Are Lawn "Daisies" Good or Bad? Meet the Fleabanes!

👀👀👀👀 Check out the Backyard Ecology field guide, books, apps, and equipment recommendation page here: www.backyardecology.net/recom... 👀👀👀👀
🌸🌸🌸🌸 Learn about another underappreciated group of native plants, the violets in this video: • 6 Reasons Why You Shou... 🌸🌸🌸🌸
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Fleabanes, the Erigeron species, are a widespread genus of plants that belong to the aster family. There are several species of fleabane found in eastern North America and these pioneer species are common in disturbed areas. Fleabanes are caterpillar host plants for many species including the northern metalmark butterfly. The blooms are attractive to a wide variety of smaller native bees, honeybees, hoverflies, and smaller butterflies. They are also important browse plants for mammals like deer and rabbits, and the insects they attract help feed a wide assortment of song and game birds. Fleabanes may be common, but they are a vitally important piece in the native plant communities they are grow in.
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Chapters:
0:00 What Are Those White Daisy Like Flowers in My Lawn?
0:31 Fleabanes, the Erigeron Species, Asteraceae, Fleabanes Aren’t Daisies but Are Related to Them
1:18 Fleabanes, the Erigeron Species, Number of Species, Distribution in North America and the World
1:50 How Fleabane Got Its Name, Used as Flea and Insect Repellant, Medicinal Uses, Use in Exorcisms, Did it Actually Work For Anything It Was Used For?
2:44 Fleabanes, the Erigeron Species, Pollinator and Wildlife Use, Host Plant for Northern Metalmark, How Birds Use Fleabane, Browse Plant, Predatory Insects and Spiders
4:26 Fleabanes, the Erigeron Species, Diversity of Species, Annual, Biennial, and Perennial, How Fleabanes are Identified
5:24 Introducing the Backyard Ecology Field Guide, Book, App, and Equipment Recommendation Page!
6:20 Is Fleabane, the Erigeron Species, a Good Choice for Your Property?
7:48 Another Underrated Native Plant- the Native Violets

[@BackyardEcology]

👀👀👀👀 Check out the Backyard Ecology field guide, books, apps, and equipment recommendation page here: www.backyardecology.net/recommendations/ 👀👀👀👀 🌸🌸🌸🌸 Learn about another underappreciated group of native plants, the violets in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZCxnol6p6aXi7c 🌸🌸🌸🌸

[@AmandaJuneHagarty]

I wouldn't sell the insect deterring powers of fleabane short so quickly. If they attract beneficial insects that will have an indirect effect on pests. For example the flea beetle is killed by parasitic wasps attracted by the flower. The reasons why our ancestors thought certain things about certain plants is not always obvious or in a straight line to our modern simplified interpretations.

[@anitabyrne4814]

Are wasps the next Yosemite wolf? I've heard plant dealers refer to wasps with the euphemistic marketing phrase, "beneficial insects." In a few years could they be saying, "Attracts wasps like ants to watermelon!"?? -because wasps will have gone the way of the once-despised bee? We can hope.

[@paulinemccullen4195]

@@anitabyrne4814 Awful bee culling going on in New Zealand. coming to a state near you.

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

No wonder my chickens like to hang out near all the fleabane.

[@fenrisgrim]

Love fleabane. I always try to mow around it when it shows up in my yard.

[@JoseMartinez-df2db]

It popped up in my mom’s garden out of no where. I haven’t seen it grow anywhere near near her place and yet it is growing with her echinaceas. I didn’t pull it out when I saw so many pollinators on it so I kept it. It grew back this year! I’m happy with it.

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice! It probably found that disturbed garden soil to its liking.

[@KimblesTheBrave]

I noticed and ID'd these in my garden last year and was really curious about them, and discouraged by how little information there is available about these kinds of common volunteer plants. This video is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! I also think they're quite pretty so I decided to keep them anyway, hehe.

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks! Glad you liked the video! I am trying to cover some of the more common, less appreciated native plants along with the flashier, better known species.

[@andrewwilson2301]

Last year I tried No mow May and loved it so much that I only mowed once, right before the snows came back to Vermont. I love the fleabane so much. Flowers all Summer! And the native bees love it! Where I live I see no European bees, so encouraging the native bees is quite important! Thanks for the video!

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice!

[@anitabyrne4814]

I put this beloved pioneering plant in my mental list alongside partridge pea, sunflower, and black-eyed Susan. They protect and improve disturbed soils like a bandage, but then fade away if they become unnecessary (due to stronger plants that have moved in).

[@BackyardEcology]

Yes! They are very important early succession plants. Those early plant communities are vital to many ground nesting birds like quail and turkeys as it is perfect for the poults to forage and move through.

[@thereseboogades8498]

Oooh, Partridge Pea. Nic!

[@anitabyrne4814]

Isnt it true that disturbed soil is a habitat, just as wetland​s, prairies and forests are habitats? It's good to match our plants with their own habitats. @@BackyardEcology

[@BackyardEcology]

@@anitabyrne4814 Yes, although disturbance encompasses a wide range of things - soil disturbance, fire, heavy grazing pressure - and they all tend to favor a certain group of plants. I always try to match the conditions of a site to the plants going into it. Don't fight nature.

[@johncarter7284]

My father used to call these cow pasture daisies, he transferred several clumps of them from my aunts dairy farm in the 60's to the suburban area we lived that was in a slightly cooler zone and they have flourished, covering the entire neighborhood. I don't actively encourage their growth but I do avoid mowing them when they are in large patches, they serve as his legacy and a reminder of his love of nature.

[@Lou_Mansfield]

I found out that I have Philadelphia fleabane on my lawn and an adjacent garden bed. So glad it supports up to 20 butterfly and moths species in my area! I'm going to transplant and grow more of these

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice! They should do well for you!

[@karenholt9744]

Cool that you know the variety! Sounds posh- haha

[@Lou_Mansfield]

@@karenholt9744 I cheated... I use apps like PlantNet or PictureThis to identify plants

[@Firstfalconfree]

I know their proper name, but my kids call them Ditch Daisies, and I love it.

[@BackyardEcology]

It fits!

[@braukorpshomebrew6039]

My goal is to never mow again, so I welcome these lil guys. I have a ton of the purple varieties in my lawn, with some of the white ones popping up here and there

[@NotGoddess]

Demon Slayer reference! I just took an annual fleabane out of an area -- it came in with my fox sedge and thought I'd planted it as first. But it was in an area where I couldn't let it run wild. But if it pops up in the prairie strip I'll let it duke it out with the other natives.

[@BackyardEcology]

You got it! Fleabane is one of those plants that is great in a wilder area, but not so great in a planned bed. Where we live we can just kind of let it go crazy, but I'm not sure that would fly a few miles down the road in the city limits.

[@williamsporing1500]

Fleabane makes great tea

[@user-rk3xk3sd2w]

Was just wondering about these yesterday, was debating tearing them out, I’ll leave them now

[@LostInThisGardenofLife]

I have a neighbor that has so much growing in their lawn and they mow around it, it’s wonderful. The pollinators will thank you.

[@bjb7587]

Good decision, because, in my experience, you can't get rid of it if you want to.

[@greensage395]

The stranger that keeps showing up in my yard is Scarlet Pimpernel! I never see it at my neighbors or anywhere else in my area of Las Cruces, NM. ...very odd, it was in one patch, then suddenly it is everywhere!

[@joannc147]

🤣 that ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ was also a great black and white film from the ‘40s or ‘50s!

[@awildapproach]

One of my favorite groups of volunteer native plants!

[@BackyardEcology]

Mine too!

[@PatrickGoesNative]

Go fleabane! A fleabane appreciation video is perfect. What other native plant appreciation videos can be made? BES, Butterweed, Hackberry trees....

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks! I have done a hackberry video, and mention black eyed susans in several. A Packera video is in the works!

[@jamesshawcross3656]

Every time a new plant pops up in my yard and I take notice of it, you upload a video about it!

[@kathyschwable1298]

I have a huge stand of fleabane!!! I love them!!!

[@BackyardEcology]

Awesome!

[@Tybold63]

Interesting, we call members of Erigeron "Binka" in Sweden with different "first name" and i find them quite beautiful.

[@BackyardEcology]

Cool! They are good looking flowers.

[@darrellwilliams5223]

Had alot of questions about fleabane. You just answered them. Going to let mine grow

[@BackyardEcology]

They are great natives if they are growing where they can be allowed to just do their thing. Glad you found the video helpful.

[@andrewj5998]

We call them "cemetery daisies" because they resemble daisies and tend to grow in old poorly tended cemeteries in our area. Nice to have the actual name for them.

[@cynthiacollins2668]

🤣

[@foxgloved8922]

Erigeron glaucus aka seaside daisy is my local native fleabane. So gorgeous (light purple!) and really easy to propagate by cutting. We have quite a few non native fleabanes too. All of them take the California dry heat really well for better or for worse.

[@BackyardEcology]

Most of our fleabanes here in the east are white to pinkish. There are some absolutely beautiful yellow and purple flowered species out west. You guys have a lot more Erigeron species diversity in the west too.

[@melodeeruley3809]

I have fleabane all over my backyard.

[@blackburned]

So timely for me! My husband and I have been participating in No Mow May (and April) for the pollinators and I identified multiple fleabanes in our yard using my PictureThis photo ID app. I love natives and Asteraceae so will definitely be moving them to a garden bed. May make one for them and any companion plants they might like.

[@t-34mediumtank16]

Just in time for early summer!

[@TheSuburbanGardenista]

Love your videos! Thanks for all the great info!! 💚

[@BackyardEcology]

Thank you! Glad you like them!

[@michaelcourtney2754]

I never noticed the lack until looking at this video, but I can't recall seeing this stuff here in New Orleans. I grew up in Baton Rouge and it was everywhere. I'll be on the lookout.

[@BackyardEcology]

Interesting. Might have something to do with the soils in the area.

[@ConnorSinclairCavin]

Its so fun to hear about all of these, makes me want to look into similar plants over here in western WA haha. Sadly, getting that slayer’s wisteria is very hard to do… darn demons refuse to leave and none of them are adorable shape shifters either…

[@macylouwho1187]

I’m sorry, I thought you said that wisteria WAS a demon, which is correct. I stupidly bought one when I was younger and put it next to a really tall heavy duty vintage flag pole-the kind they don’t make anymore. The demon that is wisteria climbed the pole clear to the very top, launched off the top to reach out for a neighboring crimson maple tree top in order to possess it with it’s demon self, and then strangled the heavy duty flag pole out and bent it over, effectively ruining it to the point that we had to cut the whole thing down lest the killer vine take over and also strangle out the maple tree. Now we routinely fight its far reaching branches and thrown out lead vines running across the ground trying to take over more of the garden. It gets a strong cut back every fall in order to keep it from taking over everything. Pretty sure I would need a young priest and an old priest to root this evil completely out of my yard at this point 😂

[@BackyardEcology]

Wow! Wisteria can be a handful. They grow fast and the Asian species are problem invasives in much of the eastern U.S. It is amazing how much mass some vines can have - that is crazy about the flagpole! I always recommend that all aggressive vines get cut back hard every fall to help keep them in check.

[@AgnesC1111]

I remember delivering to an address that had one woven and twisted into a tall bush. I've played with mimosa trees, weaving and pruning them.

[@ladygreenflame]

I love fleabane. We have several species here in eastern NC. One of them last severals months and has beautiful white flowers.

[@BackyardEcology]

Some of them do have an incredibly long bloom period!

[@ThreeRunHomer]

I mow around the fleabane that pops up in my yard. It does turn quite pink when the blooms go over.

[@melissaegbertson9100]

Thanks for the great information! This is really helpful! Maybe someday you could talk about Virginia creeper? Good , bad, if good, suggestions for how to best incorporate them into our back yards?

[@BackyardEcology]

There are more native vine videos in the works!

[@joannc147]

Ah, good question! I’m on this NC ppty 12 years….saw one or two the first couple of years. Now it’s growing in way too many places! 🤣. I once let a vine grow up onto my porch…..then up a pillar….then onto the porch ceiling. Totally cool effect for Halloween visitors!

[@LostInThisGardenofLife]

I don’t care what they are, they’re pretty. 😅

[@karenholt9744]

Great timing! I thought I had fleabane. I've let some stay in my flowerbed for awhile. I have some of the pinkish ones as well as white. I will be checking out your recommended materials, too! Thanks!!

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice! The white and the pink are likely the same species - we have plants that have both white and pink flowers on them. Hope you find the recommendations helpful!

[@loriedmundson782]

Omg! Love, love your channel!❤❤❤

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks so much 😊

[@RevLetaLee]

Great info.

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks for watching!

[@johnford7847]

That list of recommended field guides is much appreciated! Thank you.

[@BackyardEcology]

Glad it was helpful!

[@thereseboogades8498]

Funny! Thanks for the great info. I have a similar looking flower, purchased/marked as a plantain family hybrid in a fancy plant store. Are they related? I love how Fleabane provides a bug smorgasbord for predatory insects, birds & animals. Greetings from Virginia Beach, Virginia where I garden along a salt marsh 😊

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks! Fleabanes and plantain are in different families. Plantains aren't really known for their showy flowers so I'm not sure on that one. Could be something from the order which the plantain family is in as it does include some plants with showy flowers.

[@thereseboogades8498]

Thanks for your reply

[@PlantNative]

One of my favs…tiniest of pollinators on them.

[@BackyardEcology]

Yes! Tons of tiny gnat sized bees!

[@christopherlaws3077]

Great video.

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks!

[@user-zc9ce6dd2v]

I just LOVE daisy fleabane! The name is sweet &so is the flower!

[@barbarawaldorf330]

I just had a Fleabane grow in a spot full of weeds. I did not know it's name.

[@watermelonlalala]

Thank you! I have these scattered all around, not in a big patch. Kind of too bad they don't have a household use.

[@suzannedavidson6292]

watermelonlalala I am sure I read somewhere that you can eat the flowers. I have lots growing in my lawn and I have nibbled the flowers and I am still alive. A great garnish sprinkled on a salad with some yellow dandelion flowers which are also edible when young. Lots of them growing here in Oz.

[@SCPorchGardner]

Love your videos brother! Have you done a video on red american mulberry? The fruit is ripening right now. One of my favorite trees, with my favorite fruit and doesn't get near the attention it used to.

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks! Glad you are enjoying the videos! I haven't made a video on red mulberry yet but it is one of the trees I am planning to get to in the future.

[@mint_quiche]

Help with identifying specific species would be great!

[@BackyardEcology]

That may be a video in the future. It will take quite awhile to put together.

[@Hobbietone]

Another great vid!!! Will it do well if transplanted? I have some clearings in my woods and would like to get some of this started for the deer.

[@BackyardEcology]

If the clearings are from logging or TSI I doubt you would need to plant it. Fleabane pops up everywhere in our woods we open a spot up. It can be transplanted easily though.

[@Hobbietone]

@@BackyardEcology Excellent!

[@Devo491]

These pesky things are called 'seaside daisies' in Australia. The one thing they have going for them is the non-stop flowering, year-round multiplication.

[@joannc147]

I find these wildflowers to be absolutely charming! I have many native on my ppty. There are some nasties that “gotta go” including smilax and this horrid plant that looks like a marigold seedling then grows up to produce wimpy yellow daisy-like flowers followed by treacherous barbed seeds that stick to EVERYTHING. Due to health issues last year, I was unable to mow my small patch of “lawn” (also known as the horror identified as Bermuda Grass). I had a few hundred dog fennel plants growing very happily in the sun. My hens delight in running thru these as they get some added protection from hawks. There’s no benefit to these mildly toxic weeds….er….native plants altho I am hoping they have displaced the aforementioned Bermuda grass. I am also smitten with bluets that grow in our front yards in this neighborhood. LOVE your full-on-nerd presentation! New subscriber here. ❤️

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks for the sub! While smilax isn't something I would want close to a house, it is actually a great plant for wildlife - deer love to browse it and birds eat the berries. It gets a pass when its out in the back 40. Bermuda grass is a tough one to get rid of! I would take any natives winning against it as a positive thing!

[@susanfit47]

I think I have some in my yard

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice! There is good possibility of it. Fleabane loves yards.

[@melissaegbertson9100]

I wonder if it would be possible to include pictures of the young plants before they flower- I think the heads are droopy until the buds open? It would help to tell them apart from less desired plants as we are cleaning up our gardens in the spring!

[@BackyardEcology]

I will include some when I do a species video on fleabane.

[@davehendricks4824]

Got plenty in my yard. The flowers are white and fade to light pink when older. Do you have elencampane in your area?

[@BackyardEcology]

No elecampane here yet. It has been recorded not to far away though. It is mainly a problem in the northeast and great lakes states.

[@y0nd3r]

Fleabane is the longest lasting flower in my garden. They will bush out a bit if you top them. I'll find out this year how bushy they will get because I topped them 3 times. They have multiple flower heads that are great to attract good bugs. The do get some kind of yellow splotchy disease on the bottom leaves, though. Idk what that is.

[@BackyardEcology]

Ours tend to get bushy since the deer and woodchucks top them!

[@rjhgn88]

Can you recommend wildflower mixes to be used in Northern NJ? I received some as a gift and bought one in a store a few years ago but am afraid to spread them

[@BackyardEcology]

That is a tough question to answer as there is a ton of "it depends" that goes into putting a seed mix together, especially for a super diverse state like NJ. My advice would be to contact the NJ native plant society - which is excellent by the way! Also, Randi at Toad Shade Native Plant Nursery would be a great person to contact.

[@rjhgn88]

@@BackyardEcology thank you!

[@winstonelston5743]

3:25 Tiny yellow flowers neat the bottom of the frame, are those mock strawberries? Just discovered your channel a little while ago.

[@BackyardEcology]

Yes they are! Good eye! We have a ton of them in what is supposed to be the mowed portion of our lawn. Currently battling woody invasives and stiltgrass in our wooded areas. The old lawn is full of fescue too so it will be a major project when we get to it.

[@winstonelston5743]

@@BackyardEcology I have the thready petal type fleabane, I like the flowers and if they're good for pollenators, so much the better. My Dad used to call them _bachelors' buttons_ but I think that name applies to another daisy-like plant. I'm trying tp deal with invasive liriope planted by a family member sixty years ago

[@BackyardEcology]

@@winstonelston5743 Bachelors button is also known as cornflower and is native to Europe and has blue flowers. It is considered an invasive species here now as it easily escapes cultivation and invades natural areas. Liriope is one of the harder things to get rid of but it you keep at it eventually you will win!

[@MeanOldLady]

Well I do have it growing just off my back porch & no our dogs don't have fleas, so who knows what else is going on then. =p I love the little violets but they don't grow in my yard apparently... We have a LOT of sun & not much space for understory, wooded plants like those - yet.

[@susanfarley1332]

When visiting a german family in Dortmund germany i saw in their backyard a very low growing daisy looking plant in the grass. It was no higher than the grass and the flowers dotting the grass were beautiful. I have never seen any plants like these in the US. Any chance you might know what it was?

[@BackyardEcology]

Good chance those were Bellis perennis, the English daisy. They are a common lawn weed in that part of the world.

[@susanfarley1332]

@@BackyardEcology thank you for your reply. I got to see if they are available in the US. Probably not. But I hope.

[@BackyardEcology]

@@susanfarley1332 They aren't native here and is considered an invasive species in many areas of the U.S. I would not plant it.

[@macymakesmagic]

I had an issue with Asters Yellow because I had an English Purple Aster. Now I can't grow cone flowers such as cut leaf cone flower because they all get infected. Fleabanes are in the aster family but do not get infected with asters yellow?

[@BackyardEcology]

Anything in the aster family can possibly get it, but some species, and even some individual plants seem to be more resilient to it.

[@MrChristopherharmon]

Could you cover indian pink?

[@BackyardEcology]

An awesome native! Great idea!

[@user-ug5sb6qg1u]

Old stories say they used to dry fleabane and use it as a smudge to smoke fleas from their houses and clothing. What kind of fleabane grows in Oklahoma?

[@BackyardEcology]

There are lots of ways that people used fleabane in the past to repel fleas - live plants at the door, dried plants scattered around, smudging - and none of them have been shown to actually repel fleas or any other bugs. There are many species of fleabane native to Oklahoma - it is a fairly large genus.

[@user-ug5sb6qg1u]

@@BackyardEcology I will say that enough smoke in a house will kill anything, which is why it's probably better to not use it to get rid of fleas.

[@oliveoil2x]

Are Roman and German chamomile in the same grouping?

[@BackyardEcology]

Chamomiles are also in the aster family but belong to different genera.

[@Ivyana5]

What fleabane are native to mid Atlantic? Please and thank you ❤

[@BackyardEcology]

There are several. I am planning a video to highlight the most common eastern species.

[@karenholt9744]

Another person in the mid- Atlantic here, and I'd be interested too.

[@JC-nl3nh]

can you do medeola virginiana

[@BackyardEcology]

A super cool plant! I may do a video where it makes an appearance.

[@JC-nl3nh]

@@BackyardEcology I have some roots i purchased online which are coming up :) one of my favorite native plants along withpanax quinquefolius which i purchased off of amazon Lol

[@BackyardEcology]

@@JC-nl3nh Cool!

[@Eloraurora]

Okay, it _does_ attract predatory insects! Any chance those guys might've eaten some of the fleas people were worried about? It sounds like a cool study.

[@BackyardEcology]

I doubt one pot of fleabane on the doorstep would have stopped many fleas - most were entering houses on rats and mice, and dogs. The dried herb was also used and it wasn't attracting any predatory insects. There is no telling how the idea of it repelling fleas came about.

[@Eloraurora]

@@BackyardEcology Oh, well. I was having fun theorizing. It's always cool when something that sounds randomly mystical actually has some observational logic behind it (like weird herb-gathering instructions correlating with the optimal level of _x_ medicinal compound in the plant.)

[@BackyardEcology]

@@Eloraurora There are things out there that do have an actual scientific explanation - and you're right, it is cool when it works out that way. There are also some things that just don't seem to have any actual basis, or we lost something in translation through the ages.

[@rickshaw6198]

I've always called them "dime sized dasies." I love them.

[@BabyMammothGoBoom]

i didn't expect to hear a demon slayer reference on a wildflower video but i'm happy i did since they're both things i like :) we have fleabane that's been slowly spreading in a small wooded area we have that has elderberry, pawpaws, and various other native shade shrubs we put in and some goldenrod and st johns wort that just decided to grow there. should we worry that it'll crowd out the other species?

[@BackyardEcology]

It really depends on what species of goldenrod an St. Johns wort. There are goldenrods that do fine planted with other things and then there are goldenrods that will outcompete many species. There are native and non-native St. Johns worts. Without knowing what species are involved it is impossible to say for sure.

[@BabyMammothGoBoom]

@@BackyardEcology we think they're shrubby st John's wort and Canada goldenrod, we live in pa, but we're not sure. I wouldn't mind if the fleabane took over, it's just that we don't have a lot of fall flowers for the pollinators so I was excited to see goldenrod growing wild :)

[@BackyardEcology]

@@BabyMammothGoBoom Canada goldenrod can get wild, so I would keep a close eye on it. Shrubby St. John's wort is a super cool shrub that pollinators love. It doesn't spread quickly in my experience.

[@alb91878]

I love Demon Slayer!!!!!!!! Great video! Thank you!

[@BackyardEcology]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@geomundi8333]

i think they are bad when in your pasture though; i think they are poison; but the grazers mostly avoid it.

[@BackyardEcology]

I've only ever seen hairy fleabane listed as toxic to livestock (it is found in the deep south and the west). I have never seen other fleabanes listed as toxic to livestock and I have never seen them eat it. They probably would only eat it if there was nothing else to eat. Deer hammer it though!

[@nickgardner6340]

6:57 🪰

[@BackyardEcology]

Yep, the deer flies are out early this year!

[@funki22]

I love your channel but it seems like you are somewhat more east coast focused. Do you know a similar channel that focuses more on the west?

[@BackyardEcology]

Thanks! We are focused on the eastern US since that is where we live, I do not know of a similar channel that focuses on the west coast. I get asked this question quite a bit.

[@funki22]

@@BackyardEcology no worries I have still learned a lot from your channel. I have family in maine I will reccomend them your channel

[@BackyardEcology]

@@funki22 Thank you!

[@GAwildflower]

Came for strawberries and fleabane, stayed for the wisteria and Demon Slayer reference!

[@BackyardEcology]

Nice! Thanks for watching!

[@reviewchan9806]

Ok but what plants actually have been shown to work to ward fleas?

[@BackyardEcology]

I'm not sure what herbs will repel them. There is insect repellant made from lemon eucalyptus that is suppose to repel most biting insects.

[@reviewchan9806]

@@BackyardEcology I find that highly skeptical because most biting insects don't have any commonality that would make them repelled by one particular herb

[@BackyardEcology]

@@reviewchan9806 There are commercial products that are made with lemon eucalyptus that are labeled for most biting insects and ticks. How well they work I've not tested. I usually stick with DEET or Picaridin when out in bug season and those do keep them off. Most of the time I have on pyrethrin treated clothes as the ticks are horrible here in KY.

[@Hallands.]

How did I get here?

[@BackyardEcology]

There are dozens of fleabane species that are native to North America.

[@Hallands.]

@@BackyardEcology 😯

[@feanacar]

My landlord landscapes with rocks. The only plants allowed are lawn and a few trees. 😢

[@BackyardEcology]

It can be tough when the landlord won't get on board with native plants. Luckily I am seeing a slow move towards them by some. Hopefully it continues.

[@cawiltu]

flea Bain ? Okay. No one cares how long I go between mowing , Thank God, so yes the almost daisies come up at this time of year. I do miss real daisies in the grass, though. 😢

[@frederickheard2022]

Wisteria. LOL

[@tkarlmann]

Can I eat it?

[@LostInThisGardenofLife]

Sure.

[@BackyardEcology]

The leaves can be cooked like greens or eaten raw (they are covered with hairs so they are usually cooked).

[@44nobody]

You can eat the flowers, too. Either raw or cooked. I've eaten them raw. They're spicy! 🔥

[@BackyardEcology]

@@44nobody I've seen references saying only the leaves are edible, and a few saying flowers are OK. Lots of contradictory info on the edibility of fleabane parts.

[@tkarlmann]

@@44nobody Thanks for the added tip!

[@Kandicookheller]

I have this all throughout my gardens and it is invading my perennials. It is almost impossible to get rid of it but I am trying. I thought it was "chamomile." It is very deep rooted and I am at war with it. I'm glad people like it but I highly recommend not mixing it with perennials. It gets into peonies and everything you have.

[@BackyardEcology]

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve. It is a good pairing with most native perennials. There are also annual species of fleabane. I have never had much trouble pulling any of them up from spots they weren't wanted.

[@caterpillar9512]

demon slayer ;)

[@BackyardEcology]

Yep!

[@garybrinker4522]

When they're young,,they look like weeds ..

[@BackyardEcology]

Any young plant can look like a weed - or be a weed depending on your goals.

[@StefanNeher]

Please be careful of your use of absolutes like "largest flowering plant family" . . . Orchidaceae and Fabaceae have more recorded species, or are at least in the same ballpark. You could/should say "AMONG the largest families of flowering plants" . . . really took away from my viewing enjoyment the rest of the video.

It smells nice in a big stand and I've seen butterflies nectar on it.

[@BackyardEcology]

Yes! I see tons of skippers on fleabane and yesterday I saw a swallowtail nectaring on it!