Summer arrived early in the region and at the West Virginia Botanic Garden on Tyrone Road in Morgantown. The early heat and warm storms are driving the development of flowers and nature.
The garden and horticultural crew have been planting, weeding and planting some more to get the annual beds set for the summer season. This year, we have started a record number of plants in pots, and the results are beginning to show.
A new development at the WVBG is a refresh and expansion of the flower beds around the Butterfly Garden. This includes a significant planting of sunflowers, Helianthus annuus and a member of the Asteraceae family. And, since these sunflowers were started in pots, they are already coming into bloom.
The sunflowers will share the reinvigorated Butterfly Garden area with wide beds of zinnias (genus Zinnia and also an aster) and a newly planted pollinator bed. The new pollinator bed was developed last season and that effort will pay off this year as it is about to head into its first full bloom.
In the Yagle Garden, other additions are in bloom. This includes our expanding collection of dahlias and tithonia sunflowers, both Central American in origin and also members of the aster family. The dahlias range in type from “dinner plate” to “pompom” to “cactus’ and are blooming below the Education Building. The tithonia are smaller sunflowers with lovely orange petals and will bloom throughout the summer.
As you walk through the Yagle Garden, you cannot miss the fennel that has established itself. On a recent morning walk, I noticed the fennel provided a home for a large instar caterpillar of the black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes. These large butterflies grace the Garden through the summer and forever will be a good reason to let the fennel reign.
So, come for a walk at the WVBG, see what you can find, and become a member today at wvbg.org. See you at the garden.
