u/LobeliaTheCardinalis

#1. Straight species, regular old variety. Pollinators love this hardy, reliable perennial.

#2. Magnus. I can't tell an obvious difference between this and the original, however I find it slightly less hardy.

#3. Cheyenne Spirit is a multicolored red and orange (sometimes white and yellow) variety that stays small, comes back well after winter and attracts a lot of pollinators.

#4. Green Twister is a weird looking plant. Despite this, pollinators like it almost as much as the regular ones. It survives winter well, but does not bloom reliably every year, sometimes only putting out leaves.

#5. White Swan, an old fashioned sport of the straight species and identical in habit. It attracts a lot of butterflies, and fewer bees.

#6. Pow Wow White, a miniature white cultivar. It does not get large and sometimes dies out over winter. Butterflies still like it.

#7. Sombrero Granada Gold. I only see small solitary bees, like the cellophane bee, visit yellow coneflowers. They are considerably less visited than any white, red, or purple varieties in my garden and do not survive winter well. I often grow these as more of an annual, in a container, for one summer only.

#8. Sunseekers rainbow. I have not yet seen any pollinator on this variety. I haven't had any long enough to see how they overwinter. They are very small and short.

#9. Hot Papaya, a double cultivar. Completely useless to pollinators, and I'm not sure it produces any nectar at all. Gets tall and floppy. Looks weird, but I like it for its own sake. Grows best in a container. Does not always survive winter. Don't get this one for pollinators, only if you like it.

Supposed to both be Michigan Lily, but they look quite different. Red one was grown from seed and orange from a starter plant.

Narrow garden border growing in gravel and baked by all day sun. Purple and pale purple coneflower, false sunflower, purple prairie clover, black eyed susan, gray headed coneflower, hoary vervain, and yarrow pictured.

Cardinal Flower performs well in large containers and makes a stunning showpiece with a long bloom season (July-September.) Though it can also grow well in the ground, my container plants often grow the largest.

I don't see people growing Queen of the Prairie very often, but it is a very unique flower and very popular with pollinators like this two-spotted longhorn bee.

Michigan Lily! Blooming for the first time in year 3 from seed.

Red admiral on Rudbeckia hirta and purple coneflower

It's a hot one today. Another pool party.

9 of my coneflower varieties! Ranked in order of how many bees and butterflies I see on them.

Big or small, we all love our salad!

My native wildflowers on the last day of June.

Sunflowers volunteered in the driveway this year and have bloomed with no attention growing out of cement.

Handfed java rice finch thinks he is people.

Azureus and Southern Variabilis

Parrots on the playground!

A plumhead and a 'pinhead' share a bite to eat at the millet bar.

Part time houseplant with a bonus little friend.

My pink parakeets!

Two of my senior finches, an English zebra and a society. The zebra finch lost her mate of many years recently, and this society finch (one of five) is trying to make her feel like she is still part of the flock.

Help! A tennis ball with a bad hair day has been seeing going for a swim!

He has a mullet!