The table calls it a tie: Aster and Goldenrod share the crown at 94 and 94 of 100, a gap smaller than the data can honestly split.
Songbirds come for seed heads and the insects a flower feeds, not for the color. Every entry is documented as a songbird plant; the ranking rewards the ones that keep the buffet open into fall.
The picks
The flowers that won
The top score, plus the qualifier that asks least of you.
Buffet open into fall: 3 of 3 window months · Breadth of the wildlife table: 4 documented · Care while it grows: low
Flaws, not dealbreakers:no vase data in the postharvest literature
89/ 100tap for the breakdown
Buffet open into fall30 / 303 of 3 window months
Breadth of the wildlife table25 / 254 documented
Care while it grows25 / 25low
Stands up to deer9 / 20no published rating
The protocol
How the score is built
4 rules, 100 points, no opinions. Every line reads one field of the table.
Buffet open into fall30 pointsflowers and seed heads through all of August-October 30; two of those months 22; one 12; done before the migration 5 Read from: the months it is in bloom.
Breadth of the wildlife table25 pointsfeeds four or more wildlife groups 25; three 18; two 10; songbirds alone 6 Read from: pollinator groups.
Care while it grows25 pointslow upkeep 25; middling 14; demanding 4; sources disagree, we average the range; no rating 12 Read from: how much upkeep extension guides report.
Stands up to deer20 pointsRutgers A, rarely damaged 20; B 14; C 6; D, deer candy 0; not rated 9 Read from: the Rutgers deer rating.
Not ranked here: no whitelisted source documents songbird value.
The full method ↗
The leaderboard
The top ten
The 10 highest of 16 that qualified. Tap any score to open the lines behind it.
Not qualifying is a verdict too: the table simply says this question is not theirs.
no whitelisted source documents songbird valueRoses, Tulips, Peonies and 66 more
The winner's badge
Generated by the ranking above, and re-scored whenever the table changes.
Aster
The badge is generated by this ranking, not awarded by hand. When the
table changes, it re-scores itself.
How we rank
We keep one table of 85 flowers,
with 25 documented facts each, drawn from university and extension sources. Every ranking is
a published formula worth 100 points; tap any score and it unfolds into the lines that made
it. A flower that does not fit the question is not scored lower: it is excluded, and the reason is
shown. When the table changes, every score and stamp updates itself.
The full method ↗
