03/21/2026
Just getting started with native plants? This simple list of favorite plants makes it so easy! All of these plants are available in our nursery, starting in June.
You've been told plant native. Nobody told you what to plant.
Five species that work in almost any eastern US yard, survive drought and neglect, and feed more wildlife per square foot than your entire lawn.
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1. Black-eyed Susan — full sun, any soil. Blooms June through October, one of the longest bloom periods of any native wildflower. Feeds dozens of pollinator species. Seeds feed goldfinches and sparrows through winter. Self-sows freely. Plant it and walk away
2. Common Milkweed — full sun, dry to medium soil. It spreads — that's the point. Monarch butterflies require milkweed for reproduction, and hundreds of other insect species use it too. The pods become bird nesting material in fall. The plant most people pull out is the one the ecosystem needs most
3. Joe-Pye W**d — partial shade to full sun, moist soil. Grows five to seven feet tall with huge pink-purple flower heads that are butterfly magnets from July through September. The hollow dead stems become solitary bee nesting sites over winter — leave them standing
4. Wild Bergamot — full sun to partial shade, dry to medium soil. Lavender flowers from July through September. One of the most heavily visited native plants by bumblebees. Also feeds hummingbird moths, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Deer-resistant
5. Little Bluestem — full sun, any soil including poor rocky and dry. A native grass that turns copper-orange in fall. Provides winter cover for sparrows and ground-nesting bees. Requires zero maintenance. Bunch-forming so it won't spread into your lawn
🌱 How to start:
- Buy from a native plant nursery rather than a general garden center — nursery-propagated native species retain the wildlife value that some commercial cultivars bred for appearance have lost
- One of each in the ground this spring is enough to start. Most are drought-tolerant after the first season and need no ongoing care
- Plant Joe-Pye W**d in the back where its height works as a backdrop. Black-eyed Susan and Wild Bergamot in the middle. Little Bluestem at the edges for structure. Milkweed wherever you have full sun and room for it to spread
- Leave all dead stems standing through winter — they're nesting sites, seed sources, and overwintering habitat. Cut them in May after the emerging insects have left
Five plants. One afternoon. A yard that feeds everything flying and crawling through it from June to frost 🌿
