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lucas_tx_gw

Fast, easy native nectar plant for North Texas

lucas_tx_gw
13 years ago

Hello,

I'm trying to get an NWF Community Habitat certification project going for my little town of Lucas, TX. One of the hard things about these kinds of projects is fund raising so we are looking at trying a small plant sale as a dual purpose project.

Longterm, selling things like milkweed woud be really cool, but I think it can be harder to transplant so I'm not sure it's the best choice for beginners. Anyone have experience along those lines? I know tropical is really easy to grow from seed, but we'd really like to stick to native plants.

A lot of this will be aimed at schools and I think for the first year, the kids will want instant gratification. This project isn't aimed specifically at monarchs, but at all wildlife.

So I'm looking for suggestions for a fast growing early blooming native that could make an immediate impact. We're in zone 7b, blackland prairie. The lots are all 1+ acres (no sewer system :-) so something largish would be OK. I'm assuming it would be an annual but maybe not? Conoclinium greggii (Gregg's mistflower) is a butterfly magnet in my yard, but I'm not sure it would bloom as early. I've never started it from seed, does anyone have any comment on doing that?

A sgguestion that doesn't require stratification would be great, but if it does, I could try to get some and start right away and hopefully have enough time.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Teri

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