Add some altitude to your garden with these pollinator-favorite tall perennial flowers! Choose from coneflower, blazing star, and more.
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Blue False Indigo
Baptisia australis and hybrids, Zones 3 to 9
Used by indigenous North Americans as a dye plant, this sun-loving prairie native delights with eye-catching, blue-toned foliage, lupine-like flowers, and decorative black seed pods. Averaging 4 feet tall, baptisia is drought-adapted once established and will live for decades. Flowers bloom in May and June in shades of blue, purple, pink, bronze, yellow, and white.
Why we love it: These tall perennial flowers support many pollinators, including bees, and they serve as a host plant for the wild indigo duskywing.
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Bluestar
Amsonia species and hybrids, Zones 3 to 9
These U.S. natives are popular for their early bloom and ease of care. Fine-textured foliage forms mounds 2 to 4 feet tall, topped with clouds of blue, star-shaped flowers in late spring. A. hubrichtii – hardy from Zones 5 to 9 – has airy foliage and a more upright habit. A. tabernaemontana, known for wider oval foliage, supports American carpenter bees and hummingbird moths. Both are deer- and rabbit-resistant. Bluestar may need support when grown in rich soil.
Why we love it: The foliage turns a delicious butterscotch hue in fall, especially on A. hubrichtii.
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Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea and hybrids, Zones 3 to 8
Among the showiest of American native flowers, coneflowers light up the summer border for months in a rainbow of colors. Adapted to many garden soils, they prefer full sun and average 3 to 4 feet tall. Leave spent seedheads up in the fall to feed the birds and for winter interest.
Why we love it: In addition to feeding bees and butterflies, the seeds feed songbirds in the fall and winter. Along with the species, E. purpurea, Mount Cuba Center voted ‘Fragrant Angel,’ several Sombrero series cultivars, and ‘Magnus’ among the best coneflower varieties for pollinators in recent trials.
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Joe Pye Weed
Eutrochium species and hybrids, Zones 3 to 8
With large clusters of deep pink blooms on stalks reaching 5 to 7 feet high, these are summer showstoppers. This tall perennial flower family is a magnet for numerous butterflies, from monarchs to swallowtails. E. maculatum, the most commonly available, prefers sun to part shade and even moisture. E. purpureum, called sweet Joe Pye weed is more shade- and moisture-tolerant, boasting a sweet vanilla scent on its paler pink flowers.
Why we love it: These long bloomers pump out the flowers from July through September.
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Tall Garden Phlox
Phlox paniculata hybrids, Zones 4 to 8
A summer garden classic, garden phlox‘s massive flower heads – made up of many small tubular florets – delight gardeners and pollinators, from bees and moths to hummingbirds. They grow best when planted in soil with consistent moisture. To avoid mildew, space your phlox plants out and allow for good air circulation.
Why we love it: Phlox flowers come in every color of the rainbow, and many are scented.
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Liatris/Blazing Star
Liatris species, Zones 3 to 9
Like fireworks, the hot pink or purple candles of liatris (common name blazing star) explode on the scene in July and August, rising above the grassy foliage. L. spicata is the most widely available species, ranging from 2 to 5 feet high, and the blossoms are long-lasting in arrangements.
Why we love it: Liatris as a group is popular with a wide range of pollinators, including monarchs, according to the Xerces Society, which suggests finding your local native species.
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Helenium/Sneezeweed
H. autumnale and hybrids, Zones 3 to 8
Helenium delivers welcome waves of sunset-colored flowers as summer is fading into autumn. Butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects flock to helenium to fuel up on abundant nectar before winter. Spanning from 2 to 5 feet tall, they come in a host of colors, preferring consistently moist soil with their faces in the sun. Despite the common name of sneezeweed, the plants won’t trigger your allergies.
Why we love it: The flowers flow down from the central seed cone, looking like flowing skirts.
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Black Cohosh
Actaea racemosa, Zones 4 to 9
A wonderful vertical accent for the shade garden, black cohosh can soar to 6 feet, bearing tall white spires in summer to early fall. Up close, the bottlebrush flowers look like a mid-century design of dots on branches. It also supports butterflies, including the Appalachian azure and bees.
Why we love it: Perfect as a follow-up to spring ephemerals and woodland flowers, black cohosh can handle lots of conditions, including some shade and even occasional flooding.
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Japanese Anemone
Eriocapitella x hybrida, Zones 4 to 8
These vigorous plants deliver beautiful white, pink and purple colored blossoms not only in the shade, but in the fall, reaching up to 4 feet tall. Also known as windflowers, Japanese anemones can spread consistently where happy but may need staking for support. The cultivar ‘Whirlwind’ has petals that look like they are fluttering in a breeze.
Why we love it: When summer perennials are spent, Japanese anemones are just getting started.
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Culver’s Root
Veronicastrum virginicum, Zones 3 to 8
In summer, elegant white to pinkish flower candelabras unfurl atop 5-foot tall perennial plants for a statuesque backdrop in sun or partial sun. (When grown in the shade, plants may require staking.) Happiest when grown in moist, well-draining soil, Culver’s root blooms from June through August.
Why we love it: If deer live nearby, this easy-care native plant should be safe from them.
Sources
- Missouri Botanical Garden, “Baptisia australis,”Amsonia tabernaemontana“
- Grow Native, “Native Plant Database: Garden Phlox“
- Wisconsin Horticulture Division of Extension, “Helenium“
