- Be Part of Something Great!

Explore these suggestions for plants you can cultivate in your New Jersey garden.  Then, collect the seeds and donate them to help us grow our seed exchange library!

These annual flower seeds are particularly attractive to bees and butterflies in New Jersey.

Cosmos: delicate, daisy-like

Marigolds: cheerful, orange and yellow

Salvia: especially the blue and purple varieties

Cleome: tall, showy with spikey flowers  

Nasturtiums:  edible: pop of color, fights insects

Zinnias:  all single flower types plus try PHS, Queeny Lemon Peach

Explore more about annual flowers that attract pollinators:

• http://www.gardennj.com/Finding%20us.htm
• https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/lantana-camara/
• https://www.gardenary.com/blrdeningog/easy-plants-that-attract-bees-and-butterflies-to-the-gar https://www.parkseed.com/sale-plants den 
• https://hucklebeefarms.com/blogs/help-the-pollinators/zinnias-helping-pollinators-with-a-burst-of-color-in-your-garden
• https://www.almanac.com/plant/nasturtiums 

New England Aster [Late Summer to Early Fall]

Buddleja (Butterfly Bush) [Mid Smmer to Early Fall]

Catmint (Nepeta) [Late Spring to Fall]

Coreopsis (lance leaf ) [Late Spring to Fall]

  Find out more about perennial seeds:

• Jesse-Connor-POLLINATOR-PLANT-LIST-January-2020 PDF (www.nj.gov)
• https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/symphyotrichum-novae-angliae· 
• https://www.plumlinenursery.com/post/native-alternatives-to-mid-century-garden‑plants#:~:text=Traditional%20Plant%3A%20Shasta%20Daisy%20and,spp.)%2C%20and%20Aster

Attract more of our NJ State Butterfly, the Black Swallowtail, to your backyard! Their caterpillars are herbivores and rely on plants from the carrot family (Apiaceae) as host plants. Plant these seeds to provide them with the food they need.

Parsley: curly or flat [70-90 days]

Dill [40-70 days]

Fennel: feathery foliage, anise-like flavor [90 days]

Carrots:   both wild and cultivated [60-80 days]

Queen Anne's Lace: wild carrot [2 years to flower (high difficulty!)]

Find out more about starting your herb garden from seed:

https://www.joyfulbutterfly.com/product/dill-anethum-graveolens/

Enjoy the sweet aroma and get rid of mosquitoes at the same time!

Ageratum [Easy to grow from seed - annual]

Citronella [Easy to grow from seed]

Lemon Balm [Easy to grow from seed]

Lemongrass [Requires constant moisture to sprout]

Find out more about repelling mosquitoes with your garden:

https://www.almanac.com/plants-repel-mosquitoes-and-insects

 As a THANK YOU for your seed donations to our spring seed library pilot program, 8,500 Creeping Thyme seeds will be shared with our GCM members. Watch for updates on future Seed and Plant workshops. Contact Shirley at the GCM Seed Group via our Contact Us page.