Come check out the OSU Pollinator Research garden located at the Fairfield County Ag Center located at 831 College Avenue in Fairfield County. The Garden is located on the East side of the parking lit. The plants are labeled and you can easily see lots of pollinator activity throughout the planting.
Some of my personal favorites in the garden are the Purple Betony – Purple betony is an herbaceous perennial wildflower in the Lamiaceae (mint) family. Its native habitat includes meadows, gardens, parks, pastures, hedge banks, and open forest woodlands. Grows in matted clumps it slowly reaches 1 to 2 feet in height and width.
Plant in full sun to parital shade in well drained moist neutral to acidic soils. Once established, this plant is resistant to drought and spreads very little.
Lesser Calamint – A low-growing garden plant, lesser calamint is a tough, drought tolerant plant that blooms most of the summer with a cloud of white to lavender flowers over mats of gray-green foliage. Calamints are cousins to the herbal mints and are very fragrant but do not spread as aggressively.
Goldenrod ‘Fireworks’ is a cultivar of the native herbaceous perennial S. rugosa in the Asteraceae (daisy) family. Plants form a bushy, upright clump reaching 2 to 3 feet tall and wide of dark-green leaves and grow best in moist, well-drained soil, but are somewhat tolerant of dry and wet soils.
In late summer the blooms appear along 18-inch arching stems held above the foliage to provide a stunning display of yellow flowers that resemble fireworks, hence the cultivar name. ‘Fireworks’ is not super aggressive and will not try to take over your garden as it spreads slowly by rhizomes. Look for some of these great plants in your favorite garden store today and be intentional about planting a few pollinator plants in your home landscape!