SQWIB
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Native Plant ID help needed Phila., PA

I am trying to add more native plants to my landscape and need help identifying this plant.
I believe it is a Yarrow, I was hoping to add this to my garden to draw in more Lacewings.

Closest resemblance I can find to this plant is at From Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center,
Achillea millefolium
Achillea millefolium L.
Common yarrow, Western yarrow, Yarrow, Milfoil



These pics were taken by the Pennypack Environmental Center.

Image

Image

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rainbowgardener
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It would help if you show us some leaves also!

told2b
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Both Queen Anne's Lace (a/k/a Wild Carrot) and Hemlock look surprisingly similar to Yarrow.

SQWIB
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That's the problem I have no more pics, if I had a pic of the leaves I would be able to ID it.

SQWIB
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I believe you are correct it does look more like a Queen Anne's Lace.
Would these be good for Lacewings?

SQWIB
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It's definitely not hemlock you can tell by the stem in the last picture.

ButterflyLady29
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Queen Anne's lace. The first picture shows the little red spot in the middle which is typical of QAL.

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rainbowgardener
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I was thinking Q A Lace as well, but wanted confirmation.

And incidentally, although QAL pops up as a volunteer everywhere, and has been in this country for a pretty long time, it is not native anywhere in the US or Canada. It is considered an exotic invasive.

" Ecology: Queen Anne’s Lace is an invader of disturbed sites. It matures very quickly and outcompetes native species. It is adaptable to a variety of soil conditions and prefers sun to partial shade. This invasive plant has been planted by humans for medicinal purposes and is often found on roadsides and old fields. Queen Anne’s Lace outcompetes native plants in wildlflower meadows and prairie restoration sites." https://www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/howto/ ... enann.html

Milkweed would be better

ButterflyLady29
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It's a prohibited noxious weed here. But I love the flowers and the Black Swallowtail caterpillars love the leaves. The plants I have to pull get fed to our pet rabbits which also love it.

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After reading some of the comments, do you guys think Yarrow would be a better choice?

I want to plant a lot of wildflowers around my back pond. I'll start another post on that later asking for advice, I still need to take notes on the amount of sun but it's hard to determine so early in the season.



This is an old pic, the tree was replaced with a Camellia, but this gives you an idea
Here's where the wildflowers will go, up along the fence.
Image

Newer photo showing Camellia
Image

imafan26
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Yarrow is good for beneficial insects. I had it in my yard but I found it to be very invasive and hard to get rid of. Instead of Queen Ann's lace you could plant some carrots and let them bloom in the second year. They are related. QAL attracts all kinds of beneficials from bees, parasitic wasps, lacewings and hover flies.

Even if you select natives be aware that most of these plants whether native or not have the potential to be invasive. Natives survive because they are able to reproduce and survive well in local conditions. While I do like to grow natives and I have a couple of them in my yard, I also want plants that can be controlled. In my region, there are more aliens in home gardens than natives. Some of the aliens from other places have escaped and thrived to the point of threatening the native species while others cannot reproduce well since we do not have the pollinators for them, so they are actually easier to control.

In general what you are looking for will be plants with flowers that have nectar and or/pollen. The best flowers will have a long bloom season and you want a variety of different plants so you can have something in bloom all year.

Some of the vegetables you grow also benefit beneficials. Fennel has long blooming flowers that attracts aphids but the aphids will attract ladybugs (the aphids don't really bother a healthy fennel), parasitic wasps, hover flies, lacewings, and bees. I replace fennel every year and collect the seeds for the kitchen so they don't spread. Dill, a cousin of fennel, only does well in summer for me and only lasts a short time. Basil, green onions, marjoram, mints, oregano, cilantro, sage and other herbs that are allowed to bloom attract bees and other beneficials. Citrus and avocado make some of the best tasting honey. Corn tassels are a good pollen source for bees, as is buckwheat when it is used as a crop cover. Carrots, if left a second year will burst into bloom and since it is related to Queen Anne's lace; it looks like it too.

Honey bees have short tongues and like ray and flat flowers like composites. Sunflowers, daisies, calendula, aster, borage, single marigolds, black eyed susans, and Mexican sunflowers are examples of ray flowers that are good for bees. Tubular flowers attract butterflies and longer tongued pollinators. When buying seeds, be careful since some of the new hybrids may be seedless and pollinless as well like some of the newer sunflowers. Long blooming fragrant annuals also attract pollinators like sweet allyssum, yarrow (very invasive in my yard), cuphea (may be invasive, but not in my yard), roses (don't spray them when they are in bloom), geraniums, salvia, liatris, verbena (is invasive in my yard).

Many of the vines will attract pollinators but vines require a strong trellis and a lot of management or they are almost always invasive. Honeysuckle, wisteria, passion fruit, and bleeding heart (invasive in my area, but may not be in yours) do have a long season of bloom and provide nectar and pollen for pollinators. Don't overlook flowering trees, they also provide nectar and pollen for pollinators and seeds for birds.

Besides providing flowers, you need to provide habitat. Shrubs, trees, hollow logs, artificial hives, bare ground for ground nesting bees, stone and rock outcrops, toad houses ( A 4 inch pvc pipe makes a nice home), or bat houses. The more diverse the landscape the more beneficials you will attract.

Pollinator.org and the Xerces society have guides for planting natives to attract pollinators. Most states have land grant Universities that offer local publications on a variety of agriculture related subjects.
https://pollinator.org/guides#zip
https://extension.psu.edu/plants/gardeni ... ial-garden
https://www.xerces.org/wp-content/upload ... st_web.pdf

SQWIB
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imafan26 wrote:Yarrow is good for beneficial insects. I had it in my yard but I found it to be very invasive and hard to get rid of. Instead of Queen Ann's lace you could plant some carrots and let them bloom in the second year. They are related. QAL attracts all kinds of beneficials from bees, parasitic wasps, lacewings and hover flies.

Taking notes, thank you
So I can plant carrots and just leave them in, pretty cool.

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applestar
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Golden Alexanders are native. Yellow same type flowers but in spring. I think good for bringing in beneficials and feeding existing ones early on in the season. They do spread pretty relentlessly in moist areas but you can limit them by deadheading the blossoms.

I would definitely recommend swamp milkweed by the pond.... oops, I should just wait to find your new thread to expand on the lit.... :()

Don't miss Bowman's Hill Wildflower Reserve native plant sale in spring.

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Wow Bowmans Hill, I haven't been around that area in over 10 years. Well maybe on the Bike Path by the canal

I do have Swamp Milkweed Cinderella and Common Milkweed on order.

I'll try to get a thread going next week and add this info. Thanks Guys

ButterflyLady29
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The amount of sun is very important. If that is a deep shade area it requires a whole different set of plants. What is on the other side of the fence? How much room do you have between the fence and pond rocks?

I can envision some evening primrose or forget-me-nots in hypertuffa pots or troughs on the rocks or among the rocks around the pond. Can you post a picture looking at the other corner?

You have a lovely set-up. I would add some water lilies of some type, because I love water lilies.

Susan W
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So many factors and (fun) challenges!
What's your sun/shade for the spot? And how large an area. Both asked above.

Work with your givens, that being pond, fence, and shrub (camellia not native but lovely). Looks to be limited in space and sun, also the camellia (or any shrub) will be sucking up water and nutrients. Hard to get into and work, so want easy, take care of themselves type plants.

Flowering for more than a few weeks at a time is hard there. Most perennials flower perhaps 6 weeks. Think of foliage plus some flowers. Yarrow and/or Queen Anne;s Lace both sunnier and drier, think meadow. Coneflower has a fairly long bloom time, and my experience can take some shade, not picky about watering, spreads some. aka easy. Another I like for a whatever space is anise hyssop. Self seeds some, not obnoxious, and blooms much of the summer to the favor of pollinators.

If this is afternoon shade check out Solomons Seal and also some native ferns. Both would be pretty with the water feature.

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applestar
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Bumping as reminder about the native plant sale later in spring. :D



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