At last night’s Bee City meeting, Bill McClain brought in a “Bee Feed” seed packet he received from the Sierra Club with a seed list similar to this one from an online seed retailer:
“Chinese Forget-Me-Not, Purple Coneflower, California Poppy, Blue Flax, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Annual Baby’s Breath, Corn Poppy, Crimson Clover, Siberian Wallflower, Clasping Coneflower, Indian Blanket, Baby Blue-Eyes, China Aster, Plains Coreopsis, Sweet Alyssum, Lavender Hyssop, Bergamot, Globe Gilia, New England Aster.”
There are many plants listed that are native to our area BUT… He warned the group that these seed mixes may not be all what they claim to be. If you have received a free seed packet in the mail, or plan on purchasing a ‘Bee Feed’ or wildflower mix BEWARE, some of these plants may do more harm to our local environment than good. Sure, they are convenient but many of these seed mixes contain non-native plants that are absolutely no help to our region’s native pollinators. And some plants may even be INVASIVE to our area.
Always check what is in a seed mix and get your seed from a reputable source. If the seller does not provide a list of what is in the mix – beware! If you see ‘Chinese’ or ‘Siberian’ in the seed name, that sends up a red flag. There are many good resources to find a list of plants that are native to our area (see our Resource page). Click here to read a good article about the warning of these seed mixes.
PLEASE NOTE: if you received a Blackburn College seed packet at the Carlinville Rotary Club's Halloween Parade be assured the seeds contained in the packet were collected from the Mahan Native Pollinator Planting. Click here for a complete list of what may be contained in that packet.
