Brittlebank’s a Bloomin’
Bees, Butterflies and Hummingbirds alike are busy on the banks of the Ashley these days. Many of the shrubs and perennials at Brittlebank are in their full summer glory with their blooms attracting all of the pollinators. Here are some of the plants at Brittlebank Park that are multi-seasonal, tough, rugged and beautiful. Enjoy them at the Park and get some ideas for your own yard and garden.
Above on is our Beautyberry in flower- the stage that it is in now (early Summer). The flowers are small and sort of hidden under the leaves. The pollinators can find them, but you don’t notice them from a distance.
Below is the main reason we grow this plant. This is the product of the inconspicuous flowers. The plant is covered with these purple/magenta clusters of berries in the late summer and into fall. Something to look forward to!
This is where most of the activity is happening. The intense cherry red color of this Salvia gives it it’s name. It attracts all the bees and is irresistible to hummingbirds.
Pronounced “ee-no-THEER-a” this beautiful yellow, groundcover-type flower is blooming all along the edges of the bed. As it sprawls and crawls its’ soft, delicate flowers and foliage, it serves as a perfect compliment to the masses of the tougher, more rugged Yuccas planted nearby.
If you look close you can see an abundance of fine filaments or “hairs” along the sharp, sword-like leaves of this Yucca. No flowers yet, but the plant gets topped with spikes of white, bell-shaped flowers in Summer.
The newest addition to our Brittlebank garden, these were planted 2 weeks ago by a group of Park Angels. We did our necessary summer pruning to control their growth and to facilitate planting. As you can see, they are flushing back out and starting to produce bright yellow miniature sunflowers. This is another plant that sprawls out, covers the ground and takes up a lot of space. But this plant’s worth the space; the flowers won’t stop till a heavy frost!