Plant This Native Flower In The Fall For Delicate Color And More Pollinators In Spring

While October might have you scrambling to figure out how to keep mums alive in your fall garden, it's also an important time to consider what to plant for more color and pollinators come springtime. Pollinators, like butterflies and bees, carry pollen from one flower to another to help with things like fertilization and seed development, essentially keeping the garden's ecosystem thriving. One way to attract and support pollinators is by choosing native plants and flowers for your garden. These occur naturally in a specific geographical area and provide food for larval stages of pollinators, which most non-native plants cannot do. A great choice of native flower to plant this fall is golden alexander.

Golden alexander (Zizia aurea) is a flowering perennial in the carrot family and is native to North America. The flowers might be small but their color is big, in pretty shades of yellow and gold. They tend to bloom in April and May; growing up to 2 feet tall. These exciting spring flowers attract butterflies and bees that are great for pollinating the garden. A fun fact about golden alexander is that their leaves are actually edible and can be eaten both raw or cooked. There are many gorgeous flowers you can plant in fall to kickstart a stunning spring garden, and golden alexander should definitely be one of them if you want to attract more pollinators.

Golden alexander is a hardy plant that thrives in USDA zones 3 through 8. They prefer full to partial sun but can tolerate a little bit of shade and grow well in moist, loamy soil. Seeds can be challenging to find in commercial stores but you can usually get them at nurseries, especially ones with native plants and flowers. If you can't find seeds, you can easily establish a transplant in the garden in spring or early summer, making sure to plant them at least 12 inches apart. If you do begin with seeds, planting them in fall is perfect because they need time for cold stratification in order to germinate — about 90 days.

Plant the seeds ¼ inch deep and water the roots and surrounding area thoroughly. Do so slowly, but make sure there is enough water to maintain a moist soil until the plant is established. Then cover the area with straw or mulch. Once established, you can back off watering and only do it when the soil is beginning to dry. Golden alexander is a self-seeding flower that effortlessly fills your yard with color – which means when it's fully grown and its seeds spill out onto the ground, they will essentially plant themselves and grow anew.