Natives for Home Gardens

Baptisia australis (blue wild indigo)

Herbaceous perennials for sun

• Allium cernuum (nodding wild onion)
• Allium stellatum (fall glade onion)
• Amsonia ciliata (fringed blue star)
• Amsonia illustris (shining blue star)
• Amsonia tabernaemontana (eastern blue star)
• Anemone virginiana (thimbleweed)
• Aristolochia tomentosa (Dutchman's pipe)
• Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)
• Baptisia australis (blue wild indigo)
• Baptisia sphaerocarpa (yellow wild indigo)
• Chelone obliqua (rose turtlehead)
• Echinacea paradoxa (yellow coneflower)
• Echinacea pallida (pale purple coneflower) 
• Filipendula rubra (queen of the prairie)
• Gentiana andrewsii (closed gentian)
• Heuchera richardsonii (prairie alum root)
• Hibiscus laevis (rose mallow)
• Hibiscus lasiocarpos (rose mallow)
• Iris fulva (copper iris)
• Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) 
• Lobelia siphilitica (blue lobelia) 
• Manfreda virginica (false aloe)
• Monarda bradburiana (bee balm)
• Oenothera macrocarpa (Missouri primrose)
• Parthenium integrifolium (wild quinine)
• Penstemon cobaea (purple beardtongue)
• Penstemon pallidus (pale beardtongue) 
• Rudbeckia fulgida (showy coneflower)
• Silphium terebinthinaceum (prairie dock)
• Solidago drummondii (cliff goldenrod)
• Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster)
• Zizia aptera (golden Alexanders)

Herbaceous perennials for sun: Ephemeral or semi-ephemeral
*Ephemerals are plants that last for a short period of time

• Dodecatheon meadia (shooting star)

Herbaceous perennials for shade

• Actaea racemosa (black cohosh)
• Aruncus dioicus (white goat's beard)
• Cunila origanoides (Dittany)
• Heuchera parviflora (little flower alumroot)
• Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
• Spigelia marilandica (Indian pink)

Shade: Ephemeral or semi-ephemeral
*Plant these species amongst herbaceous perennials for shady spots, as they may disappear by summer

• Erythronium americanum (yellow trout lily)
• Tradescantia ernestiana (woodland spiderwort)
• Uvularia grandiflora (largeflower bellwort)

Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star)

The list below contains equally great natives for your home garden, but they will require a little more maintenance than those above to maintain their formal appearance or prevent them from creeping around your landscape.

Herbaceous perennials for sun

• Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
• Asclepias verticillata (whorled milkweed)
• Campanula rotundifolia (harebell)
• Conoclinium coelestinum (mist flower)
• Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover) 
• Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)
• Echinacea simulata (glade coneflower)
• Eryngium yuccifolium (rattlesnake master)
• Eutrochium fistulosum (hollow stem joe pye weed)
• Liatris aspera (rough blazing star) 
• Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star) 
• Liatris scariosa (eastern blazing star) 
• Solidago speciosa (showy goldenrod

Glandularia canadensis (rose verbena)

Ground covers for sun
*Some ground covers will naturally spread by underground rhizomes

• Antennaria neglecta (prairie pussytoes)
• Antennaria parlinii (pussytoes)
• Glandularia canadensis (rose verbena)
• Iris cristata (dwarf crested iris)

Ground covers for shade
*ground covers will naturally spread by underground rhizomes

• Asarum canadense (wild ginger)
• Erigeron pulchellus (Robin's plantain)
• Packera obovata (roundleaf groundsel)
• Sedum ternatum (wild stonecrop)

Grasses/sedges for sun

• Bouteloua curtipendula (side oats grama)
• Eragrostis spectabilis (lovegrass)
• Muhlenbergia capillaris (pink muhlygrass)
• Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem)
• Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed)

Grasses/sedges for shade
*use these species in larger quantities for use as a ground cover

• Carex albicans (oak sedge)
• Carex eburnea (bristle leaf sedge)
• Carex grayi (Gray's sedge)
• Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
• Carex muskingumensis (palm sedge)

Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)

Small Trees (under 30 feet)

• Amelanchier arborea (downy serviceberry)
• Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)
• Chionanthus virginicus (fringe tree)
• Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood)
• Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
• Hamamelis vernalis (vernal witch hazel)
• Hamamelis virginiana (eastern witch hazel)
• Ilex opaca (American holly) *evergreen
• Rhamnus caroliniana (Indian cherry)

Large Trees (over 30 feet)

• Acer rubrum (red maple)
• Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
• Betula nigra (river birch)
• Carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam)
• Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
• Cladrastis Kentukea (yellowwood)
• Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
• Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
• Nyssa sylvatica (black gum)
• Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak)
• Quercus lyrata (overcup oak)
• Quercus macrocarpa (bur oak)
• Quercus muehlenbergii (chinkapin oak)
• Taxodium distichum (bald cypress)

Shrubs for sun

• Amorpha canescens (lead plant)
• Amorpha fruticosa (indigo bush)
• Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey Tea)
• Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
• Hypericum prolificum (shrubby St. John's Wort)
• Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
• Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark)
• Ribes odoratum (golden currant)
• Spiraea alba (meadowsweet spiraea)

Shrubs for shade

• Dirca palustris (leatherwood)
• Hydrangea arborescens (wild hydrangea)
• Lindera benzoin (spice bush)

Vines

• Berchemia scandens (supplejack)
• Bignonia capreolata (cross vine)
• Celastrus scandens (American bittersweet)
• Clematis crispa (swamp leather flower)
• Lonicera sempervirens (coral honeysuckle)
• Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)