Andrea Luchini, Horticulturalist for Hildene, and I have been exchanging delightful emails and chance meetings to discuss their efforts to enhance pollinator habitat in the extensive landscapes of The Lincoln Family Home in Manchester, Vermont. Here is an excerpt and photo from a recent exchange:
"We purchased plants from you 2 years ago for a specific pollinator bed and that was really nice this summer, so we are going to extend that with mostly the same plants. (I’ve attached a photo of it)... We loved the Pycnanthemum tenuifolium, which was a new one for me. It was pretty and always covered in a variety of bees and wasps. Both Monarda punctata and Monarda fistulosa seemed to be popular with the bees too so we’ll do more of those for sure. And then milkweeds, Echinacea, Agastache, New England aster, Liatris, Penstemon, Veronicastrum… maybe ironweed. That didn’t seem popular with bees but later in the fall, the butterflies (esp. Monarchs) really liked it.... We’re trying to sell plants in 4” pots, through our store... Am I missing any that you are really liking?"