Late Summer Plants
for Honey Bees
Allyson Shabel
Urban Regional Extension Agent
Pollinator Plant Solutions
• Long term – establish trees
• Two years out – establish pollinator meadow
• Short term (this year) – Annual plants
Trees
Sourwood
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Oxydendrum arboreum
Prefers acidic soils
Full sun – part shade
Very drought tolerant
Flowers in July
Very hard to transplant,
use container plants
Shrubs
Monk’s Pepper / Chaste Tree
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Can tolerate alkaline soils
Grows to 15 ft tall
Purple or white flowers 6”long
Flowers June-July
Chaste Tree
www.ag.auburn.edu
Summer Sweet
Clethra alnifolia
White or pink blooms
July–August flowers
Prefers moist/wet soil
Sun – part shade
www.missouri botanicalgarden.org
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Butterfly Bush
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Blooms June – Sept.
Cut off spent flowers
Does not like wet soils
Full sun
Can grow to 10’X8’
www.missouribotanicalgarden.org
Glossy Abelia
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Abelia grandiflora
A ‘last resort’ plant
Blooms June – frost
Dry, sunny sites
5’x5’
Perennials
&
Wildflowers
Criteria for Selection
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Spreads quickly and/or easily
Low maintenance
Drought tolerant
At least a moderate tolerance of poor soils
Easy to grow
Easily available as seed or plants
Blooms late summer/fall
Verbena bonariensis
www.ag.auburn.edu
• Blooms from late spring up to late fall
• Very easy to grow
from seed
• 3 - 4 feet tall
• Perennial
Milkweed
• Asclepias sp.
• Swamp (A. incarnata) or Common (A. syriaca)
• Blooms June – August (Common blooms
first)
• Spread quickly by rhizomes
• Also, Tropical milkweed (A. currivassica)
• Does well in poor soils
• Aphids love milkweed
www.southeastgarden.com
www.wildflowerfarm.com
Milkweed
Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Blooms from mid–June until September
Very drought tolerant wildflower
Spreads slowly, but once
established it is very hardy
www.wildflowerfarm.com
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Ironweed
www.wildflowerfarms.com
• Vernonia fasciculata
• Very tough, drought tolerant
• 4-5 ft tall, with very large
bloom heads
• Blooms August-Sept
• Seeds are ‘fluffy’ and
start easily
Joe Pye Weed
Eupatorium maculatum
Blooms August-Sept
Very large bloom heads
Tolerant of wet soils
‘Fluffy’ seeds are easy to
propagate
• 5 ft tall
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www.finegardening.com
Swamp Sunflower
Helianthus angustifolius
Blooms September – Frost
7 ft tall
Loaded with blooms
Starts easily from seed
www.ag.auburn.edu
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Annuals
Annual Sunflowers
• Must be seeded out every year.
• Blooms July-Sept
• Flowers come in many sizes,
small flowers bloom for
longer timeframe
• About 50-80 days to flower
• Plant dwarf varieties or
shelter from strong winds
Scarlet Sage Salvia
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Salvia coccinea
Re-seeds every year
No maintenance
Up to 24” tall
Partridge Pea
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Cassia fasciculata
Does well in poor, dry soil
Bean family – fixes nitrogen
Annual, but reseeds itself
Seed in March
Buckwheat
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Summer annual
Plant seed April 15 – June 1
Depth ¼ - ½” deep
Can flower as soon as 4 weeks after planting
Does well in poor soil
Prefers well drained soil
Not drought tolerant
Buckwheat
Plant Sources
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Flag plants and collect seed later
Divide existing plants
Wildflowerfarm.com
Seedland.com