Today’s photos come from Harriet Robinson in Otisfield, Maine. She is sharing pictures of a great garden that shows that gardens built with native plants for pollinators can also be incredibly beautiful.

I was at the Fort Williams Children’s Garden for a garden club tour on Sept 12. It is planted with mostly native perennials, shrubs, and trees. The flowers were stunning, and the pollinators were active. Several species of butterflies (monarchs and painted ladies among them) fluttered about and landed on flowers, and the bumblebees were busy. The managed wildflowers and nativars did not look a bit weedy and were visually stunning planted to contrast with each other.

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, Zones 3–8), echinacea (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3–9), hyssop (Agastache foeniculum, Zones 4–8), and goldenrod (Solidago sp.)

Helianthus (perennial sunflower) and other native flowers

Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum, Zones 4–8) and echinacea

Mountain mint and Monarda (bee balm)

A newly emerged monarch butterfly on hyssop

Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’ (Zones 3–8) highlighted by goldenrod

A play area with milkweed (Asclepias), Verbena hastata (Zones 3–8), lobelia (Lobelia cardinalis, Zones 3–9), and goldenrod

Smooth aster (Symphyotrichum laeve, Zones 3–8), hyssop, and echinacea

Sweetfern (Comptonia peregrina, Zones 2–6) in the foreground, with native shrubs and perennials

Wood aster (Eurybia divaricata, Zones 3–8) and bee balm

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