Natives for Home Gardens

As native plants become increasingly popular, homeowners are seeking the best species to use in their landscapes. While they still require maintenance, the list below contains natives that will require the least amount of maintenance and are well behaved for a home garden.   

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)