Plant These 7 Self-Seeding, Native Flowers Once and Let Nature Do the Rest – They'll Feed Pollinators for Years

Self-seeding flowers can help take some of the effort out of developing and maintaining a pollinator garden packed with beneficial blooms. In August, you can add native plants to your beds that will happily self-seed and fill the space with wildlife-friendly flowers season after season.

Pollinator-friendly native plants like tickseed, coneflower, milkweed, bee balm, black-eyed Susan, blue vervain, and more can be planted or sown in late summer and early fall and act as a vital food source for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. If you leave flower heads over fall, they also act as food for birds and naturally spread around the garden.

Along with sowing bee-friendly wildflower seeds, like these at Amazon, adding native plants that will naturally self-seed helps seamlessly create a garden that will buzz with pollinators for years to come. Here are our picks for 7 native self-seeding flowers to plant in August that will fill flower beds and support wildlife.

Coreopsis

Coreopsis, known as tickseed, is a widespread native plant with over 100 species across North and South America. It produces open, bright daisy-like blooms that attract a variety of bees and butterflies throughout the season.

When you grow coreopsis, the plants readily self-seed around the garden if you leave spent flower heads on the plant. Not cutting back the old flowers also helps the plant spread and provides food for birds during late fall and winter.

Lanceleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) is a low-growing variety with bright yellow flowers. The versatile native wildflower can grow in meadows or dry, sunny sites, such as gravel gardens.

As with all tickseed, it performs best in a sunny spot with at least six hours of sunshine. It can tolerate partial shade in warmer US hardiness zones, but it won’t bloom as prolifically as in full sun.

You can get a live, pot-grown Lanceleaf Tickseed plant at Plant Addicts.

Coneflower

Coneflowers are one of the best perennials for pollinators. The low-maintenance native plant is found in open prairies or meadows across the central, eastern, and Midwest United States and is known for its backswept leaves around a central globe.

Coneflowers are great plants for pollinators, attracting different types of bees, many butterflies (including Monarch butterflies), and even the occasional hummingbird. You can grow coneflowers in flower beds or borders, or utilize them in wildflower meadows or prairie planting schemes, and they will readily self-seed.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a popular variety that grows 2-4 feet tall and 1-2 feet wide and dazzles with pink-purple blooms. This coneflower will produce viable seeds and identical plants if left to self-seed. This isn’t the case with hybrid coneflower varieties.

If you refrain from deadheading coneflowers, the seeds will feed birds and fall to the ground to sprout next year for new plants for free.

You can get a live Magnus Purple Coneflower at Nature Hills.

Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susan, or Rudbeckia, is a long-flowering perennial native to the central and eastern parts of North America that attracts many pollinators in summer and into fall.

If you grow black-eyed Susan in your garden, you will see many bees, butterflies, moths, and beneficial predators attracted to the nectar-rich flowers. These can be the classic bright yellow black-eyed Susan that may first spring to mind, but you can get Rudbeckia varieties in shades of copper and red.

Plant the perennial in a sunny spot with fertile, well-drained soil. If you have a heavier soil, add organic matter (you can get a bag of organic compost at The Home Depot for this), as black-eyed Susans dislike sitting in wet soil for long periods. Once established, they are drought-tolerant perennials that just need watering during extended dry periods.

You can get three live black-eyed Susan plants in four-inch pots at Amazon to add to your garden this month. Don’t cut back your black-eyed Susans until spring. This helps nature over winter and allows the plant to self-seed.

Milkweed

Milkweed is a specialist pollinator plant, not a weed as the name suggests. While you will attract lots of bees when you grow milkweed, the perennial is primarily a vital plant for Monarch butterflies. It is the host for Monarch caterpillars, the only plant they will eat.

Gardeners should grow milkweed for Monarch butterflies, as adult females actively seek the plants to lay their eggs on. As the Monarch population has hugely declined in recent years, the value of adding more plants for them in our gardens cannot be underestimated.

There are over 100 species of this native wildflower that can grow in hardiness zones 3-9. If you want to pick one for your garden, the best choices are common, butterfly, or swamp milkweed. You can get two live swamp milkweed plants at Amazon to add to your yard.

Alternatively, you can plant milkweed seeds in fall (get common milkweed seeds at Amazon). This gives the seeds a natural period of cold stratification to sprout in spring.

Gardeners should plant milkweed in a sunny spot in the garden. Milkweed will self-seed around the garden, so consider how it may spread when picking a planting site. For example, planting it in the corner rather than the middle of a flower bed can limit the potential spread.

Bee Balm

Bee balm, also known as monarda or bergamot, makes a great planting choice for a drought-tolerant pollinator garden. Once established, the perennial will tolerate dry spells and attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to its tufts of vivid tubular flowers.

Depending on the variety of monarda, these blooms can be purple, pink, red, or white, adding a spot of bright color to beds or containers in summer. The plants will self-seed when left to their own devices, though you can deadhead bee balm to maintain some control over the spread.

When you grow bee balm, it is advisable to add organic matter to the planting site. It helps both retain moisture and boost drainage. As bee balm is temperamental and doesn’t like it too dry or too wet, this creates a nice happy medium for them to thrive in. It also wants a sunny spot.

This live wild bergamot plant at Plant Addicts has lavender-colored flowers and is renowned for attracting pollinators. It is low-maintenance and will form clumps four feet high and wide.

Solidago

Goldenrod, or Solidago, not only offers golden flower spikes that add height and drama to a garden, but also attracts pollinators later in the season. It ranks among the best fall-blooming native plants you can plant to support native bees, butterflies, and moths. Indeed, Monarch butterflies see it as a valuable food for their annual migration.

The plant has tall stems reaching two to six feet, depending on the variety, topped with flower spikes that come in different shades of yellow. To grow goldenrod, you need a spot with six hours of sunlight a day and well-draining soil. Mature plants are drought-tolerant and don’t need fertilizing; too much goodness can mean lots of growth and flopping stems.

This Fireworks Goldenrod plant at Burpee reaches three feet tall and will have cascading golden blooms from late summer right through to the frosts. Goldenrod plants self-seed, and it often means you need to divide clumps every few years to avoid congestion and keep them performing.

Blue Vervain

Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) is a native variety of verbena that typically grows in moist areas across North America. The plant produces tall stems reaching five feet, topped with groups of purple flower spikes.

It blooms in mid-to-late summer and attracts bees, butterflies, moths, and more. The form of blue vervain can add valuable structure to flower beds, or you can grow the verbena in containers. Its natural liking for wet ground also makes it a versatile choice for rain gardens or planting around garden ponds and streams.

When you grow verbena, the plants do like to self-seed. Gardeners can deadhead verbena to restrict the spread, but do leave some spent flower heads to feed through late fall. The plant should spread some seeds, but without spreading aggressively.

This Blue Vervain plant at Plant Addicts is hardy in zones 3-9 and grows 4-6 feet tall and spreads 2-3 feet wide.

What to Shop

If you want to turn part of your yard into a pollinator pit stop, using native plants is a perfect place to start. To create a vibrant wildlife garden, it is also good practice to have a diverse mix of plants – including colors, shapes, and seasonality – and to provide water and habitat for visiting pollinators.

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