“UNOFFICIAL” POLLINATOR PLANT OF THE YEAR
Working on a pollinator garden? These plants are a must!
Votes are in! Mealy Blue Sage wins 2023 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year
Votes are in for the 2023 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year and Mealy Blue Sage snags the title with 67% of the vote. "It’s been a favorite of mine for years," said Lee Marlowe, president of San Antonio's Native Plant Society, which partners with the Texas Butterfly Ranch on executing the poll. Citing it "one of the best all-around native plants for landscapes in our area" Marlowe noted how bumblebees and bees tend to congregate on the flowers, while [...]
Gayfeather snags 2022 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year, but might be hard to find
The votes are in for the 2022 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year and the winner is...Gayfeather, commonly known as Liatris or Blazing Star. This year marked the second attempt by this distinctive purple blooming wildflower to claim the title and so it did with more than double the votes of its challenger Engelmann’s daisy. The final tally of 192 votes showed Gayfeather 131, Engelmann's daisy, 61. The poll launched in mid January and closed February 16. Monarch butterfly [...]
2021 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year: Frostweed
Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, won the most votes in 2021's Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year poll. This year was Frostweed's second attempt at claiming the title and so it did, besting its competitor Gayfeather, Liatris mucronata, 79 to 64. The poll, which launched in mid January and closed at the end of the month, drew 143 votes from citizen gardeners. VOTE FOR THE 2022 UNOFFICIAL POLLINATOR PLANT OF THE YEAR HERE "Frostweed is deserving of this title because it is [...]
2020 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year: Gregg’s mistflower
The votes are in for 2020's Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year, and the winner is...Gregg's mistflower, Conoclinium greggii. The Texas native perennial with fluffy lavender blooms carried our informal poll when pitted against Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, its lesser known pollinator plant colleague. The final tally as of 10 PM Feb. 1? Gregg's mistflower 127, Frostweed 105. "Many people still don’t know about Gregg's mistflower," said Lee Marlowe, sustainable landscape ecologist at the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) and 2020 president of San [...]
2019 Unofficial Pollinator Plant of the Year: Cowpen Daisy
Attention citizen gardeners! We need your help in creating demand for an unsung hero of the pollinator garden, Cowpen Daisy, Verbesina encelioides. To get this plant some well-deserved attention, we're naming it "San Antonio's unofficial pollinator plant of the year" for 2019. Local nurseries and growers often cite a lack of demand as the reason many native plants are commercially unavailable. Let's create the demand. Monarch butterfly on Cowpen Daisy in downtown San Antonio pollinator garden. Photo by Monika [...]