VitalBeeBuds provides native, pollinator-friendly plants.
During the warmer months, Lorraine Fitzhugh’s Gardnerville property is bursting with life. Raised beds, hoop houses, tomato cages, and fences keep produce safe from wildlife, while indigenous grasses, flowers, and shrubs attract vital native pollinators. A nearby energy-efficient greenhouse, which uses the soil underneath the greenhouse as thermal mass to regulate the internal temperature, allows Fitzhugh to grow year-round. It also provided the space to turn her passion for propagating native, pollinator-friendly plants into a buzzing small business.
Now in its fourth season, Fitzhugh’s cottage nursery, VitalBeeBuds, aims to raise and sell hearty, pollinator-attracting plants found throughout the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada while educating the public on their importance.
Nurturing Native Species
With the initial goal of growing more nutrient-dense food on her property, Fitzhugh dove into the principles of permaculture, and along the way she discovered the need for nectar- and pollen-rich plants for the insect life providing pollination and pest control in her garden.
“The mission for VitalBeeBuds is to support the pollinator populations that have declined, so native plants (preferably), as many as we can get into the ground, benefit those populations the most,” explains Fitzhugh, who taught math for 19 years at Douglas High School in Minden.
Now Fitzhugh grows and sells a range of plants, mostly native to the region, that are adapted to thrive in the harsh conditions of our high desert and mountainous environments.
“We’re in a very difficult place to grow,” Fitzhugh says. “Native plants thrive on neglect just because it’s such a harsh environment, so that’s awesome for a water-wise and low-maintenance garden.”
Fitzhugh encourages people to reconsider their monocrop, water-loving lawns in favor of “rewilding” these spaces with biodiverse, drought-tolerant pollinator gardens. A covering of rocks or mulch also helps retain water in the soil around the plants.
“We want diversity — as many different plants [as possible] that these pollinators are looking for. There’s what’s called a specialist pollinator that has just one plant that its life source needs. For example, the monarch butterfly — its life source is the showy milkweed in our area,” Fitzhugh notes. “Then there are generalists that go to many different sources. We want as many as we can get to support many different species.”
Fall is the ideal time to plant perennials, according to Fitzhugh. Months of high temperatures have warmed the soil and will give the plants a head start on growing their roots over winter and spring.
The vibrant purple Rocky Mountain penstemon and the ombre yellow, orange, and red Gaillardia are favorites of Fitzhugh. Though native plants are preferred, long bloomers such as lamb’s ear, geranium Rozanne, and sunflowers are top rated when it comes to attracting pollinators, she adds.
VitalBeeBuds sells plants at farmers’ markets across the region (follow the business on Instagram at Vitalbeebuds to see where Fitzhugh will be each week) or purchase them online at Vitalbeebuds.com.
VitalBeeBuds’ Favorite Native Plants
PERENNIAL FORBS
Sierra Nevada
Arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata)
Rydberg’s penstemon (Penstemon rydbergii)
Silver lupine (Lupinus albifrons)
Great Basin
Brown’s peony (Paeonia brownii)
Firecracker penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)
Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
Narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
Palmer’s penstemon (Penstemon palmeri)
Rocky Mountain penstemon (Penstemon strictus)
Sulfur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum)
GRASSES
Great Basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus)
Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis)
Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides)
Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda)
