Flowers and Plants
Gardening Guides
Central Plains Gardening
Plant Rocky Mountain Beeplant for Late-Summer Color and Pollinator Buzz
Add pizazz to your garden with this native annual. Its vivid pink flower spikes are magnets for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds
Gardeners prize annual plants for their ability to add instant color, bloom copiously and perk up tired beds — and we’re always looking for something new. Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata), a native annual wildflower, does all of that and more: Its height helps it mix well with tall ornamental grasses and sunflowers, it blooms in late summer to fall, it is drought-tolerant and it appeals to a charmingly diverse array of fluttering, hovering, buzzing and singing pollinators and songbirds.
This annual wildflower is named for its attractiveness to native bees and European honeybees, but butterflies, especially swallowtails, along with hovering sphinx moths and other pollinators, are drawn to the nectar-rich flowers too. Its seeds attract flocks of chattering house finches and siskins.
This annual wildflower is named for its attractiveness to native bees and European honeybees, but butterflies, especially swallowtails, along with hovering sphinx moths and other pollinators, are drawn to the nectar-rich flowers too. Its seeds attract flocks of chattering house finches and siskins.
Benefits and tolerances: Tolerates summer heat and some drought; thrives in well-drained and clay soils; deer- and rabbit-resistant; offers copious nectar for hummingbirds, butterflies, hovering moths, bees and other insects — including lacewings and other garden beneficials, plus seeds for small songbirds
Seasonal interest: Palmate leaves (three oval leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand) appear in late spring, growing on a tall stalk tinged with the same pink or lavender as the tightly clustered flower spikes; flowers open in summer; caper-like seedpods dangle below the flower clusters, turning from green to purple and then splitting and releasing the seeds.
When to plant: Fall in the northern half of its range; spring in the southern half
Seasonal interest: Palmate leaves (three oval leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand) appear in late spring, growing on a tall stalk tinged with the same pink or lavender as the tightly clustered flower spikes; flowers open in summer; caper-like seedpods dangle below the flower clusters, turning from green to purple and then splitting and releasing the seeds.
When to plant: Fall in the northern half of its range; spring in the southern half
A house finch perches on Rocky Mountain beeplant.
Distinguishing traits. Rocky Mountain beeplant is a tall, single-stemmed annual with many side branches, each terminating in a tight cluster of small pink buds. Each flower is held on a long stalk and has five tiny petals and exerted stamens reaching far beyond the flower. The pods are long and narrow, and dangle on their stalks. When crushed, the foliage has a skunky smell, hence the other common name, skunkweed.
Hummingbirds zip in to sip nectar from Rocky Mountain beeplant’s spectacular small pink flower spikes from July through frost. Butterflies, especially swallowtails, along with hovering sphinx moths and other pollinators, are drawn to the flowers as well. The seeds are a favorite of house finches, siskins and goldfinches. The green pods can be pickled like capers, to which they’re related. Historic accounts say that early Spanish-American settlers ground the seeds for a kind of flour to make tortillas.
Distinguishing traits. Rocky Mountain beeplant is a tall, single-stemmed annual with many side branches, each terminating in a tight cluster of small pink buds. Each flower is held on a long stalk and has five tiny petals and exerted stamens reaching far beyond the flower. The pods are long and narrow, and dangle on their stalks. When crushed, the foliage has a skunky smell, hence the other common name, skunkweed.
Hummingbirds zip in to sip nectar from Rocky Mountain beeplant’s spectacular small pink flower spikes from July through frost. Butterflies, especially swallowtails, along with hovering sphinx moths and other pollinators, are drawn to the flowers as well. The seeds are a favorite of house finches, siskins and goldfinches. The green pods can be pickled like capers, to which they’re related. Historic accounts say that early Spanish-American settlers ground the seeds for a kind of flour to make tortillas.
How to use it. Plant Rocky Mountain beeplant in full sun at the back of a border, where it can grow tall and bushy, or in clumps in a meadow or a prairie-style garden. Its pink to red-purple flowers really stand out in swaths and large patches. Some people don’t like the skunky smell of the crushed foliage, so avoid planting it near paths or walkways.
Pair Rocky Mountain beeplant with annual sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) or perennial Maximilian sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) for a tall display of summer blooms that are also natural seed feeders for goldfinches, house finches and siskins. It also complements mat-forming Santa Fe phlox (Phlox nana) as well as clumps of blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) and fall asters.
Pair Rocky Mountain beeplant with annual sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) or perennial Maximilian sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) for a tall display of summer blooms that are also natural seed feeders for goldfinches, house finches and siskins. It also complements mat-forming Santa Fe phlox (Phlox nana) as well as clumps of blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) and fall asters.
Planting notes. Sow seeds for this annual in lightly raked bare soil in a prairie or xeriscape garden, where it can sprout and form a patch of vivid pink. Deer and rabbits avoid this plant.
After the first hard frost, cut the plants to the ground, and replant any remaining seeds wherever you want beeplant to brighten your summer garden the following year.
Tip: Beeplants sold in nurseries are usually a cultivar of a nonnative species and don’t seem to appeal to pollinators or hummingbirds as much as Rocky Mountain beeplant, perhaps because the flowers don’t produce as much nectar.
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After the first hard frost, cut the plants to the ground, and replant any remaining seeds wherever you want beeplant to brighten your summer garden the following year.
Tip: Beeplants sold in nurseries are usually a cultivar of a nonnative species and don’t seem to appeal to pollinators or hummingbirds as much as Rocky Mountain beeplant, perhaps because the flowers don’t produce as much nectar.
More
See more Great Design Plants
15 Native Flowers That Attract Butterflies
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Common names: Rocky Mountain beeplant, skunkweed
Origin: Native from North Dakota south to Oklahoma and west to eastern Washington and California, with scattered pockets in the upper Midwest from Ohio and Michigan to Missouri and Minnesota
Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 40 degrees Celsius (USDA zones 3 to 8; find your zone)
Water requirement: Prefers medium to dry soil
Light requirement: Full sun
Mature size: 3 to 4 feet tall and wide