Justifiably renowned as one of the most incredible pollinator magnets of any North American plant, this Midwestern and Southeastern native perennial was once mass-cultivated specifically for high volume honey production, with seed even being advertised in early 1900s American beekeeping journals under the moniker “Golden Honey Plant.” One Kentucky beekeeper in the 1920s claimed to have produced 2,000 pounds of honey from 22 hives foraging on this plant (probably a reasonable claim depending on the size of the wingstem population). Wingstem can be unapologetically aggressive where it is happy, and is particularly adapted to warm floodplain soils where it can establish dense thickets (in its native range these thickets tend to spring up in and around cottonwoods, elms, and boxelder). It prefers damp, highly fertile soils and the slightest bit of shade. The rounded crowns of disk flowers abound with every kind of flower visitor – every species of bumble bee within flying distance, scores of small sweat bees (green metallic and otherwise), flocks of big showy butterflies, small specks of creatures (ants and chalcid wasps), big spider-hunting sphecid wasps, soldier beetles of every kind – and huge volumes of honey bees. Other interesting small creatures – red aphids (the kind found on Silphiums) – sometimes line the pleasingly odd 4 to 6-foot tall namesake “winged” stems (round but with thin, flattened appendages of tissue that run parallel to the stem). (Interestingly, the seeds themselves also bear winged appendages). And, to top things off, it’s a caterpillar host plant for some micro-moths (Cremastobomycia ambrosiaella), and for the bordered patch butterfly (Chlosyne lacinia). If you are in search of an unparalleled garden beacon for pollinators, an oddly interesting plant, something strange in form, slightly secretive, and formerly common but poorly understood even among the botanically and horticulturally educated, this is the plant for you. This plant has many more secrets to reveal. We are certain of that. 50 to 100 Seeds (0.5 grams).
