Plant · P-124

Lacy Phacelia

Phacelia tanacetifolia

Lacy phacelia is grown purely for what it does for insects and soil, not for eating - it has no food or medicinal use at all. Sown in autumn, it blooms through the mild months into a mass of nectar-rich flowers that draw native bees, bumblebees and honeybees, and its bloom also builds up hoverflies and parasitic wasps whose larvae prey on aphids. It winterkills once temperatures drop into the high teens Fahrenheit, and that die-back is the plan, not a failure - the residue becomes a mulch mat while the roots have already scavenged soil nitrate that would otherwise wash away. It needs sharp drainage and resents wet feet, so it wants a raised bed or berm shoulder rather than heavy, waterlogged clay.