Garden & Landscape
Native Plants: Trusted Favorites for Beautiful, Resilient Gardens
As a garden designer, I’ve come to trust native plants and their cultivars for their beauty, resilience, and ease of care. These are a few of my favorites—adaptable, wildlife-friendly (yet mostly rabbit and deer resistant), and proven performers in everyday gardens. Many work beautifully in combination, offering contrasting forms and textures, complementary colors, and interest across all four seasons. Most can be found at reputable local nurseries and online retailers. If you're looking to create a garden using performers like these, or purchase plants, contact us.
—John
01
Baptisia australis
(False Indigo)
Known as false indigo, this shrub-like perennial delight boasts striking blue flowers that attract pollinators and bring life to any landscape. With its easy-going nature and resilience, it's a perfect choice for both new and experienced gardeners. Several cultivars of different color are available.
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Bloom: April-May
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Mature Size: 3' – 4'H x 3' – 4'W
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Light: Sun To Part Shade
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained
02
Sporobolus heterolepis
(Prairie Dropseed)
With its fine texture and graceful arching form, this grass gracefully sways in the wind, providing a unique aesthetic. Ideal for creating natural landscapes or adding a low-maintenance ornamental touch, I recommend integrating it into your planting schemes for a striking visual impact.
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Bloom: August-September
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Mature Size: 24" – 36"H x 24" – 36"W
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Light: Sun
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained
03
Agastache 'Blue Fortune'
(Anise Hyssop)
Bring a splash of color and a burst of aroma into your garden with Agastache 'Blue Fortune.' Compact bush of licorice-scented green leaves. Fragrant blue flowers are attractive to butterflies. Deadheading will lengthen bloom time. No insect or disease problems. Easy to care for and drought-resistant, it's the perfect choice for low-maintenance gardening. Fast grower.
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Bloom: July-September
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Mature Size: 24" – 36"H x 18" – 24"W
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Light: Sun To Part Shade
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Soil: Dry, Moist/Well-Drained
04
Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’
Easily recognized by its large, lovely evergreen fuzzy green leaves. It features a long-lasting, profuse floral display of large white inflorescences. Flower stalks tower above to a height of almost 3’. It makes an excellent ground cover at the front of a border or planted in mass. Related favorites include Heuchera americana ‘Dale’s Strain’ and Heuchera richardsonii. Try mixing with sedges, ferns, hosta, Iris cristata, and Phlox divaricata.
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Bloom: Autumn
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Mature Size: 1' – 2'H x 2' – 3'W
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Light: Full Sun to Full Shade (best part shade)
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained
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05
Monarda bradburiana
(Eastern Beebalm)
A member of the Lamiaceae, or mint family, this wonderful perennial makes a strong color statement in the garden with its pink-to-white flowers with burgundy-red fall foliage. Pollinators flock to the blooms. Eastern bee balm does best in full-sun, but will tolerate partial shade. Mildew resistant. Try combining with Sporobolus heterolepis or Rudbeckia.
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Bloom: May - June
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Mature Size: 1' – 2'H x 1' – 2'W
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Light: Sun to part shade
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained
06
Aquilegia canadensis
(Wild Columbine)
A lovely wildflower, native woodland Columbine with red and cream-yellow flowers. Easy to grow. Reseeds freely and will quickly colonize an area. Good native woodland plant. Attracts hummingbirds. Try planting this with spring blooming wildflowers like Phlox divaricata, Iris cristata, Spigelia marilandica, Tiarella cordifolia and Heuchera Americana ‘Dales Strain’. Native ferns and sedges make nice companions, too.
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Bloom: Spring & Summer
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Mature Size: 3' H x 1' 'W
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Light: Part Sun to Shade
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained. Tolerates Dry.
07
Ceanothus americanus
(New Jersey Tea)
Among the many plants in our display and trial garden, this is the one my son identified as his absolute favorite. That is saying a lot—he’s particular!
New Jersey Tea features glossy leaves, abundant bright white flower clusters, and a mounding shape that makes this compact native shrub a popular addition to any garden. It serves as both a nectar source and a host for caterpillars and larvae, attracting a diverse array of beautiful butterflies.
Though it is a slow grower, it is remarkably durable and requires virtually no maintenance once established. Historically, New Jersey Tea gained prominence as a popular, caffeine-free alternative to imported black tea during the American Revolution. Long before that, it was used by Native Americans for both medicine and teas.
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Bloom: June - July
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Mature Size: 3'H x 3'W
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Light: Sun to part shade
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Soil: Dry
08
Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red'
(Husker Red Beardtongue)
Sturdy mound of leaves; garnet-red in spring, greener in summer. Good foliage effect in the border and in containers. The scentless trumpet-shaped flowers (white with a purple blush) with fine violet nectar are attractive to bees and butterflies, and may be visited by hummingbirds. They can also be used as cut flowers. This somewhat short-lived herbaceous rhizomatous perennial grows in a clump and will self-seed in right conditions. It combines well with many native plants including blue flowered spiderworts (Tradescantia spp.), blue false indigo (Baptisia australis), and native grasses such as prairie dropseed. Chosen plant of the year by the Perennial Plant Association in 1996.
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Bloom: June - July
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Mature Size: 24" – 36"H x 12" – 18"W
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Light: Sun to part shade
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained
09
Deschampsia cespitosa
(Tufted Hair Grass)
Highly ornamental, Tufted Hairgrass features fine, hair-like, airy seed heads that rise 2–3 feet above neatly rounded, dense tussocks of dark green foliage. As a cool-season grass, it is one of the first to push new growth in the spring.
Unlike most warm-season grasses, it thrives in light to moderate shade—making it an invaluable choice for woodland edges. It is easily divisible and offers excellent ground-cover characteristics, creating a thick mat that naturally suppresses weeds. While the foliage stays low, the airy flower panicles can reach 3–4 feet, emerging in early summer with hints of gold and purple before maturing into a striking bronzy-brown that persists well into winter. Check out Deschampsia cespitosa cultivar ‘Goldtau’ too.
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Bloom: May - June
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Mature Size: 3' – 4'H x 18" – 24"W
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Light: Sun to part shade
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Soil: Moist/Well Drained