Happy National Plant a Flower Day!

Every once in a while, a “National whatever day” comes along that feels like it was made just for farm life. National Plant a Flower Day is definitely one of those days.

If you needed a reason to get your hands a little dirty today, today is the reason!

Plant a flower.

That is all it takes to make a real difference for the world right outside your door.

Flowers Are More Important Than We Realize

When most people think about flowers, they think about beauty or a lovely scent. A colorful garden. A vase on the kitchen table. Something to look at while you sip coffee in the morning.

And yes, flowers absolutely bring beauty into our lives.

But flowers also do something much bigger than you think. They feed the tiny workers that keep our ecosystems running.

Bees, butterflies, and many other pollinators rely on flowers for nectar and pollen. Without those pollinators moving from bloom to bloom, many of the foods we enjoy simply would not exist. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds all depend on pollination.

On the farm, we see this connection every single day. When pollinators are active, the garden thrives. When they are scarce, production and harvest drop.

The more flowers you plant, the more pollinators you attract. And the more pollinators you have, the healthier your entire garden becomes.

The Best Flowers to Plant

The truth is that pollinators are not picky.

If you plant flowers, they will come. It’s the pollen and nectar they are after, and flowers are just the ticket to that food.

Zinnias are wonderful because they bloom for months and attract butterflies and bees constantly. Sunflowers provide both nectar and pollen and also feed birds later in the season. Cosmos are light, airy, and absolutely covered in bees and butterflies when they bloom.

And then of course, there is milkweed…one of our favorite flowers.

Why We Love Milkweed So Much

If there is one flower we could encourage everyone to plant today, it would be milkweed.

As an official Monarch Waystation, supporting monarch butterflies is something that is very close to our hearts here at Hickman Hollow Farms. Monarch populations have declined significantly over the years, and one of the biggest reasons is the loss of milkweed across the country.

Monarch butterflies rely on milkweed for their entire life cycle. It is the only plant where they will lay their eggs, and it is the only plant their caterpillars can eat.

There are so many different varieties of milkweed!

Without milkweed, monarch butterflies cannot survive.

The good news is that helping them is incredibly simple. Planting even a single milkweed plant in your garden, yard, or flower bed can provide an important stop along their migration journey. Every patch of milkweed creates another safe place for monarchs to rest, reproduce, and continue their incredible multi-generational migration across North America.

This is exactly why we are planting so much milkweed here on the farm (over 200 seeds are currently in our ground and growing). Our goal is to create large butterfly habitats filled with milkweed and other pollinator-friendly plants so monarchs and other beneficial insects have a place to thrive.

If you really want to celebrate National Plant a Flower Day with us, planting a milkweed plant (or two) is one of the most powerful things you can do. And, if you can’t find a milkweed plant in your local nursery, grab some seeds and get to planting. It’s an easy plant to grow from seed. I promise you…you won’t be disappointed.

It Is Not Just Monarchs

While monarchs may get most of the attention, they are far from the only butterflies we see on the farm.

Throughout the growing season, we see a variety of swallowtails, skippers, and many other butterfly species visiting our flowers. Bees of every size and color buzz between blooms all day long. In fact, if you want help identifying butterflies in your garden, just click here for a handy butterfly identification chart for butterflies you can find right here in South Carolina.

Watching them work is one of the most amazing joys of farm life.

Flowers do not just create beauty. They create life.

Flowers Help Your Food Grow Too

One of the beautiful side effects of planting more flowers is that your vegetable garden benefits as well.

Pollinators do not just visit flowers. Once they are in the area, they move from plant to plant, including your vegetables. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and many other crops rely on pollinators to produce strong yields.

More pollinators mean better pollination.

Better pollination means more food.

So planting flowers does not just help butterflies and bees. It helps your garden become more productive, too.

A Small Action That Matters

It can feel like nature’s problems are too big for any one person to change. But sometimes the smallest actions really do add up.

Planting a few flowers in your yard, along your fence line, or even in a small container on your porch creates another food source for pollinators.

One flower patch becomes two. Two become ten. And suddenly, an entire neighborhood becomes a place where pollinators can survive and thrive (or you buy a farm to build a flower farm!).

Plant a Flower Today

If you celebrate National Plant a Flower Day in only one way today, let it be this.

Plant something.

Zinnias. Sunflowers. Cosmos. Milkweed. Wildflowers. Whatever you have.

The bees will find it. The butterflies will thank you. And your garden will be better for it.

And if you want to see what a pollinator paradise looks like, come visit us this summer at Hickman Hollow Farms. Our milkweed patches and butterfly habitats will be buzzing with life, and we cannot wait to share that beauty with you.

Until then, go plant a flower.