Let’s look at on of the many featured plants… Varileaf Phacelia (Phacelia heterophylla). This biennial/annual plant blooms from April to July and can be seeded in the fall or started in the spring or fall (after the last chance of frost). Some of its best characteristics include being both drought tolerant and shade tolerant!
It’s a great pollinator plant because it provides both nectar and pollen to its insect visitors. Common visitors include the obscure bumblebee, Edward’s long-horned bee, and the fuzzy-horned bumblebee. This native plant stands out by attracting a great abundance of pollinators.
Fun fact: Phacelia is also a larval host for 4 moth species!
This is part of a new series from the Garden Ecology Lab: our top picks of Oregon native plants for pollinators, based on Aaron Anderson’s 2017-2019 field trials of 23 Oregon native plants. We’ll feature one plant per week for 10 weeks… this is week 4!
Head over to the Garden Ecology Lab blog (https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/…/top-10-oregon-native…/) to read more about Varileaf Phacelia, and tune in next week to see another native plant top pick.
