the team 🙌

Meg is such a wonderful addition!! I really dig her channel. We need chaos gardening shirts!

Love this video. I'm all for the pollinators, I grow native milkweed for the Monarchs and raise them from egg to butterfly. I also grow a ton of parsley, fennel, dill, celery and carrot tops for the Black Swallowtail butterflies (I also raise them from egg to butterfly). I have a pollinator garden for the nectar and host plants, also. I highly recommend the Mexican sunflower also, they are butterfly magnets. Love my pollinators. ❤

Tithonia is one of my favorites. I had thousands of bumblebees on that plant

Definitely dedicating an area for pollinators this year, thanks guys!

Its my dream to have a garden with so many butterflies you end up with one landing on you everytime you go through it. 😂❤ love this!!

I planted lavender one year. The bees loved it. The bee keepers in my area told me that it changed the taste of the honey, but everyone liked it.

Native mountain mint is always covered in pollinators in my garden. It is not the showiest flower and it will spread but man the bees and butterflies just go crazy for it!

I interplant basil in my vegetable garden and let it flower. The bees LOVE it! They were also obsessed with my ornamental onions! I had so many hummingbirds on my vining nasturtiums last year, too. Will definitely be planting more this year!

Atlantic Canadian here, I find that chives are a great choice for both bees and butterflies. Great plant recommendations in this video!

North Bay Area, CA, zone 9B! Tithonia has brought me soo many hummingbirds! I discovered it in a wildflower seed mix and had to get to the bottom of what variety it was because the pollinators loved it the most out of all the flowers I grew. My lavender is constantly swarming with bees as well!

Note: Monarch habitat does not include the North West Coast (vancouver, seattle etc). Milkweed isnt native in these areas, and if you see an actual monarch (vs Admiral that look similar) its been blown off course 😊

@triciac1019

3 ай бұрын

I live in Northern Utah, and about 20-30 years ago, we got floods of monarchs. They got blown off course. It was so besutiful, but hard also. We couldn't drive without hitting them. It was so hard to deal with.

I live in northeast Ohio, zone 6. My favorite pollinator plant is a butterfly bush. It blooms for months on end and I love the smell! I don’t think they’re native though, ‘cause a family member who has had multiple bushes for years noted that sometimes our winters appear to do them in. That said, they can still live for a number of years here.

Planting for butterflies; kudos you.

Meg is a wonderful presenter she has such a nice way about her !! I look forward to her videos and have learned a lot !

So delightful - and I learned a lot! Very helpful, especially since I'm planning to convert my front lawn into a pollinator garden this spring. I love all the great ideas and tips!

My favorite pollinator flowers are Zinnias! They come in basically any color and size and can brighten anyone’s day! Butterflies love them!

Love Meg! She’s interesting, informative, and love her story telling style.

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you ❤

That certification makes me just feel so warm inside😊😊😊😊😊

I love Nasturtiums; sow once and they come back time and again. Great guerilla seeds

Good job conveying your pollinator garden. It is so important to create a habitat for these precious little creatures. They are fun to watch and work hard in the garden to help making it a success. Thanks! I love witnessing the life cycle of butterflies!

My swallowtails love my container garden of parsley, petunia and phlox! Also cannot have enough echinacea in my garden. Butterflies love it and finches love the seeds. Bowie MD

Great video Meg! I have a native pollinator garden in Wellington county zone 5 Ontario Canada 🇨🇦! All the native pollinators you mentioned are great in my garden. I also love the activity around my Spotted Bee Balm and Anise Hyssop!

Meg is my favorite! I'm not far away in SC so I'm a little partial😁🩷

Planting native plants is the key to feeding native pollinators.

Always love watching Meg! 🎉

Thank you for putting out this video! Using your platform to promote natives is awesome

Wonderful information. Love the teaching about pollinators and specific flowers. Garden is beautiful.

Its Meg again! So good to see you over on EG again. Ya'll are killing it with the colabs....keep it up, we love it. Great informative video as always. Happy growing 💚

I love how comprehensive this video is!

I love Meg videos. She is amazing. Great tips, thank you 😍

I live in Western Montana and anise hyssop does really well here in pots. Meg, you did a great job!

I had swallowtail butterflies for the first time in my garden last year and they were all over my zinnia patch every single time!

She's so sweet and well spoken :) Lots of good information :)

You better keep having her back Kevin! 😊 Loved this video so much!

This was way more fascinating than I could ever imagine! I learned so much!!!

I was talking to my sister-in-law this morning about planting a pollinators garden this spring (we're both really excited for this project in March) and I had just gotten home only to find your notification covering 3 ery subject 😀 🙂 ❤ thank you 😊 🙏 ☺ both so much for this❤

I’m in zone 7 too, excited to see more about when you start sowing seeds and transplanting outside with a April last frost date

Really enjoyed the information about butterflies! I live in the same area and really focus on my pollinators as well. It's a joy!

I am in NC love to plant sunflowers and have beehives so typically my garden does well for pollination and vegetable production. My wife likes butterfly bushes so we have a couple of those that are typically covered in butterflies once they are in full bloom.

I'm in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last year I planted a few Dahlias, twyinning's smarty and my bumblebee's flocked to them! I saw a few butterflies as well. I wish I could post a picture!

You got a winner there, Kevin!

Great video idea! Getting your garden certified as a sanctuary would be cool!

Chaos gardener made me LOL - I can relate! As a senior living in a trailer in a 55+ community in Florida, I have precious little space, and can only garden in containers, but I get native milkweed through the Florida Native Plant Society, as well as other native plants for pollinators, and I am about to set up my birdbath, as it's already getting warm here. I was so excited last year when less than a week after I brought my newest milkweed home I saw two monarch caterpillars already chomping away - must have arrived with the plant - so I hastily and carefully repotted it into a larger pot and put it with last years plants, which were already blooming. Had Monarchs visiting soon!

Love, love love Meg. More of her please!!

Love this video. Cant wait to try my own pollinator garden ❤

Fantastic video! I love all the suggestions. I have seed for milkweed and Mexican sunflowers, I need to get those started. Thanks Meg!

Tulsi is fantastic for attracting pollinators

Great video. Very needed and helpful. Thanks!

The weirdest thing, I have catnip (not catmint or whatever that crap is in stores, the stuff you dig up from the fence row) growing in my garden for the cat, and last year when it bloomed, before everything else I ended up hosting baby hummingbirds. Of all the crap I plant from stores, which is basically all hybrid tea roses, the one thing that I plant for my cat benefited hummingbird offspring. Oddly enough on that same corner I have bird feeders (mostly for me but the cat don’t mind 😅) and the mess the birds make I almost always get a random volunteer sunflower, and the yellow goldfinches love it, which is why I put up bird feeders to begin with. It’s a win win win, I get the peace of mind, old chunky kitty’s happy, birds are content, even had a rabbit seek refuge under one of my roses….. which got ate by an owl……. And squirrels plant stuff in the pots on the patio. Best part is, I live in the city. With all the hustle of life, in a city, having squirrels, bunnies, hawks falcons, owls, hummingbirds, the run of mill birds, including the colorful ones, a cat, it’s nice to chill one a Sunday and enjoy the simple things in life.

My favorite perennial flowers from zone 4b in South Dakota are prairie dock, compass plants, prairie coneflowers, liatris, wild bergamot, twirling butterfly, echinacea, hyssop, asters, pasque flower, hoary vervain, and yarrow. These are native here and all do well in the dry prairie.

I wholeheartedly agree that Meg is awesome! Fabulous speaker and teacher! Your beauty just shines right through that camera! 🌻🌷🥦🥀🪴🌾🐞🦋🐝

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! ❤

Great reminders ahead of planning and planting!

Very Informative and interesting. I live in So. Cal. I planted Mexican Sunflowers last year, and loved it. I let the seeds fall to the ground in Fall, and now I have a lot popping up in April. The Holylhock does very well here too. The Passion Vine is spreading everywhere. Thanks for the information.

Love this video and Meg ♥️

Great video, Meg! I hope to make a wildflower garden on part of my property. Cheers 🎉

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you ❤ I hope you do as well!

Super helpful and lovely video.

Great informative video! I'll definitely be planting some pollinator plants for Spring! I love seeing butterflies flying around in my yard! 🦋🦋

Meg is awesome 💚

Loved this video!

I live in Michigan (Zone 6A) and in addition to tithonia, my pollinators love bee balm and borage. ❤️🦋🐝

I live in Australia I can only imagine how cool it would be to see a Hummingbird popping in your yard for a feed or drink, we do have many interesting birds but Hummingbirds……. WOW

Very informative and very well presented. I'm inspired!

I sure enjoyed watching im so glad that I ran across the channel

A big thank you, valuable help!!

Never knew Meg until know, love the way sistah talks about native plants 🧡 great host overall. Eric still my favourite though 😂❤

@meggrowsplants

3 ай бұрын

Thank you ❤ our native plants are so important!

I love flowers such as Echinacea, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, morning glories, roses, Dame's rockets, lilacs, red flowering quince, horse mint, Walker's low catmint, peppermint, prunella vulgaris aka heal all, oregano, sedums, rosemary, lavender fruit trees, etc. The annuals here are actually re-seeding annuals, and come back on their own. Some are shrubs or trees. I have a lot more things growing, but many of these seeds can be planted in fall or winter here in zone 6b southern Missouri. I am making my gardens bigger too.... I planted catnip this year also. And I have garden sage, red sage/salvia, and blue sages/salvias. I have planted milkweed, but so far I don't know if it will grow or not. :( Lots of things that I planted last year did not grow. Bummer. We saw a honeybee last week, but there were no flowers blooming that day. Today some of my daffodils opened up, and the red flowering quince are full of buds. I am STILL trying to get Hollyhocks to grow. Occasionally they grow for me, but mostly not. :(