Painted Lady On Pineapple Sage

October 3, 2025

I’m very dedicated to sowing natives in my gardens but there are some plants that tell me that there needs to be an exception where they are concerned. For the autumn I put in non-natives, Zinnias (Zinnia), Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia), and Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) seen here. I plant them for the benefit of pollinators, like this one, a Painted Lady (Salvia elegans), which need flowers that provide nectar and pollen for the many bees and butterflies of autumn.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.