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I often am asked why is growing native plants so important, aren't all flowering plants good for pollinators? The answer is , well yes, all flowering plants offer some food sources for pollinators, but it's a little more nuanced than that.
Take the humble wood violet. This little beauty will cover a shaded area fairly rapidly offering a pretty ground cover. They are host plants to Fritillary butterflies and caterpillars and to several species of moths. Our cultivated pansies and violas while beautiful, can't fulfill that need. There are some who might categorize wild violets as weeds. Yes, they will wander into your lawn, but they mow easily and hold nutrients in the soil, and they're low maintenance requiring nothing more than leaf mulch from the trees they grow under (saves watering, and raking!) |
Large leafed violet (viola incognita)
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