Pollinator Petal Patch | Various Species
Provide refuge for pollinators!
Why do flowers come in so many colours? One theory is that the colours attract pollinators. But insects, including solitary bees, honey bees, butterflies, wasps, and flies, don't see colour the same way we do. Their compound eyes can detect most of the colours we can't but they also see UV light, invisible to humans. To their eyes, every beautiful bloom is a veritable bullseye, a combination of visible and UV light patterns that guide them toward sustaining nectar, thus continuing the cycle of life.
Includes New England Aster, Plains Coreopsis, Penstemon, Indian Blanket, Evening Primrose, Wild Bergamot, Milkweed, and Ohio Spiderwort.
500 seeds sow a 3'x10' garden plot.
For the best mix, direct sow in fall. Can also be direct sown in early spring around last frost date. Broadcast evenly into a well-prepared, weed-free bed. Packet covers an area of approximately 30' square in size. Rake in lightly, and keep watered until germination. When seedlings set true leaves, thin to about 12-18" apart. This mix contains a combination of perennials and self-sowing annuals. Some varieties will bloom now; the full mix will appear in the second year.
Days to Germination 5-25 days
Days to Maturity 75-365 days
Planting Depth 0-¼"
Spacing in Row 12"
Spacing Between Rows 18"
Height at Maturity 10-24"
Width at Maturity 12"
Sun Preference Full Sun
Artwork by Bri Barton. Bri is an artist, witch, plant grower, and educator. She uses paint, ink, shadows, and light to create art that is collaborative, participatory, and informative, like this pollinator colouring page. The insects are colouring in the flowers one by one as they touch them.
About Hudson Valley Seed Company
They are a values-driven seed company that practices and celebrates responsible seed production and stewardship. Hudson Valley are best known for their beautiful artist-design seed packs (Art Packs) that appeal to gardeners, gift buyers, and lovers of art and nature.
These Art Packs, most fundamentally, tell stories. Hudson Valley challenges artists to convey in a manner that is fully their own, the history and meaning of the seed variety contained in each pack. These stories were once integral to traditional societies-stories of seeds were often origin stories for entire communities and peoples, and the lore and beliefs that accumulated around seed varieties reflected the nearly familial way in which gardeners and farmers regarded their crops. Our society is, by and large, no longer connected to plants this way. But we like to think these Art Packs help to stitch our fragmented world back together: useful seeds, evocative art, both equally valuable to our experience of being human.