CAA Pollinator Garden

By collaborating on this Pollinator Garden, the Community Action Agency and the Civic Garden Center aspire to build a lasting people-plant connection at the CAA headquarters and expose a new generation to the beauty and value of native plants and conservation. As environmental justice becomes a larger part of the conversation around poverty and inequality, projects like this represent a small-scale localized approach to repairing urban environments and transforming our relationships with nature.

The native plants in this garden are:

Aronia melanocarpa ‘Low Scape Mound’ (Low Scape Mound Chokeberry)

This hardy 2-foot shrub supports birds and early pollinators. It bears fragrant white flowers in spring and glossy red leaves in fall, along with small black berries that can be made into delicious jams and pies or left for the birds to enjoy. ‘Low Scape Mound’ is a groundcover variety that grows well in almost any conditions.

Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo)

Growing quickly each spring into a 3-by-3-foot mound, this perennial attracts pollinators with showy blue panicles of long-lasting flowers. After the flowers fade, fat bean-like seed pods develop and persist through the winter. Blue False Indigo’s deep taproot makes it extremely sturdy and drought tolerant. Deer and rabbits generally avoid it.

Andropogon gerardii (Big Bluestem)

This dramatic ornamental grass can reach up to 7 feet tall. Its blue stems turn burgundy in the fall and provide visual interests through the winter. Big Bluestem hosts multiple caterpillar species and provides habitat and nesting material to birds. It is highly drought tolerant and, like most grasses, deer resistant.

Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed)

This clumping, mounded grass, which reaches around 3 feet tall, hosts multiple caterpillar species and provides garden interest in summer and fall. It makes a lovely garden border and grows quickly and easily under a variety of conditions.

Eupatorium purpureum (Sweet Joe Pye Weed)

Reaching around 6 feet tall, this summer-blooming perennial attracts pollinators to its large mauve colored flowers. Its upright stems provide structure to the garden in winter. Joe Pye Weed can be cut back in early summer to create a bushier, shorter plant and grows well in clay soils and dry conditions.

Pycnanthemum muticum (Short-toothed Mountain Mint)

Forming a 2-by-2-foot clump, this perennial attracts a high number of pollinators with dense white flowers. When crushed, Mountain Mint emits a sweet minty aroma, and its leaves can also be used in tea. It is deer resistant, highly adaptable, and grows quickly to form dramatic swaths of silvery-green foliage

Physocarpus opulifolius (Common Ninebark)

Growing to around 6 feet tall and wide, this deciduous shrub has beautiful white flowers in the spring that attract pollinators into the garden. Its exfoliating bark and arching form provide winter interest. Common Ninebark is deer resistant and grows well in tough clay soils.

Rudbeckia fulgida (Black-eyed Susan)

This popular perennial flower supports pollinators with its long-lasting and plentiful yellow flowers. It grows to around 2 feet high and spreads throughout the garden, filling in gaps. It does well in dry conditions and, although it prefers sunny spots, can sometimes grow in dappled shade.

Viburnum nudum ‘Brandywine’ (Brandywine Possumhaw Viburnum)

This deciduous shrub supports pollinators with its showy spring flowers and is the host plant for the Spring Azure Butterfly. Brandywine is a compact variety, only growing to about 5 feet tall and wide, and it does best in moist, fertile soil. Possumhaw Viburnum has deep red fall color and persistent blue berries.