Basket of Gold

Flowers are not a primary interest of mine. That being said, I *am* interested in flowers that complement a garden - particularly ones that are highly rated in terms of attracting beneficial insects. Last season I found a great PDF that lists various plants that attract beneficial insects; and I started planting 'Basket of Gold' in the rock wall between two garden segments. Besides being beautiful, the main benefit of this one is that it blooms in early May, attracting bees and ladybugs at the earliest opportunity.

Another good link: Flowers for Benefical Insects

Sunflowers

We transplanted the sunflower starts today! The primary focus of the garden is food, but...

"We want to plant flowers for the bees because they help the vegetables grow"

"Why do they help the vegetables grow?"

"They land on all the flowers and take care of the flowers, and the flowers turn into vegetables."

"Oh!" (Happy smile)

Once before I tried using the word 'pollination' in an explanation, but that didn't really sink in. The fact that bees sting, but they are still considered "Good Guys" was a source of confusion. The bees-take-care-of-flowers logic seemed to get traction. I figure it's a good enough explanation. It forms the linkage between bees, flowers, and us; which is really the important part of the concept. A 5 year old doesn't care about the technical 'how' of pollination. It's too abstract. 5 year olds are only concerned with 'why'.

We definitely need more flowers in and around the garden....

I found a list of edible flowers that looks very promising. One flower in particular looks very promising: nasturtium. They come in all manner of colors, there are climbing varieties, and best of all... the flowers go great in salads and can even be pickled! Other fun facts about them are that humming birds like them and they tend to attract aphids away from the veggies. Looking for seeds, I found yet another online seed company that is really great- Renee's Garden. (Her selection of nasturtium seeds in particular has no peer.) I'm starting to think that all the vertical space we have can be fully incorporated into the garden.