Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Over 40 Years of Growing Gardens and Gardeners
Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Fluffy, red-violet blooms atop 8-foot stalks draw bees and butterflies from mid-summer into fall. At home in wet meadows and freshwater marshes and along stream banks pretty much across the Mid-Atlantic Region, VNPS named New York Ironweed Wildflower of the Year in 1995.
Many of the wildflowers seen along local roadways or on day-trips to the beach or mountains (those yellow, orange, purple or pink blurs) can be viewed close-up in the Glencarlyn Library Community Garden in Arlington, VA.
One of the joys of summer is to watch butterflies flaunt their shapes and colors by flitting, floating and fluttering from flower to flower. Attracted to clustered or composite blooms that are bright, red, purple, blue, and yellow, they pick up and transport pollen on their legs and wings.
